Speckled Trout Fishing with Soft Plastics Tips and Techniques
Speckled trout fishing with soft plastics like 3 to 5 inch shad lures with paddle tails is one of the best ways to target trout. Speckled trout are fish eaters and if you can match your paddle tail soft plastic lures to the size of the live bait in the area, then you will catch a ton of speckled trout when you find their schools.
Speckled trout (a.k.a. spotted seatrout) are one of the most sought after fish by inshore fishermen from North Carolina; down and around Florida; all the way over to Texas. They are very fun to catch and are pretty good for the dinner plate too.
Speckled trout will hit just about any soft plastic that is a good mimic for the shrimp and small fish that they like to eat. The key to catching speckled trout with soft plastics is using the proper technique.
It's not the lure that decides how many fish that you will catch. It is the fisherman who knows the proper techniques when fishing with those lures that makes all the difference.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the grass flats and mangroves for more than 40 years. Speckled trout are one of my favorite fish to catch.
In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about catching speckled trout with soft plastic lures.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn the best types of soft plastic lures for speckled trout fishing.
Speckled trout fishing with soft plastics like 3 to 5 inch shad lures with paddle tails is one of the best ways to target trout. Speckled trout are fish eaters and if you can match your paddle tail soft plastic lures to the size of the live bait in the area, then you will catch a ton of speckled trout when you find their schools.
Speckled trout (a.k.a. spotted seatrout) are one of the most sought after fish by inshore fishermen from North Carolina; down and around Florida; all the way over to Texas. They are very fun to catch and are pretty good for the dinner plate too.
Speckled trout will hit just about any soft plastic that is a good mimic for the shrimp and small fish that they like to eat. The key to catching speckled trout with soft plastics is using the proper technique.
It's not the lure that decides how many fish that you will catch. It is the fisherman who knows the proper techniques when fishing with those lures that makes all the difference.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the grass flats and mangroves for more than 40 years. Speckled trout are one of my favorite fish to catch.
In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about catching speckled trout with soft plastic lures.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn the best types of soft plastic lures for speckled trout fishing.
Speckled Trout Fishing with Soft Plastics on the Grass Flats
If you like to catch speckled trout consistently in any type of weather, tide and water conditions, then you will need to learn how to fish with soft plastic lures. They are my go to lure for just about every condition and time except for first light. Then I like to pitch top water walk-the-dog types of lures.
Speckled trout are denizens of the grass flats. Yes, you can find them in inlets, on the beach, up tidal creeks, around oyster bars, under docks....... and just about anywhere else. BUT they will make their way back to a grass flat that is undoubtedly nearby.
They are perfectly designed for hiding in the grass and ambushing passing shrimp, crabs and baitfish. Your job as a soft plastic lure fisherman is to give them the lure that best matches whatever they are feeding on.
HINT: That is usually a shrimp or a 3 or 4 inch baitfish of some kind.
DOA CAL 3 Inch Shad with a Paddle Tail:
This lure is tied to one of my rods 80 or 90 percent of the time when I am fishing for speckled trout. It is as simple as that.
The inevitable question that I get next is, "What is the best color to use?"
I am a simple guy and a minimalist when I fish. The colors that I use are either white or glow if the water is clear; something natural if the water isn't clear but isn't murky either and something dark like root beer for dirty water conditions.
I usually have a bag or two of each of all three of those types of colors with me just in case the water conditions are not what I was expecting. Sometimes the wind will pick up and the shallow water will go from crystal clear to murky in a matter of a half hour.
I wrote another article that covers the best tackle to use when fishing for speckled trout. You can read that article by clicking right here.
So now that you know what colors to use, "What size jig head should you use?" This depends upon the water depth and current. If I am fishing in 6 feet of water or less a 1/8 ounce jig head will usually work just fine.
If there is a lot of current and I can't fish the whole water column, then I might put on a 1/4 ounce jig head but that is a very rare scenario out on the flats that I like to fish.
The water where I fish most often is usually pretty clear so the white and the glow are what I like to use the most. My favorite jig head color is red.
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Watch the video below to see the DOA CAL 3 inch shad technique in action.
Berkeley 3 Inch Gulp Shrimp or Swimming Mullet:
This is probably the best lure that exists for catching tons of speckled trout. The reason that I didn't mention it first is because you can't always find them and they are very expensive. They cost roughly a dollar a piece and it is nothing to go through 3 or 4 packs of them in a day of hardcore fishing.
There are only 6 of the 3 inch shrimp to a package. The swimming mullet are a better deal because you get 10 per package for about the same price. However, the shrimp definitely work a little better.
The best technique that I have found is to cast the jigs out and let them fall in the water column. Lots of times you will get a hit on the fall before you start to reel the lure back. My retrieve is something like cast, twitch, twitch reel a few feet, pause, twitch, twitch, reel........
I wrote another article that covers in great detail the best baits and lures for speckled trout fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
DOA 3 Inch Shrimp under a Popping Cork:
This is often referred to as the deadly combo rig. It really is deadly for those trout because there are lots of fishermen that like to keep the fish that they catch. I personally let all of mine go these days because the speckled trout numbers have been crashing in recent years.
There are honey holes that I used to catch 30 specks in a 2 hour time period just 5 or 6 years ago. Those same spots today might only yield 4 or 5 fish these days. That is why I stopped keeping speckled trout. I'm not going to keep any until their numbers start to rise.
What are the best shrimp colors to use?
My favorite colors of DOA Shrimp are the natural ones like clear with gold or copper glitter in them. I like to have a little bit of shine but I want it to look very natural too.
The noisier the cork that you use the better the fish attracting results from what I can tell. I like the corks that have beads that rattle but the popping corks with the concave tops work great too.
Speckled trout have great eyesight so you should use a very light leader between your cork and your fake shrimp. I like to use a 10 or 15 pound monofilament leader when I am fishing with popping corks for specks.
You probably don't even need a leader but the redfish and snook like to eat the DOA shrimp too. If you end up with one of those on the end of your line you will be happy to have a little more leader strength.
I am usually drifting the flats in my 12 foot kayak or my 14 foot jon boat so my technique is very simple. I will cast the float and shrimp combo the opposite way that I am drifting and just give it a pop or two every few feet.
You don't usually have to reel at all except to take out the slack in your line. That is another reason that I like to use the popping corks. It is real easy and real effective for catching lots of spotted seatrout. You can cover a lot of water using this technique.
Once you find the schools of specks, toss out an anchor and fish the school until they move or stop biting. When the spotted seatrout turn on you can catch one on every cast if you can find the schools.
Watch the video below to see the technique for catching trout on the flats with DOA 3 inch Shrimp.
Speckled Trout Fishing with Soft Plastics around Oyster Bars
I love to fish oyster bars for speckled trout. They will congregate at the mouths of tidal creeks that are adjacent to grass flats. The trout will follow the tide and bait into the creeks with the incoming tide and roll right back out again with the outgoing tide.
It is really fun to roll into the same oyster bar lined creeks with the trout. The great thing about this type of environment is that the redfish, flounder and black drum will be doing the same thing as the trout. That is a happy problem to have when you cast for a trout and end up with a redfish, black drum or a flounder instead.
I wrote another article that is all about how to catch a speckled trout. This article goes into a lot more depth for fishing for specks. You can read it by clicking here.
Berkeley 3 Inch Gulp Shrimp and Swimming Mullet:
I fish the oyster bars almost exclusively with Berkeley 3 Inch Shrimp or 3 Inch Swimming Mullet. The reason for this is that I am usually targeting redfish, flounder and black drum along with the speckled trout.
The reds, black drum and flounder are very scent oriented and like things to be stinky. The trout don't care as much as long as it moves in a way to get a reaction bite from them. When they are schooling you could probably catch the trout with a piece of broccoli on a jig head.
My technique for fishing deeper cuts around the oyster bars is to cast up current and bounce the jig off of the bottom or swim it near the bottom if there are lots of hang up spots on the bottom. This will catch everything in those deeper cuts but you should focus on the upper parts of the water column if you just want to catch specks.
My favorite colors of Gulp Shrimp are the white, molting, root beer and new penny ones. Those are the only ones that I have ever used for trout but I am sure the other colors work just fine too.
If the water is 5 feet or less deep, then I will tie on the old popping cork to target the trout in the middle and upper parts of the water column and still catch the reds, flounder and black drum rooting around on the bottom. You just have to make sure that your leader lets the lure get within a foot or so of the bottom.
Watch the video below to see the deadly popping cork technique for oyster bar speckled trout fishing.
Speckled Trout Fishing with Soft Plastics around Docks
Soft plastic jerk baits are great lures for fishing around docks. There are often mullet hanging around the dock pilings so the spotted sea trout, snook and redfish will often be keyed in on that size of prey. Lucky for you that you have some 4 inch and some 5.5 inch soft plastic jerk baits in your tackle bag, right?
ZOOM 4 Inch Super Flukes:
Bass fishermen call these flukes but saltwater fishermen call them soft plastic jerk baits. Whatever you decide to call them is just fine but they work for catching the heck out of all kinds of predatory fish. They catch everything from big largemouth bass to tarpon, snook, redfish and of course speckled trout.
Pick your favorite 4 inch soft plastic jerk baits when the mullet in the area are on the small side or when the anchovies and glass minnows are on the big side. Step up to the 5.5 inch version when the mullet are a little bit bigger.
What is the best hook size to use with the different jerk baits?
The hook size depends upon the size of the jerk bait that you use. If you are using the 4 inch jerk bait, then use a 4/0 hook. If you are using the 5.5 inch jerk bait then you should use the 5/0 hooks.
My favorite colors are always the same for my soft plastic lures. Something light, something natural and something dark depending upon the water clarity.
DOA 5.5 Inch Jerk Baits:
I just started using the 5.5 inch DOA Jerk Baits and have had lots of success with them. At the time of this writing I haven't targeted any speckled trout with them yet but I am sure that they will work when the mullet schools are around in greater numbers. Snook sure love them.
Watch this video to see the technique that I use for fishing DOA Jerk Baits. (It's not a speck but it is a huge snook.) Either way you will be able to see the proper technique to use when fishing with soft plastic jerk baits.
Speckled Trout Fishing with Soft Plastics around Mangroves
The roots of the Red Mangrove Tree are seen by us humans as a tangled mess. BUT shrimp, crabs and fish see them as a safe haven to hide from predators. The predators know what is hiding in the roots but they can't get at them until the tide gets high enough.
The snook, redfish, flounder and speckled trout will cruise the mangrove roots looking for some food during the top parts of the tide. This is a great time to pitch a soft plastic lure up to the roots.
The key to fishing the mangrove roots is to get your lure right up to them. Usually a cast that is more than 2 feet away from the roots is a wasted cast. The fish that you want to catch are either swimming through the roots or hugging them within a foot or so.
You will need your professional casting skills to fish the mangrove roots or you will lose a lot of lures.
DOA CAL 3 Inch Shad with Paddle Tail:
You can rig this soft plastic lure with a 2/0 weed less hook and you won't get hung up as much as you would with just a jig head. This is a great choice for pitching to the mangrove roots. Even the mangrove snappers and sheepshead will hit this lure.
If you can get close enough to the mangrove roots to cast parallel to them, then that is the best way to cover more water. If not, just pitch to the points, divots in the sand, and spaces in between the roots. The best technique that I have found is to bounce the lure on the bottom as you swim it back to you.
The snook, redfish, flounder and speckled trout will readily devour this lure when you get it right into the mangrove roots. You might have to fish a few hundred yards of mangrove roots to find the fish, but it is well worth your effort.
Conclusion:
Speckled trout, a.k.a. specks, a.k.a. spotted seatrout are members of the drum family. Their cousins are the redfish, the black drum and the croaker. Spotted Seatrout are one of my favorite fish to catch out on the flats. They are not the best fighters when they are little but the big gator trout can definitely pull some drag.
You can find spotted seatrout all over the state of Florida. They roam as high as North Carolina on the East Coast of the United States and as far west as Texas. So just about anyone who is near saltwater in the South can get a shot at some seatrout.
Soft plastic lures are the way to go when you target this species. They are usually not very picky and you can catch a ton of them when the bite turns on.
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Speckled trout, a.k.a. specks, a.k.a. spotted seatrout are members of the drum family. Their cousins are the redfish, the black drum and the croaker. Spotted Seatrout are one of my favorite fish to catch out on the flats. They are not the best fighters when they are little but the big gator trout can definitely pull some drag.
You can find spotted seatrout all over the state of Florida. They roam as high as North Carolina on the East Coast of the United States and as far west as Texas. So just about anyone who is near saltwater in the South can get a shot at some seatrout.
Soft plastic lures are the way to go when you target this species. They are usually not very picky and you can catch a ton of them when the bite turns on.
If you like how to fishing articles like this one, then you can sign up for our email list below and get a new one once a week. Sign up for the email list below.