December 28, 2011
By Sam Hudson
The recreational season for spotted seatrout in southern Florida reopens on Jan. 1.
The recreational season for spotted seatrout in South Florida reopens on Jan. 1, 2012. Spotted seatrout harvest has been closed in the southern region of the state since Nov. 1.
For 2012, recreational seatrout catches are closure free. The new regulations mean there won't be trout seasonal closures in 2012 (effective Feb. 1). The new season-less year was part of management changes that took place at recent FWC meetings. Read about all the details here.
Key recreational spotted seatrout changes include the removal of all recreational spotted seatrout closures, including the annual Feb. 1 closure that would have affected anglers in northeast and northwest Florida. Plus, there's an increased recreational bag limit of six fish in the northeast region of the state.
Regions: The southern region includes any Florida state waters and federal waters south of the Flagler-Volusia county line on the east coast and, in the Gulf, south of a line running due west from the westernmost point of Fred Howard Park Causeway, which is about 1.17 miles south of the Pinellas/Pasco county line.
The maximum daily bag limit for spotted seatrout in the southern region of the state is four fish per person. In northeast and northwest regions, the daily limit is five spotted seatrout per person until the new rules take effect Feb. 1. The statewide slot limit for spotted seatrout is 15 to 20 inches total length, and anglers may keep one spotted seatrout larger than 20 inches as part of their daily bag limit.
Florida Sportsman member ctfoucher recently caught a mess of seatrout, along with redfish, snook and flounder. All the details were highlighted in his recent report in the West Central Fishing reports section. All fish were released even though seatrout season was open in this part of the state.
