Troll for Seatrout? For Sure!

Trolling with lures, including traditional plugs and jigs, is a proven fishing tactic for Florida seatrout—but little used in recent years. It’s a great approach to remember when cold water, a full moon, or heavy rains shut down once-active schools of seatrout. Slow-trolling a variety of soft and hard speck lures can turn a slow day into a red-hot day of speck fishing!

Many years ago when our family first moved to Amelia Island, Florida, I would put my freshwater bass boat into the water at the historic Fernandina Harbor Marina and slow troll lead-head jigs rigged with plastic shrimp tails along the nearby shoreline rocks and broken pilings. I’d often slow-trolled live shiners along the deep edges of a river or lake when fishing for freshwater bass. I assumed some version of this tactic would work in salt water. And it did!

I engaged my electric trolling motor so that my weighted trout lures would bump slowly along the bottom. Using the electric motor foot pedal, I was able to guide my boat so that my lures were presented right along the deep edge. I watched my bow-mounted fishfinder for deepwater marks. When I hooked up to a hard-fighting speck, I would stop trolling and begin casting to that very same spot. Over the years, sonar systems and fishing tackle have evolved, but the approach remains the same. 

One of my favorite Fernandina winter seatrout drops was the rocky shoreline located at the footsteps of Old Town and just south of the mouth of Egan’s Creek. It’s still one of my favorite seatrout drops today.

Today I spend a lot of time on the water targeting schooling seatrout, especially during the winter when I believe some of Northeast Florida’s best trout fishing is at hand. It’s rare that I see anyone trolling for seatrout, even on days when fishing is slow. Maybe it's time for a revival of this technique? 

What I like to do is program my Power-Pole Move electric trolling motor to slowly navigate to a position ahead of my boat. This allows us to troll lures as we cast to nearby shallow drops.

Once a trout is hooked, I switch the trolling motor into the anchor mode, allowing us to remain in place as we make numerous casts to the spot where we hooked up. Keeping an eye on the fishfinder also helps, too. Hook a fish while trolling, and it’s likely you’ll identify structure and a possible school of trout.

Some of the better locations for slow-trolling seatrout lures include rocky shorelines, areas of boat docks along the deep side of a channel, the deep side of a shallow bar that runs out into the channel, the deep sides of large oyster bars, and rock jetties. As for the jetties, what comes to my mind are the four fishy inlets located in Northeast Florida including the St. Marys, Mayport, St. Augustine, and Ponce inlets. Slow-trolling trout lures alongside jetty rocks here is a deadly fishing tactic, especially during the last of the incoming tide when water is mostly clear.     

Some of the more productive trolling lures include slow-sinking hard baits like the MirrOlure 52MR 11 in the red-and-white color pattern, especially when water conditions are clean. The chartreuse color is productive when clarity is poor. Also, ¼-ounce lead head jigs rigged with soft plastic curly or paddle tails are deadly on seatrout when slow-trolled.

A 6.5-foot medium action spinning rod and reel filled with 10-pound neutral colored braided fishing line allows trout lures to troll deep and provides minimum stretch, which helps when setting the hook. A 3-foot length of light fluorocarbon leader is attached to the braided fishing line using back-to-back uni knots or whatever line-to-leader connection you prefer. A loop knot attached to your lure promotes a better swimming action. 

A three-rod trolling spread is ideal. I start with the middle plug such as the MirrOlure trolled at 50 to 75 feet, with the rod placed in the middle rod holder of the leaning post if available.

Next, I’ll put out two ¼-ounce chartreuse colored jigheads rigged with chartreuse or white plastic shrimp or other baits, one on the starboard side and one on the port, one set at 40 feet and the second at 50 feet.

As of February 2026, the FWC seatrout regulations were undergoing some evaluation, but around the state will likely retain a 15- to 19-inch slot limit for the next few seasons, with provisions for retaining a trophy fish in some regions. Bag limits differ from region to region, and season closures may be in effect for the Panhandle (February) and Central East region (Nov-Dec). Check with the FWC for updates. 

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