Is trout effective as bait?

Old topics confirmed it is legal to use it for ocean fishing, and I'm wondering if anyone has experience using trout as bait? The smaller guys, cured, should be good lingcod bait, yeah? Thoughts on using it for salmon or halibut? Thanks!

This last spring, I "acquired" several stocker trout from a kids fishing event. They ranged from 10-14 inches. Didn't cure them, just threw them into gallon Ziplock bags and into the freezer. I rigged them on 2-hook mooching rigs, with a 9/0 octopus hook in the nose and a 4/0 treble midway between the dorsal fin and tail. They held up really well for lingcod fishing: skin is much tougher than herring. You could catch several fish on a single trout.

As for their effectiveness: I caught some nice lings on them, but the yelloweye rockfish also liked them, which can be incredibly annoying. I probably won't use them for bait in the future. Small flatfish (dabs, sole, etc.) and live RF outperformed the trout for me, and no yelloweye bycatch.

Thanks for the info. I won't go out of my way to get a freezer full, but I'll keep some for some backup bait. I like having a wildcard bait to turn to when the typical bait isn't working.

For sure. I'd probably rank them higher as a ling bait if the yelloweyes didn't like them. These giant YEs are getting thicker and thicker on my favorite lingcod reefs these last few years, so I've been trying to find baits they won't eat. You may have better success with them fishing shallow (<100 ft) reefs that don't hold many yelloweye.