Statewide Update on Spotted Seatrout, One of Our Inshore Favorites

Catching a mess of spotted seatrout (specks) has long been the aim of many saltwater anglers, especially for families with young kids, who always want gaudy numbers of bites. I’d say, specks are a Florida family tradition. During my own childhood, spotted seatrout were the perfect transition from largemouth bass. Many of my bass lures caught trout, which are undoubtedly the growing angler’s perfect first saltwater fish.

I think a spotted seatrout may be the most beautiful of all inshore species, though it lacks a bit in the fight department. But the fight is spunky and showy when a trout surfaces immediately after a hookup, throws water like a fire hose, and makes the occasional half-jump.

At the right place and time, limiting out on spotted seatrout is usually a gimme. The smaller, just legal-size fish school up in big numbers, and are very aggressive eaters of myriad natural baits, lures and flies. Where there is one fish, there are usually others.

The biggest seatrout specimens, the 5-plus-pounders, are more solitary predators, and are referred to as gator trout, particularly in Florida. But the bar has been lowered in recent years—a gator trout once had to be 10-pounds-plus to make the grade. Those true gators were most common in the Indian River Lagoon on the East Central coast. A fish of that size has a “snout” that actually resembles that of an alligator. Lots of factors go into the decrease in Florida’s big spotted seatrout—habitat (seagrass) loss, overdevelopment, boat traffic and simple fishing pressure, both recreational and commercial.

Most Florida trophy trout devotees won’t divulge much, but they may admit that their biggest fish are caught while wading. This writer can make that claim—I’ve caught seatrout exceeding 25 inches just a handful of times from my skiff, and that was mostly late at night on flies under docklights when just about every fisherman in town was fast asleep. The others, in the 27- to 32-inch range, I caught early or late in the day, in the months of March and April, during peak tidal current, on a favorite DOA plastic shrimp as I stealthily waded on lush manatee grassflats in the Indian River Lagoon between Jensen Beach and Ft. Pierce. I often fished alone, which guaranteed I could make a quiet approach.

You have to tread lightly—big trout are “bonefish spooky” or worse. And you rarely see them first while wading, as you do redfish or bones that tail up. Trout are well camouflaged. Big trout don’t charge around, making a fuss, but they do give their position away when they viciously clobber a finger mullet, or tear into a pod of glass minnows. They are ambush feeders that generally sit still, preferring the prey to come to them, in a pothole, the deep side of a grassy ridge, a slight dropoff edge on a skinny flat, and particularly where sand meets a long, grassy margin that marks a slight depth change.

Florida Bay

I don’t know if there is a better spotted seatrout fishery in the state than Florida Bay right now. Reason being, it’s vast, and its shallows have healthy turtlegrass and shoal grass transected by tidal channels that are refuge at low tide. There are loads of trout food—shrimps, pinfish, mullet and more. Florida Bay borders the open Gulf of Mexico which aids in salinity balance that is vital to trout spawning. Much of the bay lies in Everglades National Park, so there is little of the point-source pollution that other “urban” estuaries suffer.

Florida Bay spotted seatrout fishing options abound. You can bounce soft-plastic jigs in channels for numbers, or drift-fish the basins using shrimp, pinfish steaks (cut bait) or light jigs under a popping cork. The basins occur between flats where prolific mullet muds draw big schools of trout. Flyfishers can mop up with poppers and Clouser Minnows. For the biggest fish, in the 3- to 6-pound range, you might pole the flats and pepper the potholes with jerkbaits and suspending flies. Another tactic is to fish the western margins of the bay, outside the Everglades National Park boundary, in 6 to 8 feet of water with cutbaits and a light sinker where your catch can include mangrove snapper and small grouper. The spring months are tops for size and numbers.

Many Florida Bay anglers embark from the Flamingo outpost or the Florida Keys. Many are surprised to discover that trout can be caught just north of the Overseas Highway in grassy basins from Key Largo to Long Key.

The Ten Thousand Islands

These Everglades National Park waters stretch from roughly Shark River to Cape Romano and trout schools move between the “outside” to “inside” waters seasonally. From April through October, most of the fishing effort takes place over grassflats and oyster bars at the edge of the Gulf.

Avoid crystal clear water on the Gulf edge. Run along and look for more silty water. A good mullet mud, created by bottom-grubbing mullet, is a real magnet for trout. Come fall, the migration to middle waters (bays and channels halfway to the backcountry) commences, and by winter, especially a cold one, your best bet is the salty rivers all the way up to brackish waters where mangroves turn to marsh. This region is not known for big trout, but they turn up occasionally, particularly in February, March and April.

Indian River Lagoon (IRL)

Just prior to this writing, I heard promising reports of seagrass recovery in the northern and central Indian River Lagoon. I’m always suspect of these observations, and much of the time, anglers are seeing various macroalgaes, which is not terrific habitat. But this time, shoal grass and manatee grass is amongst the recent growth. These and other native grasses are vital to seatrout, supporting shrimp and baitfish trout prey on, and providing a place for juvenile seatrout to hide. A handful of inshore fishing tournaments from Stuart to Vero Beach were held in the past few months and more spotted seatrout were landed and tallied than during the past couple of years.

The seagrass habitat used to be lush and widespread and that, in part, is what made the IRL famous for its gator trout population. Trout anglers should concentrate their efforts on the grassiest shorelines and Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) shoals relatively close to the few inlets the Lagoon has—St. Lucie, Fort Pierce and Sebastian, where Atlantic tidal flow is strongest.

Some of the biggest trout share the docklights with snook, especially in spring and early summer when live shrimp, small jerkbaits and shrimp and minnow fly patterns are deadly. Where trout are the sole occupants of a docklight, a light rod is fine, but where snook mix in, pick a heavier stick and add a 25-pound-test bite tippet to your leader.

Northeast Florida

Seatrout fishing in Northeast Florida, from Jacksonville to roughly St. Augustine, takes place around the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Here, on the long, deep channel which parallels the coastline, natural and man-made inlets bring saltwater inland with incoming tides. Jacksonville’s St. Johns River connects to the ICW resulting in a brackish ecosystem with diverse habitat. Unlike Florida trout waters elsewhere—many shallow grassflats—this region’s creeks have spartina grasses, oyster bars and silty mud banks.

The tidal range is big—like it is in Georgia and the Carolinas. Look for trout here in deeper, darker waters where tidal current ushers in shrimp and finger mullet. Autumn tides have as much as a 7-foot range. Trout here set up in ambush spots, where creeks enter the ICW, and at points along those creeks.

Light Tackle Lures and Baits

Spin and baitcasting tackle for seatrout should be light, primarily because spotted seatrout are small and not all that strong. Plus, most of the best lures and baits are light, more easily cast with light gear. Spinning tackle combos should be 7- and 7 ½-foot rods with a light tip, matched to a 2500 series reel. Light line is best to make long casts—go with 6- to 10-pound-test mono or 8- or 10-pound-test braid for long casts with light lures to cover the most water.

Walk into your local coastal tackle shop and look at the lures on pegs. Trout happily eat about 90 percent of them. Top lures include topwater plugs, soft-plastic jerkbaits, plastic shrimp and both hair and plastic-tail jigs. Weedless spoons too, in some flats-fishing situations.

Live-baiters typically soak live shrimp under popping or “clacking” floats, and the trophy hunters prefer finger mullet or small croakers freelined.

Seasonal Reminder

Under Florida’s spotted seatrout fishing regulations, the state is divided into five regions. One constant is a 15-inch minimum, 19-inch maximum total length “slot limit.” One fish within the bag limit may be greater than 19 inches. Bag limits and seasons differ among the regions.

During February, the Western Panhandle Region is closed to spotted seatrout harvest. It reopens March 1 under a 3-per-person bag limit. (Escambia County through the portions of Gulf County west of longitude 85 degrees, 13.76 minutes but NOT including Indian Pass/Indian Lagoon.)

The other four regions are open in February, under the following bag limits: Big Bend: 5 per person; South: 3 per person; Central East: 2 per person; Northeast: 5 per person. For more, visit www.myfwc.com

Trout on Fly

If you can fly cast 40 feet, you stand the chance to mop up small trout in 3 to 5 feet of water over grassy bottom. Bigger trout are often shallower and tougher to approach.

Try a popper such as a Bob’s Banger or a Dahlberg Diver. Should the trout simply “flash” under but not eat your bug, tie a short piece of mono to the hook bend and a light baitfish fly to that. The fish rarely refuse the trailer fly.

A floating line will suffice, though when water temps plummet or soar, a clear intermediate line is a better option, if not a medium- to fast-sink line matched to a fly that has some weight, such as a Clouser Minnow, Bendback or EP Mullet.

You can fish anything from a 6- to 9-weight rod, with the fly size and weight being the deciding factor. With a floating line and a popper, Muddler or suspending fly, fish a 8- to 10-foot fluorocarbon or mono leader tapering to 12-pound-test. Use heavier tippet if snook or ladyfish are present.

Captains’ Favorites

• Top trout baits and lures from our team of online Fishing Forecasters.

Southeast Florida: Capt. Jonathan Earhart, chaosfishingcharters.com. “Seatrout fishing has really improved since September 2024. Catching quite a few lately around the sea grass. But with lots of runoff from the lake [Okeechobee] it may be short lived. DOA CAL on a DOA 1⁄8- or ¼-ounce jighead has been working very well drifting local grassflats.”

South Florida: Capt. Alan Sherman, getemsportfishing.com. “My go-to baits for trout fishing no matter where it might be is one, the Cajun Thunder float with a natural or artificial bait under it. Lots of noise and color to attract a fish. Second is the NLBN ¼-ounce jig head tipped with a 3-inch soft plastic paddle tail. Just cast, let it sink and reel it in slow and steady. No action needed. Then last would be the Savage Gear Twitch Reaper. If there’s pilchards or mullets on the flats the trout will eat these baits all day long.”

Southwest Florida: Capt. Greg Stamper, snookstampcharters.com. “I love to ‘walk the dog’ with a bone colored SkitterWalk when the big trout move in. Most of the time we hammer them with a good ole popping cork with either a live shrimp or a DOA Shrimp underneath.”

Big Bend: Capt. William Toney, CaptainWilliamToney@gmail.com. “DOA 5.5-inch glow jerk baits nose hooked with a 3/0 Owner hook are my favorite go-to’s for fishing winter trout because you can fish them very shallow and a density to the plastic allows me to cast it a long ways, and then if you want to switch over to bait it’s as easy as pulling a soft plastic off and putting on a shrimp or baitfish. Most of my wintertime trout are in passes that vary from 3 to 5 feet with a good outgoing tide with a great grassy bottom and rocky shorelines. The bigger fish will hang in the shallows along the edge of the channel sunning themselves and seem to be smaller fish toward the center. Deep water nearby is always a plus so they can hole up if a cold front passes through.”

Florida Keys: Capt. Jamie Connell, flyingfishkw.com. “We get spotted seatrout in the Lower Keys in the winter time and we usually fish them in the basins in water about 4 to 8 feet deep. You can use a variety of lures, but I keep it simple and my go to is a bucktail jig. I actually tie mine with craft fur because I think it’s has better movement, but I still call them bucktail jigs. I don’t tip them with bait, I just throw them bare.”

• This article was featured in the February 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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