Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus)
*Florida’s Record is: 15 lbs., 6 ozs
The Spotted Seatrout is not a true member of the trout family, but a member of the drum family, much like the redfish and black drum. This fish is a highly prized game fish along the Central Florida Coastline, including the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Banana River and Tomoka Basin areas. The average spotted seatrout in these areas will be about 2 pounds. However, much larger specimens, referred to as “Gator Trout” and weighing up to 15 pounds, can be found in the shallow grass flats. Smaller seatrout are often the first fish taken by new saltwater fly fishing anglers. They usually school up and are voracious feeders, making them easy targets. The true “Gator Trout” are complete opposites on fly rod. Many guides and local anglers feel that large trout are the hardest fish to sight fish; this makes them a true trophy when taken on fly. The larger trout are usually solitary fish, except during spawning time, and have keen eyesight and a lateral line that picks up even the slightest vibrations. The spotted seatrout is not known for making long, drag pulling runs, but makes up for this with great topwater explosions and head shaking. If you are truly wanting to put your fly fishing skills to the test, then get a guided trip hunting for trophy spotted seatrout on fly.
Fly Selection: The spotted Seatrout feeds on various prey throughout its life cycle. In the early portions of the cycle, they tend to focus on shrimp and small baitfish. As they get larger, they start to focus more on larger baitfish. They will also take crabs, if they present themselves just right. Here are 12 flies that our guides and staff recommend for targeting Spotted Seatrout in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River and Banana River areas:
- Bubble Head
- Crease Fly
- Fishient Magnetic Minnow
- Fishient Mirror Image Bunker
- Enrico Puglisi Pinfish
- Enrico Puglisi Mullet
- Hell’s Bay Hopper
- Rattle Mullet
- Clouser Minnow
- Kwan
- Deceiver
- Seaducer
Rod and Reel Selection: Since Spotted Seatrout don’t have the long, powerful runs that redfish and bonefish have, you can use lighter fly tackle. In fact, lighter fly tackle enables some delicate presentations to the larger fish in the shallow waters. Fly rods for seatrout can be in the range of a 5-weight to a 7-weight. A matching reel that will hold 100 yards of 20 pound dacron and a weight forward, floating fly line.
