Going after the Sea Trout.

[stimpy v2]

First i would like the say hi to everyone and give a short introduction. Nineteen years young and will be leaving for Army basic training in November, but ive picked up the old habit of FF again haha I hope to get some fish in before i leave. Back to what i came here for.


Im gonna be fishing at Tybee Island, GA (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=tybee+island&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x88fb7f73b7a88301:0x4207db76949a9818,Tybee+Island,+GA&gl=us&ei=Eu1TUNemEoLY9ASnu4GIAw&ved=0CKMBELYD At the south end up the back river about .5 miles) I'll be casting off the beach with 9' 8wt rod at high tide which is at 1030pm. There are a few docks with lights ill be casting towards. I was thinking 15lb leader any advice on the length of the leader?
Also can anyone suggest a particular pattern fly this is what i was gonna use.
Im going off instincts with these two

Any other advice would be appreciated. Most of my experience is with freshwater bass. And if i failed to explain something well sorry i suck and explaining lol.

Thanks.

 

[theboz]

Having fished dock lights at the mouth of the Savanna for seatrout I like your first pattern. When fishing the lights any pattern that mimicked a shrimp was hot. The only thing special I found when fishing the lights was a weighted Clouser type fly didn't work as well as a non weighted shrimp pattern . Most of my Hookups were up high in the water column and usually as the fly would move from the light into the edge of the shadows where the trout were waiting in ambush. Sometimes during a moving tide they would be in such a feeding frenzy it really didn't matter what fly you were using as ling as you got it into the fray. Some of the biggest seatrout I've ever caught came out of those dock lighted areas in Ga. And Ive caught them in Fla , SC and NC but no comparison. Lot of fun!

 

[stimpy v2]

Having fished dock lights at the mouth of the Savanna for seatrout I like your first pattern. When fishing the lights any pattern that mimicked a shrimp was hot. The only thing special I found when fishing the lights was a weighted Clouser type fly didn't work as well as a non weighted shrimp pattern . Most of my Hookups were up high in the water column and usually as the fly would move from the light into the edge of the shadows where the trout were waiting in ambush. Sometimes during a moving tide they would be in such a feeding frenzy it really didn't matter what fly you were using as ling as you got it into the fray. Some of the biggest seatrout I've ever caught came out of those dock lighted areas in Ga. And Ive caught them in Fla , SC and NC but no comparison. Lot of fun!

Cool cool, now i have another fly that mimics a shrimp but it floats on top an creates a small splash much like a popper. How do you think that may fair?

 

[theboz]

Great in the lights! Just be aware of your tides. Long as it's moving so will the fish.

 

[stimpy v2]

Great in the lights! Just be aware of your tides. Long as it's moving so will the fish.

Well i was gonna go in at the peak of high tide and fish while the tide is going out.

 

[theboz]

Peak times are generally 2 hours before high and two hours after the slack. With trout you want it moving that seems to be the key at least for me.

 

[stimpy v2]

Ok ok, thanks will definitely give that a try!

 

[pete a]

Down here on the "south coast", Guld Coast we call them "specks".

I like your patterns however I tend to really lean toward flashy & noisy. My experience has the larger the fly the larger the fish.

Grew up chasing these beauties and use casting tackle 1/2 the time. For this we chunk (we don't 'cast' in Texas, we 'chunk') large topwater like a Rapala Skitter-Walk, spoons like Johnson Silver Minnow often with tails attached, and 4"-6" paddle tail lead headed jigs.

So this causes me to reach for bigger flies, like big bushy slow sinking streamers, often offshore looking streamers. A top speck lure for casting is called "Corkie" which is big slow sink soft plastic plug that can be worked very slow. Released a 6#+ trout on a cold cold Feb day out of Palacios, TX, darn finger were freezing on a 6" long very bushy Lefty's. Was working the streamer very slow just above the oysters in 3' of water.

Thus I most often use a 8-9 wt and throw large flashy streamers, big noisy poppers. With poppers lean big and make a lot of noise like a dying mullet as specks often like a big mouth full. Not a fan of heavy Cousers, IMHO they are what I call a "chuck & duck", more jig than fly. If I want a fly to sink then I use Sink Tip line.

For us the best fishing "speck" fishing is coming, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb.

Under the lights specks tend to run smaller however the action can be fast & furious. Casting is much shorter distance and you can pull out the 5-6 wt stuff. Again flashy is the key. Went to college in far south Texas (Tex A&I, go Hoggies!!) and we fished the famed Baffin Bay out of Rivera under lights. Some nights it was what we call "stupid" easy.

They are the finest looking fish right out of the water, that yellow mouth and big top teeth. Under the lights they are iridescent.

Top table fair, we love 'em fried down here.

Pete A.

 

[noreaster]

Sounds cool good luck with those sea run trout. Are they brookies? Any shrimp in those waters? Wide variety of shrimps and variations might be an idea. I understand that it is the krill shrimp that they feed on when they go to sea, the same that whales feed on.:icon_bigg

 

[stimpy v2]

May have to tie a few things up before i leave haha. But yes shrimp and mullet seems to be the largest source a food down here. Ive got a good shrimp pattern that should yield some success.

 

[swirlchaser]

John will have to help me on this one, I assume we're talking about the New York version of a WeakFish (we have a bad habit of renaming fish up here). We don't have an over abundance of shrimp up here so the main fare for them is worms. San Juan worms, any color from pink to dark red works well. When we were kids we used to tie red rubberbands to a bare hook and catch them during Cinder worm hatches.

 

[ditz]

I use a shrimp very similar to yours in E. central FL but I mostly use a light tan craft fur and medium black bead chain eyes. I use fingernail polish to paint the brass eyes black. I found brown worked too but the tan seemed to get more hits. Have fun

 

[theboz]

Marco the seatrout is a close relative of our weakfish but they have some different habits . I've done really well on LI with grass shrimp patterns but usually in deeper conditions then seatrout. Although I've caught small weakfish under dock lites at Fire Island it seems the seatrout of the south just love to hoard shrimp under dock lites . And many times the fish can be big! A monster weakfish is 12 to 19 lbs a gator seatrout is 7 to 12lbs. And when they are on shrimp under the lites in GA it can be nonstop action on a moving tide with fish all over the place blitzing on top. Once in a while down by Cape May seatrout are caught in the same spots that weakfish generally hold. This happens in the really warm water years.if you ever get an opportunity to fish for them your in for a treat!

 

[pete a]

TheBoz;

I love your quote from Lefty Kreh!!! So sums up most fly shop & fish camp BS sessions discussions. It's all really very simple, just fish.


Cheers,

Pete A.

 

[theboz]

No truer words spoken Pete. JUST FISH!

 

[grouch]

My experience with specs is that they are relatively easy to catch when you time it right. They like to wallow out a slight depression in the sand around them, sit in it and ambush the bait being pulled across them on a rising or falling tide. All you have to do is find tidal movement and cast upstream a bit of and darker hole you see and they do the rest. My patterns of choice was a white Deceiver or a lightly weighted Clouser. I generally fished then skinny water and wanted my fly suspended in the water column and the standard store bought Clousers where simply too heavy. Best of luck!

 

[gatortransplant]

When I was home in Florida at the beginning of the summer, most my specks hit small 4-6 clousers (the Electric Chicken chartreuse-and-pink combo was my favorite) as well as lightly weighted (beadchain) estaz-and-marabou streamers (specifically Grassett's Snook Minnow). I had the most luck with a very fast retrieve using an intermediate sink tip line. This kept the fly right in the strike zone, which usually happens to be just above the trout and just under the ladyfish. They tend to be found in the same areas, and in all honesty, while not exactly table-fare, the ladyfish put up a better fight and love to get airborne. To the uninitiated, they look (and fight) like baby tarpon. Until they poop on you while you're unhooking them. Stuff looks like wet orange glo-bug yarn... gross.

 

[stimpy v2]

Thanks for all the help you guys, very appreciative.

 

[bigjim5589]

Noreaster, the trout he's after are not true trout like you're used to seeing. These are Spotted Seatrout or Weakfish. Not Brook trout.

I haven't caught a Seatrout in many years, but have caught them in the Chesapeake Bay when I was much younger. Primarily used baitfish patterns or brightly colored patterns such as Deceivers & Seaducers. Wasn't aware of Clousers back then, but they will certainly work too, particularly if you get into day time fishing.

I always had good luck with red & white, or pink & chartreuse patterns when targeting them. However, do recall that brown & tan patterns also had there productive times as well as all black or purple & black.

IMO, you would do well to have some variety of patterns that imitate local baitfish & shrimp plus some attractors in bright colors & a few dark patterns as well.

Here's the type of flies I would suggest for Seatrout:

 

[noreaster]

Noreaster, the trout he's after are not true trout like you're used to seeing. These are Spotted Seatrout or Weakfish. Not Brook trout.

ACE Basin Species Gallery: Spotted Seatrout

Cool thanks for the heads up.
Learn something new everyday.:thumbsupu