Seatrout
The spotted seatrout is a member of the Sciaenidae family of drum and croaker. It belongs to the genus Cynoscion (weakfish and seatrout), which is named for their tender mouths from which hooks tear easily. Considered a exceptionally valuable commercial fish, and an even more valuable sportfish to anglers, it is intensely pursued throughout its range, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Most Gulf and Atlantic coast states have experienced a decline in spotted seatrout populations due to overfishing and exploitation, and fishing is strictly controlled; in some areas the cessation of gillnetting is leading to stock recoveries and providing optimism for the future.
The spotted seatrout is also known as an excellent table fish. Its flesh is fine and delicately flavored, but it spoils quickly and should be cleaned or stored on ice when possible after being caught. It usually appears on the menus of Southern restaurants as "trout" and can be substituted in recipes for seabass or redfish.
Identification — The spotted seatrout has an elongated body with a slightly more regular and even tail fin, with a black margin, than that of sand or silver seatrout (see: seatrout, sand; seatrout, silver). Its coloring is dark gray or green on the back, with sky-blue tinges shading to silvery and white below; the dorsal fins are gray green, and many round black spots speckle the back, tail, and dorsal fins. The lower jaw protrudes beyond the upper, which has one or two prominent canine teeth. The first dorsal fin has one spine and 24 to 27 soft rays, and the anal fin has two spines and 10 to 11 soft rays. There are eight or nine short, stubby gill rakers on the lower limb of the first gill arch. There are no barbels, and the interior of the mouth is orange. Very young fish have a broad, dark lateral band. The presence of spots on the fins can distinguish the spotted seatrout from other seatrout.
Size/Age — Mature spotted seatrout commonly range from 12 to 24 inches and average 4 pounds, although they can reach 48 inches and weigh as much as 16 pounds. The all-tackle record is 17 pounds, 7 ounces, caught at Fort Pierce, Florida, in 1995. They can live up to 10 years; three-year-old fish in Alabama are generally 12 to 13 inches long, and four-year-old fish are 14 to 15 inches long. Anglers commonly catch spotted seatrout weighing between 1 and 3 pounds; fish exceeding 7 pounds are considered large, and 10-pounders are definitely trophies.
Distribution — Spotted seatrout occur along Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. They are most abundant along the coasts of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, eastern Louisiana, and Texas but range as far westward as Tampico, Mexico. In late spring, they can range as far north as Long Island, New York, but are more prominent in the mid-Atlantic in the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland.
Habitat — An inshore bottom-dwelling species, the spotted seatrout is inhabits shallow bays, estuaries, bayous, canals, and Gulf Coast beaches. They prefer near-shore sandy and grassy bottoms, and may even frequent salt marshes and tidal pools with high salinity. They also live around oil rigs, usually within 10 miles of shore. Ideal water temperatures are between 58° and 81°F. Cold water is lethal to spotted seatrout, and although some move into slow-moving or still, deep waters in cold weather, the majority remain and may be killed by the low temperatures.
Life history/Behavior — It is believed that water temperature and salinity levels are more important to spawning than a specific location, because newly hatched spotted seatrout will not survive low salinity and low temperature conditions. Optimum spawning conditions for spotted seatrout exist when salinity is 20 to 34 parts per thousand and temperatures reach 70° to 90°F. Spawning occurs at night in coastal bays, sounds, and lagoons, near passes, and around barrier islands from March through November. Females may lay up to 10 million eggs. The eggs hatch within 20 hours and are transported to estuaries by winds and currents.
Spotted seatrout are schooling fish and are not considered migratory, as they rarely move more than 30 miles, although they do move into deeper waters or deep holes to avoid cold temperatures. Juveniles spend two to four years in shallow grassy areas and then tend to move into the near-shore passes and along beaches.
Food and feeding habits — Spotted seatrout are predatory, feeding primarily on shrimp and small fish. When shrimp are scarce, they often consume mullet, menhaden, and silversides. The larger specimens feed more heavily on fish. Juveniles feed on grass shrimp and copepods.
Angling — In Florida and on the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana and Texas, spotted seatrout are caught throughout the year, although the most productive time is during summer and early fall for overall numbers of fish, and in mid- to late fall and early spring for big fish.
Lures and live baits are both effective. Live shrimp and minnows are the most common live baits, but cut mullet, soft-shelled crabs, worms, and squid are among other effective natural baits. Popular lures include soft worms, bucktail jigs, grubs and jigs with assorted soft tails, surface and shallow-swimming plugs, spoons, and streamer flies. Light tackle is very appropriate for these fish, and many anglers use light baitcasting or light to medium-light spinning tackle. A lesser number employ flycasting gear.
In the gulf, especially throughout Texas, sight fishing for trout and redfish (see: drum, red) is extremely popular. Anglers use shallow-water craft to negotiate the abundant grassflats-many of which are just inches deep-where they visually locate and then cast to the fish with baits, lures, or flies. In other areas, fishing by wading or casting from boats is common, usually for unseen fish that are moving through an area or are located in feeding or resting places, such as grassbeds and shellfish beds or in deep holes or channels, where blind casting or even trolling can be effective.
Spotted seatrout are caught on a variety of offerings because they feed throughout the water column. Anchoring and casting lures or stillfishing with bait, drifting under the occasional control of an electric motor or pushpole and casting, and trolling slowly through holes and channels are all practiced in appropriate places and conditions. Among lures, however, jigs with soft tails-either curly, grub-shaped, or shrimp-shaped-are especially favored, and these are usually worked slowly via casting.
On occasion, these fish will actively feed on or close to the surface, and at such times surface plugs and popping bugs for fly rods will catch them. More productive, however, is fishing below the surface with shallow-swimming plugs that imitate small baitfish like finger mullet, or fishing along the bottom with slow-moving jigs. An extremely popular technique, particularly throughout the Gulf of Mexico, employs a popper and natural shrimp; the angler works the surface popper to attract the attention of a trout to the shrimp.
Bigger seatrout are not typically found with concentrations of smaller ones, and it is necessary to work deeper areas and, in general, to use larger baits and lures for bigger fish. The period before and after spawning is a good time for large spotted seatrout, and this is also when the coldest water is just coming or going. The coldest period of midwinter is generally not productive for spotted seatrout, as the fish are nearly dormant.
Large spotted seatrout are not as widely distributed as smaller ones. In the Gulf of Mexico, the largest trout are taken in spring, and again in winter. In the spring, fish move into shallow beach and bay habitats en masse for their first spawn of the season. For the rest of the summer and early fall, the larger fish tend to stay in cooler gulf waters and only periodically enter the beach and bay habitats for subsequent spawns. Most of the large fish winter offshore, and a few winter in interior marshes, where they are especially sluggish.
Large trout have different food habits than do smaller ones. Smaller trout eat large amounts of shrimp and other crustaceans. As they become larger, their diet shifts more to fish, the larger the better. Studies in Texas and Mississippi have shown that really big spotted seatrout prefer to feed on mullet. They found that, invariably, a large trout will find the largest mullet it can handle and try to swallow it. Often the mullet is half to two-thirds as large as the trout. Thus, the key to catching large spotted seatrout is to find those places where they are located at the respective season and use big lures or baits.