What are the Best Baits and Lures for Spotted Sea Trout?
The best baits for spotted sea trout are live shrimp, pin fish and live threadfin herrings under a popping cork. The best lures for spotted sea trout are gulp shrimp with a 1/8 ounce jig head or a 3 inch paddle tail with a 1/8 ounce jig head.
The spotted sea trout a.k.a. speckled trout is an abundant inshore species that is extremely popular with fishing enthusiasts all over Florida.
BUT if you want to catch some then you will need to know the best baits and lures for spotted sea trout.
They are actually members of the drum family but were misnamed because they look like they should be members of the trout family. You can often hear them make the drumming sound when caught.
They are very good to eat and are relatively easy to catch if you can find them. You will definitely want to fillet and release into the grease this mild white meat fish. If you can find healthy grass flats you will be able to find lots of trout to catch on your fishing adventure.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida and have been fishing the grass flats and oyster bars around Florida for over 40 years.
The article below will teach you all of the best baits and lures for catching speckled trout in Florida.
Watch the video below and catch more speckled trout with shrimp.
The best baits for spotted sea trout are live shrimp, pin fish and live threadfin herrings under a popping cork. The best lures for spotted sea trout are gulp shrimp with a 1/8 ounce jig head or a 3 inch paddle tail with a 1/8 ounce jig head.
The spotted sea trout a.k.a. speckled trout is an abundant inshore species that is extremely popular with fishing enthusiasts all over Florida.
BUT if you want to catch some then you will need to know the best baits and lures for spotted sea trout.
They are actually members of the drum family but were misnamed because they look like they should be members of the trout family. You can often hear them make the drumming sound when caught.
They are very good to eat and are relatively easy to catch if you can find them. You will definitely want to fillet and release into the grease this mild white meat fish. If you can find healthy grass flats you will be able to find lots of trout to catch on your fishing adventure.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida and have been fishing the grass flats and oyster bars around Florida for over 40 years.
The article below will teach you all of the best baits and lures for catching speckled trout in Florida.
Watch the video below and catch more speckled trout with shrimp.
Best baits and lures for spotted sea trout fishing--GRASS FLATS
The best live bait for trout is shrimp. Probably the best way to present a shrimp offering on the shallow grass flats is under a popping cork. Shallow grass flats are those in 6 feet or less of water. The popping cork with a live shrimp combo is a very effective technique to catch tons of trout.
If you can't find a popping cork grab one with plastic beads on the top and bottom. The low frequency vibrations that the beads make when the bang together will attract fish. That is why they work very well too.
Hook the shrimp and make sure to miss the dark spot in their heads. That is their brain and a hook through that instantly turns your live shrimp into a dead shrimp. Use about 18 inches of 10 to 15 pound leader that is attached to the underside of a weighted popping cork. The top part of the cork is obviously tied to your main line.
Send your bait out as far as it will go and give it a few firm tugs then pause your retrieve. The tugs should be firm enough to make the concave top of the cork make a popping sound. This is why it's called a popping cork.
The combination of the low frequency sound that the cork makes with the delicious live shrimp is irresistible to sea trout. Slowly retrieve the bait popping it every 20 or 30 seconds then pause and repeat. This is the most popular way to fish for trout all around Florida because it is fool proof.
Bigger trout like bigger baits and the free lined finger mullet is one of the best. I like to slow troll a finger mullet behind my kayak to help me find the best water depth for bigger trout. If most of the bites are in 4 feet of water just stay in that depth until the fish move out and the bite stops.
Another great live bait for big trout is a live pin fish under a popping cork. A pin fish will always swim straight to the bottom so a free lined one will be hard for the trout to find in the grass. The cork stops them from reaching the grass and keeps them right in the trout's strike zone.
Learn more about how to use a popping cork for trout in the video below.
The best lure for a spotted sea trout rig is the deadly combo that is mentioned in the video above. I would imagine that more trout are caught with this technique around Florida than any other. I remember the first time I saw someone using this technique around the Panhandle of Florida.
I thought those guys were nuts until they out fished me by about 3 to 1. It didn't take me very long to tie a cork above the scented jig that I was fishing with. The trout catching jumped by 300% once I did.
This doesn't mean that a scented jig is a bad idea when trout fishing. Quite the contrary is true. I usually start with a Berkeley GULP white scented shrimp jig or a DOA CAL 3 inch white shad paddle tail jig because those lures let me cover more water more efficiently.
Once the right sized trout school is located you can switch to the deadly combo and start putting meat in the boat. I wrote another article all about the correct tackle to get for speckled trout fishing. Click here to see that article. Learn more about getting the right tackle to maximize your spotted sea trout fishing fun.
Trout also love gold spoons. The silver spoons do not work nearly as well. Just make sure that you have a barrel swivel tied to the spoon or your line will get twisted up like crazy. Especially if you are using a braided line.
By the way, you shouldn't use a braided line for trout. The stretch in the mono filament lines helps keep the trout's mouth from tearing and that increases your catch ratio. A slow retrieve seems to work the best for trout. If you aren't catching and it is possible to slow your retrieve, give it a try.
In water about 4 feet or less a mullet imitation walk-the-dog style of lure works really well to catch larger trout. White and natural colors are what I use the most but some fellow trout slayers swear by bright orange and pink underbellies with a dark top.
My favorites are the Zara Spook and MirroLure Top Dog that come in many sizes and colors.
It takes a lot of practice to get the walk-the-dog presentation down. BUT is an extremely effective way to catch larger trout. The reason is because big trout like big baits. The smaller speckled trout will feed on small shrimp and bait fish. The big gator trout feed on mullet.
The video below will show you how to use the walk-the-dog fishing technique effectively.
Best baits and lures for spotted sea trout fishing--OYSTER BARS/MUD FLATS
Trout will follow the incoming tide into creeks and rivers that empty into salt water. This environment almost always has lots of oyster bars and mud flats. The best live bait for this environment is shrimp and mud minnows.
Trout go crazy for both of these baits. The good news is so do the redfish and flounder that are probably around the oyster bars too. You want to try and match the baits that the fish are feeding on in their environment when you are fishing there.
A deeper cut between oyster bars and mud flats is what works best for me. Send your shrimp or mud minnow up current with a small split shot and let it come back to you with the tide. This technique works best in cuts no deeper than 6 feet or so.
I wrote another article called how to catch a spotted sea trout where you can learn more tips and techniques in greater detail here.
The best lures for this environment are the GULP white scented shrimp imitation jig and the DOA CAL white soft plastic shad paddle tail jigs. If the cuts are deeper than 6 feet use the deadly combo setup with a white scented imitation shrimp on a jig head.
The video below will teach you the best baits and lures for trout fishing.
Best baits and lures for spotted sea trout fishing--DOCKS
In my neck of the woods the grass flats have been dying off at an alarming rate. The grass flats is where the trout live but their habitat loss is forcing them go to the docks more than ever. This is my theory anyways because I seem to be getting more large trout from around the docks in the day than ever. The dock lights have always been a good attractant for them at night but not the daytime dock bite is good.
The best live bait for docks is a live shrimp or a big pilchard or other white bait free lined. Cast up current of your target dock if possible. If not get up current and let your live bait drift back to the dock where you think the trout are at. You can use the same technique with a small finger mullet to target larger fish.
I think that you know what the best lure is for catching spotted sea trout around docks. Yep. You guessed it. Use a scented imitation shrimp jig or a white soft plastic shad with a paddle tail with a red jig head. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Cast either of these jigs up current and bring them back slowly between the pilings if possible for best results.
WANT TO CATCH SPECKLED TROUT? BOOK YOUR FISHING CHARTER TODAY!
Best gear for spotted sea trout fishing:
If you are going to be fishing for speckled trout all day you will definitely need to protect your eyes and skin from the sun's harmful rays. Polarized sunglasses are a must for spotted sea trout fishing.
A high end pair of sunglasses will run about $250 and a lower end pair will run you about $25 with glass lenses. You can find them with plastic lenses for about $5 at Walmart or some other discount store.
Whatever price range you decide to go with you must wear polarized sunglasses or you can not sight fish for spotted sea trout on the flats. The polarized lenses eliminate a lot of the glare on the surface of the water so that you can see under the surface.
There is something amazing about seeing a huge gator trout sunning itself on a mud flat. Then you get into casting range and tempt it into biting your lure. FISH ON! That should be on every seatrout fisherman's bucket list.
The best color lenses for inshore and dirtier water scenarios are amber, rose and copper. If you are fishing super clean and clear water or you are fishing offshore a blue or a gray lens is best.
You will also want to stock up on UV performance fishing shirts to protect your skin from the sun's harmful rays. These shirts have built in sunscreen and are moisture wicking which means they evaporate your perspiration more efficiently keeping you cool on those hot days on the water.
Watch the video below for more trout tips and techniques.
Best water temperatures for speckled trout fishing:
What is the optimal water temperature range for a sea trout? You can fish all day long for trout but if the water temperature where you are fishing is not good for them you ain't catchin'. You have to keep in mind that these water temperatures fluctuate during the day.
In the Summer you will have to fish the shallow water first before it gets to hot for the seatrout. In the Winter you will have to fish deeper until the shallow water areas have time to absorb the Sun's heat energy.
Trout are cold blooded just like a lizard or an alligator. This means that they cannot regulate their own body temperatures. They need the help of the surrounding waters. If they get too hot or too cold they will die so they keep moving around to find their comfort zone.
Specks have a wide range of temperatures that they can handle which is a good thing for you. You just have to find out where that optimal temperature is in the water column. It might be 10 feet down in the water column.
The problem with thermometers that are on the boats and kayaks is that they only tell you the temperature on the water's surface.
I recommend that you go out and buy a waterproof thermometer and tie a long string to it. Then you can find out what the water temperature is down deep.
The video below will teach you exactly what temperatures to look for when fishing for seat trout.
Best tackle for spotted sea trout fishing.
You want to catch a ton of trout right? Ok then. You will need the correct tackle to do that.
Trout are tender creatures and have a very fragile mouth so you will NOT WANT TO USE BRAIDED LINE to catch them. Braided line has zero give which is a great thing for feeling the bite and getting a good hook set.
BUT mono filament line has the advantage of stretch that you will need to have when catching spotted sea trout. The mono filament line is much less apt to tear the trout's mouth when you are fighting it. If you tear a whole in the trout's mouth, then you will let the fish dislodge the hook more easily.
I like to use a 2500 series reel filled with 8 to 10 pound mono filament line coupled with a 7 to 8 foot medium/light medium action rod for best results.
BEST ALL AROUND ROD AND REEL COMBO FOR SPECKLED TROUT
In my opinion, the perfect all around rod and reel combo for SPECKLED TROUT is a 2500 series reel and a 7 foot medium or medium/light strength, fast action rod. Fill the spool with 8 pound mono or 10 pound braided line and use a 15 or 20 pound leader.
I have used many different rods and reels over the last 40 years of fishing like Diawa, Shimano and Penn.
My favorite line of reels that are out now is the Penn Spinfisher series reels. They are smooth, tough; have great drag systems; and best of all a sealed body so sand and water don't get inside the reels.
They are perfect for surf fishing, wade fishing and kayak fishing. (Any fishing technique that makes it likely for water or sand to get in them)
You can expect to pay $150 plus for these reels. BUT they are worth it.
My second favorite non-sealed reels are the Diawa BG reels.
They are the reels that I use on my flats boat because I know that they are unlikely to get dunked in the water or to get beach sand in them.
You can expect to pay $100 plus for these reels. They are a great bargain in my opinion.
Watch the video below to learn more tackle tips.
BONUS VIDEO--Catch more Spotted Sea Trout with DOA CALs.
Conclusion:
I hope that this guide to the best baits and lures to catch a spotted sea trout a.k.a. speckled trout taught you something about fishing for this game fish. Spotted sea trout are one of the most sought after inshore fish all around Florida. They are abundant anywhere that you can find healthy grass flats. The grass flats all over Florida have been devastated in the past few years but hopefully they will start to come back soon.
If you can find a healthy grass flats where ever you are fishing, then you have a great shot at catching some spotted sea trout. You just have to make sure that you are using the best baits and lures to catch a spotted sea trout.
Sea trout are easy to catch if you can find healthy grass. Bring your Gulp shrimp or your DOA CALs and you will be good to go if there are trout around.
If you are around the Treasure Coast of Florida book a flats boat charter with me. Spotted sea trout are one of our most targeted species along with redfish, snook and tarpon. The best trout fishing is during the spring and fall bait runs.
I hope that this article helps you catch more speckled trout or at the very least helps you have more fun fishing for them. Let's get some lines wet Florida.
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Bonus Video: Catch and Release Ethics and Techniques
Watch the video and catch more trout around docks.