A simple method of locating trout in a stream is to spot likely looking cover where the most food with the least effort is available. Some fishermen use flashers, usually a large polished spoon, in hopes of enticing a trout to chase it. Trout populations in any reach of stream have dominant fish. As a result of this pecking order, the dominant fish will occupy the preferred feeding stations in the most sheltered sites. For this reason, smaller trout are often caught in the less likely parts of a stream or in a riffle.
Natural cover includes dead water pools, boulders, bank-cover, aquatic vegetation, and log jams.
In high gradient streams with swift current, an excellent place for a lurking trout is on the downstream side of boulders. Just behind most of these rocks an eddy is formed where a feeding trout can face upstream, protected from the main current in the still water of the eddy. Sometimes in slower current Rainbow trout position in front of a boulder where the current is split. Browns and Brook trout prefer the slower, more protected eddies. Bank cover is preferred by trout when it has at least 6 inches of overhead shading and a foot or more in depth.