How long do speckled trout live?
Speckled trout can live for up to 12 years of age if they are females. The males of the species are lucky to live past 5 years of age and more than 70% of the speckled trout in any given ecosystem are 3 years old or younger.
There is an extremely high mortality rate among smaller speckled trout because of predation and environmental issues like dying sea grass and polluted water systems.
The speckled trout a.k.a. speck a.k.a. spotted sea trout a.k.a. mustard mouth are one of the most popular inshore fish species that are sought out by anglers from the Northeast Coast of the United States all of the way down to and including Mexico.
Speckled trout are relatively easy to catch and will respond well to live baits, dead baits and fishing lures. This is probably one of the reasons that they are so popular wherever they can be found.
The author of this article is a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN along the Treasure Coast of Florida. He has been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, we will talk about the oldest and largest spotted seatrout and the best way to catch them.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the lifespan of a speckled trout.
Speckled trout can live for up to 12 years of age if they are females. The males of the species are lucky to live past 5 years of age and more than 70% of the speckled trout in any given ecosystem are 3 years old or younger.
There is an extremely high mortality rate among smaller speckled trout because of predation and environmental issues like dying sea grass and polluted water systems.
The speckled trout a.k.a. speck a.k.a. spotted sea trout a.k.a. mustard mouth are one of the most popular inshore fish species that are sought out by anglers from the Northeast Coast of the United States all of the way down to and including Mexico.
Speckled trout are relatively easy to catch and will respond well to live baits, dead baits and fishing lures. This is probably one of the reasons that they are so popular wherever they can be found.
The author of this article is a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN along the Treasure Coast of Florida. He has been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, we will talk about the oldest and largest spotted seatrout and the best way to catch them.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the lifespan of a speckled trout.
Most of the speckled trout that anglers catch are less than 2 pounds. These fish can be male or female but once you start to get into those 25 inch plus sized fish, then you are catching older female trout at that point.
The young spotted seatrout are mostly preying upon crustaceans like small crabs and shrimp. As they grow in size their appetites for larger and more varied prey items increase as well. Medium sized speckled trout will also eat small fish like scaled sardines, pin fish, small mullet, minnows, and thread fin herrings.
The older and larger seatrout are almost exclusively fish eaters. A large speckled trout can eat a fish that is more than half its size. This means that a 25 inch speckled trout can eat a mullet that is 12 to 14 inches in length. These older speckled trout are looking for food sources that will allow them to feed less often. That is why they are most interested in very large fish to eat.
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The bottom line is that if you want to catch one of those older 6 to 10 pound speckled trout, then you will want to use a big bait. A big mullet or a big mullet imitation lure is going to be your best bet. A walk-the-dog type of top water lure is my bait of choice first thing in the morning or later in the day when the trout are in shallow water.
I wrote another article on this website that covers in great detail how to catch a spotted seatrout. You can learn the best baits and lures and how to target them. Click here to see that article.
Speckled trout can reach sexual maturity between one and two years of age. The spawn can happen multiple times during the year with younger and smaller females laying 100,000 eggs. The older and larger females can lay up to one million eggs during each of their spawns.
The goal of the female trout is to find a great nursery area for their baby fry. This is usually some place with lots of sea grass and or oyster bars. The newly hatched baby trout can hide very well in those environments and also find lots of forage to fill their insatiable hunger.
The oldest and largest female speckled trout can reach weights up to 15 plus pounds and reach a length of 36 inches plus as well. Those are some huge speckled trout that have really beaten the odds to grow to those sizes.
Those big breeders are extremely important to the continuation of the species so be careful with those big fat sows when you are lucky enough to catch one. They are the future of the speckled trout populations wherever they are found.
Conclusion:
Speckled seatrout are one of the most popular inshore saltwater species of fish for anglers to target. They are great fun to catch and are pretty good to eat as well. They will readily hit lures like top water plugs and jigs as well as live and dead bait.
I created a FREE online speckled trout fishing course that you can find on this website. It covers in great detail all of the ins and outs of catching spotted seatrout. You can access that fishing course by clicking right here.
Speckled trout can get relatively old and rarely can live to be a decade or more in age. Those big females are pumping out millions of eggs per year and they will need to if their habitats keep disappearing like they have been for the last 20 years.
The grass flats and oyster bars are becoming more and more scarce which means that speckled seatrout are becoming more and more scarce too. Grass flats and speckled trout go together like beer and college football so hopefully we can figure out how to keep our inshore grass flats healthy for many years to come.
I hope that this article about how long speckled trout can live was useful to you. I also hope that you can be lucky enough to catch one of those huge females at some point in your life. Good luck and see you on the next fishing article.
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