Here it is Thanksgiving and we still have warm weather most days! Finally after two very cold winters we've got the best fishing weather we could have for late November! With all this nice weather the fishing has really been on fire; some of the best Speckled trout fishing I've seen in while around here and the Redfish as well as the Flounder bite has been good too! I believe that we will see good Speckled trout fishing all the way to Christmas this year!
The Speckled trout has been the name of the game for the last two months and the trout continue to bite very well. With most of my charters coming to the dock with there limit and some days with over seventy trout coming over the side of the boat. It truly has been an unbelievable Speckled trout season and it looks like it will continue for the next three weeks or longer!
When the trout bite is on they are hitting just about any lure or live bait you throw at them, but there are a few colors/lures that are catching more keepers then other colors/lures. This season has been a very good grub/jig season with hundreds of trout coming to the boat on grubs. The two hot grubs this season for me has been the Berkley Gulp Fire tail 3" shrimp and Saltwater Assassin 4" sea shad pattern. The colors that are catching the most and biggest trout in the fire tail shrimp are watermelon red fleck, pearl and new penny. In the sea shads; chicken on a chain, salt&pepper silver with chart tail, sweet pea, cantaloupe, chart diamond and 10w40 with chart tail.
I prefer to rig all my grubs on red, gray or black jig heads in weights of 1/16oz, 1/8oz or 1/4oz; you really don't need a much heavier jig, a slow sink will catch you more trout! Remember trout typically hit lures that are sinking down or just above them. Keeping this in mind; a slower sinking lure stays in the strike zone longer which gives the trout more time to hit you lure. Another rule I stand by when Speckled trout is the fact that trout have very good eye sight and with this said I always use a high quality fluorocarbon leader for all my trout rigs. I prefer Stren's tinted fluorocarbon leader material in twenty pound test; with gunsmoke tint for clear waters and tannic for river or stained water applications.
My charters have caught a few nice trout on hard baits like MirrOlures and Sebile baits. We've caught trout the 17MR and 18MR but some of the bigger ones are hitting the good old 52M&MR this season. Another bait that has really picked up a few nice trout this season is the Stick Shadd by Sebile in sizes 90 and 114 with colors in white lady, hollow mullet and yellow pepper. The colors for the MirrOlures that are having the most luck are; 17MR and 18MR's in colors: 11, 26, 808, CFPR, CH, EC and BCH. As far as the 52M & MR in colors: 11, 26, 51, 704, 808, CFPR, CH and HP.
If you would like to go with the live bait for your trout outing, try live mud minnows, small finger mullet or shrimp all of these baits will catch trout. I rig all these different baits on float rigs in waters of three to six feet deep and a light Carolina rig for deeper waters of five to twenty feet deep. Still here again even with live bait I always use fluorocarbon as leader; it will make a difference.
One cool thing that is always fun during trout season is all the 'bonus fish' that you will catch while Speckled trout fishing. My charters have caught a good bunch of Redfish, Sheephead and Flounder in the last few weeks of fishing. We even put an eight pound one ounce Flounder in the boat last week; what a pull that was on a light trout rod! So you never know what might be on the end of your rod to you get it to the boat this time of year.
Fishing Gear I use:
Speckled trout, Flounder and Redfish: Reels Penn Battle 2000 & 3000 spinning reels. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70ML & GS 70M-MF Line: *new line I'm using and really enjoying for Trout fishing is NanoFil from Berkley, this line is for spinning reels and its very smooth casting line! I prefer eight and ten pound for trout fishing. Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in twenty pound test.
*Are you on Facebook? Check out my page Capt. Jot Owens/Jot It Down Fishing Charters LLC for lots of good info on local fishing, fishing tips, detailed live reports, photos and tackle giveaways; yes free stuff! Just Fan (like) the page on I'll have monthly random drawings of Fans for free tackle!
Thanks so much for reading this report and have a great Thanksgiving! I'm booking now and booking up fast for trophy Speckled trout trips for December. Don't forget take a kid fishing and good fall fishing to ya!
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
