sea trout

Spring is arriving and so are the sea trout! Spring is notorious for big sea trout and snook, on these large moons you’ll find most of your bigger or gator trout as some would call it spawning along shorelines across the entire east coast.

This time of year typically produces larger fish than the rest of the year. Often you’ll find snook and trout in the same areas and it’s not uncommon for a redfish to get caught in the mix. Look for fish in 2 feet or less scattered along mangrove shorelines, spoil islands, or areas that have lots of docks and even coquina rock. It takes a good bit of patience to find these groups of fish, but once you’ve found one there’s almost always more to follow.

I prefer fishing larger baits such as topwater Rapala skitter walks early, sun surface lures such as the Mirrolure mirrodines and even soft plastic jerkshads with no weight. Once you get a nice trout or snook in an area really slow your approach down and put in a good amount of time in the vicinity and you should have some great luck.

These larger fish tend to stray away from crustaceans and tend to feed more on bait fish, large mullet, pigfish, and a variety of other large bait fish are great options. I like as light as leader as the conditions allow, 15-20 lb in open water and 30/40 when fishing around structure. A light drag helps to keep from ripping holes in the fishes mouth and circle hooks do a great job of ensuring a good hook set.

It’s very crucial to wet your hands and use extreme care when holding these fish I cannot stress it enough, these are the future of our lagoon system, let’s all do our part now for a better tomorrow!