Mastering the fishery for seatrout along Florida's most populated coastline involves understanding and searching out prime habitat.

This is true for all angling efforts, but is especially necessary along Florida's Gold Coast, where development has reduced seatrout habitat significantly, albeit in different ways.

Remember that the spotted seatrout's entire life cycle revolves around inshore sea grass bottom. The larger and more varied the size of this grassy habitat, the more seatrout it can hold. Couple this with large surrounding bays featuring a brackish ecology backed up by some mangroves, and you're really in business!

The inland waters from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale simply don't have this kind of habitat that supports a large seatrout population. To the south, however, Miami's North and South Biscayne Bay feature widened inland waters with extensive sea grass beds and excellent seatrout fishing.

The habits and feeding preferences of Gold Coast seatrout reflect the general tendencies of the species statewide. The temperate, moderate days of spring and fall are very much to the liking of "spotsides." The months of March, April, May, October, and November are peak times to pursue these fish, since the conditions can often produce an all-day "bite."

The chill of winter dictates afternoon fishing, and the heat of summer encourages early and late angling efforts. Fortunately, spring and fall keep seatrout fishing endeavors to more civilized, less red-eyed times.

Fall fishing for Gold Coast seatrout also involves seasonal specifics. This is a time when there's less daylight, caused by the shorter days, as well as the cloud systems associated with cold fronts cascading through the region.

Aficionados know that seatrout generally seem to bite better in a low-light setting. Fall brings increased winds from fronts and high-pressure cells that follow fronts, and those winds create surface wavelets over the grass flats.

Such conditions make seatrout more likely to strike. You find that these spotted predators, as "ambush and lunge" feeders at this time of year, have less chance to examine your offerings for authenticity.

Of equal importance is that the fall season brings the annual heralded mullet run into the Gold Coast. This event can run from late September well into November by the time the baitfish reach the inside grass flats of North and South Biscayne Bay. As the mullet mill, hurdle, or shower down the mainland side flats, you can be sure the trout are feeding on them from below.

As November wears on, shrimp runs take the place of the mullet in Dade County and again stimulate the seatrout's predatory instinct. These may be different grass flats than those that featured mullet runs, but the resulting action is the same.

Another bonus of Gold Coast seatrout is the unexpectedly large proportions of "gator" trout that Biscayne Bay offers up. That is particularly true of the North Bay section of Dade County.

Some anglers have theorized that North Bay trout often run bigger than in South Bay due to less angling pressure in the more urbanized, less picturesque north section. While this may be true, a broader explanation would include the huge amount of baitfish -- such as glass minnows, whitebait, and mullet -- that funnel through the smaller North Bay. This gives the North Bay seatrout a proportionately much higher protein potential per square mile than South Bay.

Gator experts also know that large trout love large finfish meals, a fact that backs up that second theory. Regardless of the whys and wherefores, your seatrout efforts in northern Biscayne Bay may result in a trophy-sized trout that keeps you coming back for more!