Spotted seatrout fishing in Louisiana Coast

In Louisiana Coast, spotted seatrout peak May–July and October–January and are around year-round, spawning in May–July, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. January: Deep bayous, canals and the Calcasieu and Pontchartrain trestles; slow plastics on the bottom.

1. JanuaryPeakDeep bayous, canals and the Calcasieu and Pontchartrain trestles; slow plastics on the bottom.
2. FebruaryAroundBig drum spawn at the passes; reds hold in the ponds. Cracked crab for bull drum at the river passes; sheepshead on the rigs.
3. MarchAroundTransition month: trout start moving out. Fish the bayou mouths and the inside edges of the outer bays as salinity rises.
4. AprilArrivingFish move from the interior marsh toward the outer bays and the barrier islands.
5. MaySpawningSpawning trout on the barrier islands and the beaches — Grand Isle, Elmer's, the Chandeleurs — at first light.
6. JuneSpawningPeak of the spawn on the outer islands and the nearshore rigs; live shrimp or croaker.
7. JulySpawningIslands and rigs early; trout in the deep water off the beaches in the heat.
8. AugustAround
9. SeptemberArrivingTrout start moving back into the bays and the marsh.
10. OctoberPeakBirds diving on trout over the shrimp in the bays from Hopedale to Cocodrie.
11. NovemberPeakThe best month: birds, slicks, trout on every point and drain.
12. DecemberPeakTrout drop into the deep bayous, canals and the Pontchartrain trestles; Big Lake trophy wading season.

Millions of acres of marsh, ponds and bayous — Calcasieu, Barataria, Terrebonne, Lake Pontchartrain, Breton and Chandeleur sounds — fringed by barrier islands at Grand Isle, Elmer's and the Chandeleurs, the Mississippi River passes at Venice, and thousands of oil and gas platforms from the beach to blue water.

• 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 Louisiana Marsh, the whole year