i mainly fish small streams in western wisconsin but hardly ever in march and april so im wondering what would be a good presentation for this time of the year. any tip would be helpful and much appreciated because i am mainly a live bait fisherman for trout. 
Bead head nymphs or small wooly buggers fished down and across.
The smallest size Husky Jerks are absolutely deadly on early season Browns. Make sure to de-barb your hooks though.
Want to know what they are eating…flip a few stones…comb thru whatever vegetation is along the stream. If live bait is allowed…small minnow, pinch of nitecrawler, waxworm on a #14 hook with a small splitshot thats big enough to stand a small thill shybite bobber on end…then drift it down thru the pool close to the bottom. If you use flies…something really small…#16-18 maybe even smaller drifted along the top if you see trout rising…else beadheads, maybe a scud or helgramite. Just have to experiment and see what their tastebuds are craving !
I have had good luck with Panther Martin spinners on the Kinni around River Falls. I fish them with the current or sweeping across.
I use the smallest red and white imitation daredevil you can find. It is hot!
Small Mepps 
Rapalas , gold blade vibrex, panther martins, Swedish pimples, pretty much everything works its how you work it.
I believe this year you do not have to go barbless. but don’t quote me on this. With the Raps please debarb
New for 2010, the WI early trout season does NOT require barbless hooks:
panther martin / vibrax for spinning tackle.
You can never go wrong with a tan or orange scud on a fly rod.
hendrickson’s when it gets a little warmer/more hatches maybe….
To clarify live bait is not allowed during Wisconsin’s pre-season. However you CAN use live bait in Minnesota’s pre-season with the exception of the dozen artificial only streams.
I go BIG early in the season. #9 3/8oz Panther Martins and little Cleos.
Western WI waters not fishable or a while now until the snow melt and rain subsides. At least the bigger river systems…
I know everyone can choose to do what you would like since barbs no longer need to be pinched for the WI early season but if you are using more than a single hook I would highly encourage pinching them down. It’s alot easier to deal with too when getting the fish released and you can’t keep them anyways.
Right now for small spring creeks I suggest waiting until it is 40 degrees or warmer to fish. Fish were inactive this morning when it was 26-29 out this morning and only caught a couple of small brookies.
Reading Jay Ford Thurston’s new book and he says fishing the lower thirds of creeks is a better deal now, even bigger river systems for that trophy. Those big fish are migrating to their summer pools right now. Between now and the first warm spring showers of early April would be your best time to catch that MONSTER trout. Fish on cloudy days. I had insane results even fishing in light drizzle.. Big fish feel protected with light rain coming down and become more aggressive. Slow retrieve right now for spinners and jigs. Slow dead drift and deep (extra split) for scuds and nymphs for the fly fishers.
The 1/16th all Silver Panther Martins with the white skirts are always deadly on smaller stream trout. When It’s the middle part of the day and the sun is directly over the creek the Gold Panthers with Orange Skirts are awesome. For Bigger Trout I run the two smallest X-Raps in Gold and use a very erratic retrieve. Works great for trout 12″s and up. They are quite territorial and usually annihilate it out of sheer spite.
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