Florida Spotted Sea Trout Are Back by Basil Dubrosky

Posted on February 15, 2020 by VHFC

On February 14, Ken, another NJ fisherman, and I had the best day we ever had down here in Sarasota. We lost count of the number of trout we caught in the thick fog in Sarasota Bay. We also caught and brought home 4 Spanish Mackerel. The fish were caught mostly on soft plastic jigs but several trout and Spanish were caught on Mirror Lure suspending plugs. We were fishing grass flats near an inlet. Reminded me of the time weakfish were plentiful in NJ. These trout love similar patterns to those we used on weakfish back in the days.

There is still a moratorium on keeping trout but there seems to be more trout around now than before the red tide invasion last year. January and most of February were very slow fishing due to cold weather and wind but the recent warm temperatures have turned the fish on.

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.