RE: Whatsup with the trout?
I am sorry to here about your Luck Doug,
Trout can be strange to fish for sometimes.. like troutslayer stated early in the morning and just before dark as a rule. Stocked trout are different though as they need a few days to get used to the water and to start feeding again. I can remember when I took my children to a trout tourney just for kids. They had a big net set out in the lake. It was just a half circle with the outside edge just far enough to make casting difficult to reach the side of it. They let the trout go that morning and the trout swam back and forth the edge of it. Some trout were caught by using a bobber and letting the bait set 2 feet below it. Some were caught by letting the bait set on the bottom. Others were caught by a lure called the super duper, it was a small lure that was casted out and retrieved rather quickly. This lure worked out better on the trout in this case. These were trout just released that morning into the net. They opened the net after the durby was finnished that afternoon.
Trout that has had a chance to settle in normally will find structers like old logs on the bottom or floating from the bank to hang around. Also areas where the pound or lake gets deep rather quickly. When using bait I normally only fish them with worms or peaces of night crawlers unless the lake has some pretty big trout in it and if the law allows me to use live bait. Here some lakes do not allow live bait on them. Even when they have been released trout tend to find those structers mentioned above to hang around. If you can locate a few of these your luck should increase somewhat.. I also forgot to mention that a small spinner in front of the hook will help to draw thier attention at times. Congrats on your first trout..!!!
Good luck to you..Phil