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Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
Late June and early July are a great time to target spotted seatrout anywhere in Florida. The thing to remember here is that seatrout, like humans, are affected by the hot summer weather, so they’re less active during the heat of the day. Even late in the afternoon, the sun has heated the water up all day to the point that it’s still very warm when the sun is low on the horizon. That’s why the best time to target seatrout in the summer is right at dawn, when the water has cooled overnight and the fish are most active.
We see a lot of our first year schoolies on the flats this time of the year, but we also get some huge gator trout as well. The two sizes don’t mingle because the larger trout will eat the smaller fish, so where you’re catching school fish you’re not as likely to find the big ones, and vice versa. School fish tend to like the areas of solid grass, while the larger fish like grass with sandy potholes, oyster bars or drop-offs—places where they can lie in ambush.
This time of the year the fish are really looking for mullet, pinfish, sandperch or pigfish as their main forage. Our shrimp run from December through May, so that’s the time to target seatrout with those baits.
For spotted seatrout, I like to fish a black and silver or Bluegill colored Rapala SkitterWalk in the 08 size, which is a little smaller than the normal SkitterWalk. I think the fish really like that size lure and can easily get their mouths around it, and the Bluegill color looks a lot like a pinfish.
The early morning topwater bite will go on until about 8 a.m., then you want to switch over to soft plastics that get a little deeper in the water column. A Bass Assassin Native Shiner, Gold Pepper Shiner or Cajun Croaker colored 5 inch jerk bait is the way to go. Make long casts, twitch the bait twice and let it fall, before repeating that retrieve all the way back to the boat. The fish will always eat the lure when it’s falling.
If live bait is your passion, a live finger mullet freelined, or a live pinfish, pigfish or sandperch fished under a rattling cork will get you a lot of action even in the heat of the day. We fish the baits under corks on the deeper flats in 3 to 5 feet of water, and put those baits on a 2/0 VMC Circle Hook with 20 pound fluorocarbon leader.
The Tiger Shoals Basin in the Mosquito Lagoon is a great seatrout spot in my area, as is Turnbull Basin in the Indian River. Probably the best place to target seatrout in my region is around the Spoil Islands in the Grant area, where there’s a good mixture of grass, deeper flats, drop-offs and potholes.
The average spotted seatrout in my region is 1 to 3 pounds, but we catch a lot of fish up to 8 pounds or more. We really see our largest seatrout, those fish over 8 pounds in the winter and spring, but you can catch a trophy any day of the year.
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This Fishing Report was submitted on 7/3/2013 5:30:14 AM by Seamus and last updated on 7/3/2013 5:30:14 AM.
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