Speckled trout are not often thought of as a surf fishing species, but more the kind of gamefish you expect to catch in quiet backwater creeks or around noisy rock jetties. In fact, however, many speckled trout are caught by surf fishermen every year and late summer and fall are great times to target them.
For plenty of information on catching speckled trout in other ways check out the speckled trout page at Surf and Salt. For catching speckled trout while surf fishing, try these helpful hints:
Follow the mullet.
Big female speckled trout love to feed on whole finger mullet and even the larger corncob sized mullet. In the early fall these mullet make big runs, locally called “mullet blows,” along our waterways and along the surf line. These mullet will be moving in vast schools in shallow water to protect themselves from predators, swimming south along the beaches.
Speckled trout schools, as well as a host of other predators above (birds) and below (fish and crabs) follow these huge mullet schools closely. Often feeding birds will signal approaching mullet schools. While species like bluefish will often be right on top attacking the mullet speckled trout like to follow close under the mullet schools picking off what the bluefish leave behind or ambushing their own mullet.
In this situation fishing live finger mullet right in the surf can be deadly on big speckled trout. At the same time, fresh cut mullet is a good bait choice. The other top option is a plug such as one of the MirrOlure Classic Family Lures that closely resembles flashing finger mullet.
Plugs are a surf fishermen’s best friend.
While today’s anglers love to target speckled trout with the many soft baits and synthetic baits that have flooded the market, surf casters continue to shower their love on good ol’ fashioned plugs like the MirrOlure Classic Family Lures. Although Gulp lures and other soft baits may rule inshore, plugs like MirrOlures give a surf caster the one thing they most desperately need: casting distance.
MirrOlure plugs like the MirrOlure Classic Family Lures can be cast a long way in the surf and are far easier to fish than soft baits on lead headed grubs. Also MirrOlures and other plugs imitate the mullet which speckled trout are usually feeding on in the surf and their flash brings trout coming from a long way. Also, their treble hooks mean that you can just about be guaranteed a hook-up in the rough surf, where you might not even feel a bite on a soft bait.
Trout are tiderunners.
Speckled trout (and their cousins the weakfish, or gray trout) have often been given the names tiderunners by local anglers. This is because trout schools are only truly active when the tide is running fast and furious. Whether it is going high or low makes much less difference on the beach compared to how strong it is running. In general, the best speckled trout action will be when the tide is running fast and baitfish schools are scurrying this way and that way, while you are not likely to get any bites on a slack or very slow tide.
When the tide is running strong you want your bait or lure to have some flash, so give it enough jerks and pops to attract trout. Don’t overdo it, as speckled trout favor a much slower retrieve than bluefish, but make sure your bait or lure is flashing in the surf.
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