Spotted seatrout can be easily targeted from a variety of saltwater sources in coastal waters throughout the Southern U.S., on both the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama are considered a few of the best states for learning how to fish for sea trout.
The same principles apply regardless of whether you learn how to catch sea trout from shore, fishing pier, or boat. Simply check the tides for fishing, find the right spots, and bait your choice of the various sea trout fishing rigs with your favorite lures or live baits. After that, you will be well on your way to catching sea trout!
HOW TO CATCH SEATROUT
If you are ready to learn how to catch seatrout, you may want to keep a few simple sea trout fishing tips in mind.
- Check the water conditions. Water clarity plays a key role when learning how to catch seatrout. In most cases, the clearer the water, the better the action will be.
- Focus your fishing efforts on shallow grass flats when the tide is rising. When the tide begins to fall, concentrate on nearby channels and holes.
- When targeting seatrout with plastic jigs, a 6 ½ or 7-foot medium-action spinning rod that is rigged with 12-pound test monofilament fishing line and 20-pound fluorocarbon leader line can work wonders for beginners learning to work with leaders.
- If you want to fish with live bait, shrimp is the best option. Try free-lining a live shrimp on a size 1/0 circle hook. Some anglers pinch the tail off the shrimp prior to rigging it on a hook so that the scent helps to attract the fish.
Once you have mastered the basics of sea trout fishing, you can start experimenting with different trout fishing lures.
BEST SEA TROUT LURES AND RIGS
If you want to get more experience saltwater fishing using artificial lures, sea trout are an ideal species to pursue because they are willing biters and hard fighters. There are a few different types of spotted sea trout lures that are worth adding to your tackle collection. Try them with the recommended rigs for best results.
Soft plastic Shrimp
Since these lures imitate the sea trout’s primary food source, they work well. You can rig a soft plastic shrimp underneath a 3 to 5-inch popping cork to catch seatrout.
Plastic tail grub jigs
Pink-colored plastic tail grub jigs in ¼, ⅜, and ½-ounce weights are very effective at catching trout. Pink is a good color to use because it matches the color of a shrimp.
Soft plastic jerk baits
Soft plastic jerkbaits made with glitter or flash are among the best light-tackle lures for sea trout. Jerkbaits can be rigged weedless using a 2/0 wide gap hook, so they are perfect lures to use on the grass flats.
Topwater plugs
When fishing during the morning or evening hours on the shallow flats, floating “walk the dog” topwater plugs are good lures to try. The sight of a sea trout exploding out of the water as it hits a topwater plug is so exciting!
Spoons
Small metal spoons are good to cast out around deep holes and channels when you notice that the trout are feeding on small baitfish. Spoons can be particularly useful when you are trying to locate fish since you can cover a wide area easily.
Most importantly, make sure you have a current saltwater fishing license, and check your state’s saltwater fishing regulations because each state has different length and bag limits that apply to spotted sea trout.
