Water temperatures are rising to “spring-like” levels and the action is very much like spring.    For the past three weeks the best action has been for very large speckled trout.     On five straight trips we caught 20 or more trout over 17 inches.     That’s among the best trout fishing you are ever going to see. Two days we had to fight through smaller trout to get to the action with the bigger fish.     Basically late winter:   Trout fishing is at its peak.   
Intercepting and catching trout is not a difficult undertaking.   They prefer seagrass bottom.   A lot of the trout we caught during this stretch were where seagrass meets troughs on the negative low tides.   With the rising water the trout would climb up over the seagrass.   Using five and six inch plastic tails, we caught trout at will.    Topwater lures worked but not as well as the jigs.    Use extremely light tackle for trout.      Light rods and reels but particularly, light line and leader.     Even lures I believe are best if they are the lightest.     Very light lures translates to excellent action of your lures in the water.
Reliable,  even trout are showing more signs of stress than they every have before.     They are fairly well established but my new rule to try to help the future:   We will not keep a trout over 18 inches.      That rule will keep more of the larger egg bearing females in the ecosystem.    I hope it is a voluntary rule that many other people will adopt.   In other areas of Florida the decision was made to reduce the bag limit to one fish.   I mention that so you can keep it in mind if you are traveling other places.  

ntaylor
Latest posts by ntaylor (see all)

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR