Spring is here and the fishing is falling into its typical spring pattern…
One of my favorite species to fish for given the windy and rough weather spring tends to bring is speckled sea trout. This is typically spawning season and it’s not uncommon to get larger speckled trout ranging from 20-30 inches even. Anglers can find some great trout fishing across the entire coast from Daytona to ft Pierce, the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, and Banana River are known all over the world for some of their large sea-trout!
A great way to catch trout is keeping it simple — a weedless soft plastic jerkshad in the 3-5 inch range can be deadly! I prefer baits that are more natural in color: dark green, black, and pearl white. Look for these fish in super skinny water with any sort of grass and potholes , casting your lure past these sand holes and working them past are great ambush spots and usually are holding fish, especially if you find an area with a little deeper water coming up on a shallow edge. Once trout grow beyond 15 inches they thrive on baitfish more so than crustaceans; not that they won’t eat a large shrimp, but they definitely prefer larger baits such as mullet, pinfish, pigfish, etc. These baits free lined with a 5/0 or 6/0 j hook can produce some large and impressive fish.
These fish are extremely fragile and should be handled with care, always handle with wet hands, and released back as quick as possible, I strongly suggest catch and release especially fish over 20inches, let’s do our part today to create some great memories for future generations.
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