Spotted seatrout fishing in Florida's Big Bend

In Florida's Big Bend, spotted seatrout peak April–June and September–November and are around year-round, spawning in May–June, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. May: Spawning on the flats; fish before eight.

1. JanuaryAroundThe rivers hold the fish: trout, reds and snook in the spring water. Work the spring runs and river bends slowly on the warmest part of the day. Sheepshead on the rock piles and channel markers.
2. FebruaryAroundGator trout in the river holes — slow suspending plug.
3. MarchArrivingSpread onto the outside grass past 65°F.
4. AprilPeakCobia on the rocks, trout everywhere, tarpon start to arrive. Cobia cruise the shallow rock piles and channel markers. Topwater trout at dawn; the first tarpon show off Homosassa toward the end of the month.
5. MaySpawningSpawning on the flats; fish before eight.
6. JuneSpawningGag season opens on the shallow rocks; snapper and trout at dawn. Troll big plugs over the shallow rock piles for gags; live pinfish on the ledges for snapper. Trout before eight, then it's a scallop day.
7. JulyAroundScallop season — and grouper, snapper, reds on the same rocks. Anchor on the rock piles: gags and snapper below, and the reds cruise the same limestone at high water. Tripletail on the crab floats.
8. AugustAroundHot water: dawn on the grass, then the rocks and the springs. Reds in the shade of the rock piles and mangrove points; grouper and snapper on the ledges; trout only at first light. Springs stay cool.
9. SeptemberPeakThe reds school up big; snook open; gags still on the rocks. September is redfish month — schools of a hundred on the outside bars and creek mouths. Snook season opens in the rivers.
10. OctoberPeakOn every flat as the water drops through the 70s.
11. NovemberPeakTrout and reds move toward the rivers; grouper closes end of month. Follow the fish toward the creek and river mouths as the fronts start. Last of the shallow gag fishing before the closure.
12. DecemberAroundInto the rivers — the winter pattern sets up. River holes and spring runs on the falling tide; sheepshead on the markers and rocks; drum on the bars with a crab.

A hundred miles of undeveloped coast: vast turtle-grass flats, limestone rock piles and ledges in ten feet of clear water, spring-fed rivers, oyster bars and salt marsh. No passes, no barrier islands — the Gulf just starts.

Fish Scouter charts 6,872 grass flat, 95 pass / inlet, 55 dock / pilings spots in the The Big Bend & Nature Coast map area — the kinds spotted seatrout hold on.

• Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.
• Pilchards (whitebait)Free-lined or under a cork, hooked through the nose on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook. The one bait that catches everything inshore.
• PigfishFree-lined or under a cork on a 2/0 circle hook for gator trout; on the bottom for grouper.
• PinfishHooked through the back ahead of the dorsal on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook; the small ones free-lined, the big ones on a fish-finder rig.
• CroakersHooked through the back on a 2/0 to 3/0 circle hook, free-lined or on a Carolina rig — big trout and redfish can't leave them alone.

• Leader15–25 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook#1–1/0
• Jig head1/8–1/4 oz
• Braid10–15 lb

Feeds in 54–86°F water, best at 62–78°F.

All about spotted seatrout · The Big Bend & Nature Coast, the whole year