Where And How To Catch Speckled Trout In Florida

If you are lucky enough to live in the sunshine state or to get in a little spec fishing while you are visiting, you will find that you can find speckled trout almost everywhere you chance to go. The best spec fishing in Florida is in the late part of the spring or the early part of the summer.

The specs will have shaken off their winter lethargy, and come out to feed as they ready themselves for their spawn. The spawn will find them the most aggressive for the whole year, and if you can catch them hungry and aggressive, they are as good as on your hook.

Now, since you can catch specs most anywhere in the state, it is pretty difficult to tell you the best fishing spot, but I can give you a few places to choose from, and a couple of good tips to help you maximize your catch after you get there. Here are a few of those for you:

Panama City, in the panhandle of Florida, is a great place to fish for specs in Florida. If you are in the area, one of the best places where the fishing pressure is not so great is the Saint Andrew's Bay area.

The best way to fish is to concentrate on the areas in about two to four feet of water in the grass beds. Look for areas with diving birds or feeding trout.

Whenever you see feeding baitfish in these areas, you are sure to find the specs not far behind. When the tide rises, move to the outside edges of the grass, and use a topwater plug, especially if it is cloudy or overcast.

Consider stickbaits in a bone color and use a walking the dog presentation. In case the trout are boiling at them but not taking your bait, change to a double propeller chrome bait.

If the day is bright, just use a sub surface jerkbait. Good color choices in bright conditions are red with a white back or chrome with a blue back.

When fishing the falling tide, shift your focus to the grass points that are coming out of the large marsh grass areas. In particular, check out the Breakfast Point and Shell Point areas in the West Bay area. The West Bay offers the areas where the waterway comes into West Bay in St Andrews in Redfish Point.

In East Bay, check the grassbeds at Cedar Point and Goose Point.

The Big Bend is another prime location. If you are in the Big Bend area, concentrate on the areas around the Steinhatchee River on the north, and the Waccassa River on the south. The oyster beds and grassy points are prime for spec.

Use topwater plugs, hard plastic jerk baits that are shallow running or an epoxy headed jig and plastic trailer for the oyster beds. For fishing the grassbeds, concentrate on about four or five feet of water in the outer parts of the beds. Try out a lead head jig under a rattling float, but topwater plugs and jerkbaits will work too.