Sea trout, Stripers and Redfish
Sea trout, stripers and redfish are hot on the coast! Sea trout and stripers are both on the move. Stripers are moving down fresh water rivers to the coast. Sea trout are moving into creeks and rivers seeking to put on additional weight before winter arrives. Many veteran fishermen are saying they’ve never seen the redfish bite as good as it is now. Limits on redfish and sea trout are relatively new on the coast. The quality of our fishery is due in part to limits. It was common while growing up to read of massive sea trout and redfish catches. The glory days of loading a boat down fish is part of the past. Nonetheless, the quality of fishing on the coast is good!
Our Best Fishing is Yet to Come!
Stripers are foraging on menhaden. Stripers are greedy eaters. It’s not unusual for a striper to puke a menhaden up once you landed him. Smaller fish are usual found in smaller bodies of water. Look for big fish in big water. Big stripers and sea trout aren’t compatible. A small sea trout could be a likely part a stripers diet. Small stripers (dinks) and sea trout can be found in the same water. Sea trout prefer a current, moving water. Little or no current means sea trout fishing will more challenging. Our best fishing is yet to come! Cold fronts play a big role. A cold snap will likely trigger good fishing. Right now our temperature is still around 68 degrees. This means there are still plenty of bait steelers (small fish) in local waters. As water temperature drops small bait fish will soon scatter! It’s not unusual to find redfish and sea trout schooling after and initial blast of cold air. When we find fish schooling I’ll tell my clients not to expect this on every trip. It can happen. Usually we’ll take some fish from the school and leave the fish for another day. Catch and releasing sea trout is problematic. It sounds great to report that you landed a large number of fish. On the other hand, I’m told once a sea trout loses his slime he’s done for. A sea trout isn’t likely to survive once netted. Trying to remove a hook from a sea trout in the water is problematic. A trout large will slam its head into the hull of your boat. My suggestion is keep what you want to eat then target another fish. Small redfish seem to take handling better than sea trout. When releasing a large red (any fish over keeper size 23 inches) take your time to revive the fish. Dropping a large red into the water will likely result in that turning belly up. Take your time! Hold the fish in the water occasionally pushing the forward so water is forced in. Once his dorsal fin raises you’ll know he’s ready. If you need to a sea trout my suggestion is pull out of the water, turn the fish upside down, quickly remove the hook, and send him on his way.
Tide look good through out the week. The tides are building, meaning getter higher. Some fishermen believe building tides means the bite is getting progressive better. Tides are only building to 7.9 feet heading into the week end. Wind not accounted for, should be good fishing!
Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan