Capt. Shawn Foster shows off a nice Banana River Lagoon speckled trout. Photo by Tony Clifton

By Tony Clifton

Florida's spotted seatrout population has made a solid recovery from the days of almost unrestricted commercial netting. Areas where catching a few trout was once a rather rare occurrence are now seeing some pretty respectable fishing. In fact, regardless of where one lives in Florida, it's only a modest drive to a locale where one can expect to find reasonably good trout fishing.

That is especially true during the late spring and early summer, when the action is as good as it gets. This is not only the season when trout awake from their winter doldrums and start to put on the feed bag, but also the beginning of their spawning season, when they get hungry and aggressive! Virtually any area of the state offers its best trout fishing of the year right now. However, if you want to find something better than "reasonably good fishing" - especially if you would like to try your hand at some 5-plus-pound "gator" trout - you might have to travel a bit farther, but maybe not that far.

There are a number of areas scattered around the state that, because of such factors as environment, less angling pressure, and a past history of more limited commercial fishing, are currently offering outstanding trout fishing. Here is a look at those that rank high on the list this year.

St. Andrews Bay is part of a larger waterway that includes East Bay, West Bay and North Bay, and it is fed by numerous rivers that trout use during the winter. It's a massive habitat for trout and yet also an ideal one, and finding trout during the April to May period is not as difficult as it might seem.

The key to trout this time of year is to concentrate on grassbeds in 2 to 4 feet of water and to locate those that have visible baitfish, feeding trout or diving birds. Trout feed heavily this time of year, and if there are any in the area there normally is some indication, such as fish breaking the surface. On a rising tide, savvy anglers move right to the outside edge of the grass itself.

Topwater plugs can be deadly for this fishing early and late in the day, or throughout the day if it is overcast.

Bone-colored stickbaits for "walking the dog" are local favorites, but chrome double-propeller baits are a good choice if the trout start boiling at the walking baits but not taking them. Under bright conditions, a sub-surface jerkbait with a red head and a white back or chrome with a blue back is often a better choice.

On a falling tide, you should not abandon the grass. But the experts shift their attention to tapering grass points coming out from larger areas of marsh grass. Falling water pulls a lot of bait from the grass, and when the current sweeps such a smorgasbord past a point, the trout have a perfect ambush situation.

There is a wealth of such cover in the bay around Panama City, but some spots worth checking on the West Bay include the following: the maze of marsh grass between Breakfast Point and Shell Point; the area where the Intracoastal Waterway enters West Bay; the area around Redfish Point in St. Andrews Bay; and the grassbeds between Goose Point and Cedar Point in East Bay.

There is a good public ramp at the St. Andrews State Recreation Area at the end of County Road 3031 that provides convenient access to the area.

"The early spring period, from late February through March, will see trout moving out of the creeks and staging up on the shallow oyster near their mouths," says Capt. Jim Romeka, who guides in the northern portion of the area. "On a rising tide they push right up onto the shallowest oyster they can find, and you can catch them in 1 or 2 feet of water; sometimes it can be tough to get a boat to them. Once the tide falls, they have to come off those flats, and they can stack up in deeper depressions or fall back to the slightly deeper channels that lead from the creeks to the flats. But once the tide turns, they'll be right back onto those shallow oyster flats. It's very predictable."

Shallow oyster beds can be tough on lures, but topwater plugs, shallow-running hard-plastic jerkbaits, and epoxy-headed jigs with a plastic trailer are effective choices.

The late spring period normally begins around April and lasts through early May and sees the trout shift towards deeper water.

"These fish are moving towards the offshore grassbeds, where they spend the summer," explains Capt. Jimmy Keith, who guides in the area from Waccassa to Cedar Key, "but they will still be relating to those shallow flats. They are just a bit farther out on them.

"I'd be looking for trout in 4 to 5 feet of water on the outer portions of the flats," he continues. "On rising water, they still move up shallower onto the grass, oyster islands and bars on the rising tide, but drop back to the deeper grass on the ebb. But the bigger trout seem to prefer a hard, grassy bottom that has a little rock or gravel mixed in with it. That is where they like to spawn, and this is the best time of year to take bigger trout when you find that type of cover."

While standard trout lures like topwaters, jerkbaits and leadhead jigs are excellent choices, Keith finds that a leadhead jig fished under a rattling float can often be the best choice for trout holding in slightly deeper grass.

To book a day of guided trout fishing along this portion of the coast, contact Capt. Jim Romeka at (904) 291-8052 or Capt. Jimmy Keith at (352) 472-7296.