The money fish on the Florida flats is the speckled trout and the redfish. There are plenty of other fun fish to target, but these two are by far the most popular to anglers. What makes these fish so popular is they are plentiful, put up a good fight, and are great table fare. Speckle trout are really pretty fish. They have several spots along their body, thus the name, and are usually green and a silvery brown in color. They are easy to filet and are especially good pan fried in vegetable oil. Usually you know when you’ve hooked one, because they give their head a violent shake once you get a hook set. The big ones folks call ‘gator trout’. This might be because they have two sharp teeth in the top of their mouth, and its generally a good idea to make sure you have a pair of pliers when you go fishing for them.

Anglers use several different techniques to catch these fish. One of the most common is to drift along the grass flats using a live shrimp attached to a leader behind a popping cork. These corks pop when you jerk the rod tip, causing a commotion in the water that can drive fish wild. Generally you tie a leader onto the bottom of the cork 12- 18 inches long. This may vary though depending upon water depth and density of the grass. Trout love to hang out around potholes and around patches of sand. They hide in the available grass and ambush their prey.

Other great baits for trout include top water lures, live pinfish, and Berkley’s scented gulp shrimp or jerk shad. The two types of top water baits I use are poppers and ‘walk the dog’ type lures. Poppers are simply lures with a concave mouth that you cast out and give a few pops. ‘Walk the dog’ lures float on top of the water and you work back and forth by giving your rod tip several quick jerks. It does take some practice before this technique is mastered, but is deadly particularly early in the morning or just after a rain storm. Now, pin fish can be caught using a cast net and either fished on the bottom or drifted below a cork. This is the best way to catch big gator trout. The scented baits are great to fish with, and those can also be fished behind a cork. If the water I’m fishing is generally more than four feet or so I generally like to just hook them to a jig head and tight line them on the bottom.
Red fish are easy to identify because they are red. They have huge scales on them that remind you of coke bottles. Blackened red fish are excellent table fair. These fish are fighters, and some can pull like a small shark. Just like trout they love shrimp fished behind popping corks and will also take scented baits. Target these fish along the many creek mouths that flow out into the Gulf. Concentrate on fishing points and deeper holes. Red fish also love gold spoons, spinner baits with jerk shad, and jerk shad by themselves. Another red fish favorite is pieces of cut mullet.

Trout and red fish are awesome table fare and can be caught wading, from a boat, and a kayak. For more information on the Florida flats check out gulfcoastfishing.webs.com.