Spotted seatrout fishing in The Everglades

In The Everglades, spotted seatrout peak September–May and are around year-round, spawning in May, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. January: Florida Bay banks and the outside flats on the dry-season tides.

1. JanuaryPeakFlorida Bay banks and the outside flats on the dry-season tides.
2. FebruaryPeakPeak dry-season sight fishing; reds school in Florida Bay. Redfish schools on the Florida Bay flats and the outside bars; snook on the sun-warmed mangrove points by afternoon.
3. MarchPeakSnook opens; snook and tarpon move toward the outside. Snook leave the backcountry for the outside points and passes as the water warms. The first tarpon show at the river mouths and along the outside beaches.
4. AprilPeakTarpon on the outside; snook stage on the beaches and passes. Tarpon along the outside beaches and in the big bays; snook staging at the passes for the spawn (harvest closes the 30th). Permit on the outside wrecks.
5. MaySpawningBig trout on the Florida Bay banks before the heat.
6. JuneAround
7. JulyAround
8. AugustAround
9. SeptemberPeakRedfish schools build; the bait run starts on the outside. September reds on the outside bars and beaches with the mullet; snook and tarpon follow the bait along the outside.
10. OctoberPeakSnook reopens; reds, snook and tarpon on the fall bait. Snook harvest reopens the 1st. The outside beaches and passes are alive with mullet; reds schooled on the bars; trout back on the flats.
11. NovemberPeakThe first fronts drain the backcountry — sight fishing begins. The dry-season pattern starts: low water, clear water, fish on the open flats and in the creek bends. Snook closes the 30th.
12. DecemberPeakDry season proper: clear water, low tides, fish in the open. Sight-fish the outside flats and the creek mouths on calm days; deep creek bends after each front.

Mangrove islands, tidal creeks, oyster bars and the outside beaches from Marco south to Cape Sable, then Florida Bay's shallow basins and banks. Almost none of it developed. The most tide-driven water in the state.

Fish Scouter charts 2,179 grass flat, 42 dock / pilings, 40 pass / inlet, 5 channel edge spots in the The Ten Thousand Islands & Everglades 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 Ten Thousand Islands & Everglades, the whole year