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SPECKLED TROUT
ON THE GA COAST
Capt. Richie Lott
February 28, 2010
Georgia Fishing Report - Saltwater Fishing Report
Speckled Trout
Bite HOT on the GA Coast
(Premier Year shaping up for Inshore Fishing)
After all the
talk about bad weather throughout the summer months and
terrible inshore fishing, the holy of holiest, the "Speckled
Trout" has finally come knocking….
In nearly each
instance I have visited Marina's and Boat Ramps, the story
has been equal. Speckled Trout! And, large numbers of
them caught on a variety of bait. Although each angler
has his/her own tactics for catching Trout, this season
is starting out with the makes of very memorable one.
I visited St.
Simons Marina last weekend to check out who was catching
what before the wind started blowing the following day.
I had high hopes there would be a good crowd of fisherman
there just before the Weather front approached, especially
on a Saturday.
As the barometer
dropped through the early AM hours, I waited patiently
to see who would be the first group back to the dock with
a limit of Trout. At about 10 AM, a bass boat slid in
and tied up. I watched with curiosity while they jostled
with their gear and coolers, and the two anglers gave
us a few hard stares as well. We don't see bass boats
in saltwater all that much and I didn't recognize either
of the anglers on board, so I minded my business, but
only for so long.
The two never
came up the dock and were just standing around the boat
like they were lost. Well, they were. I took a walk down
after about 15 minutes to check on the Anglers and see
if they had any questions as they looked very confused.
They had been
fishing in the Altamaha River (a brackish/more fresh)
for large mouth Bass and took a wrong turn and ended up
in the Intracoastal Waterway heading south and ran into
St. Simons Marina after a fairly long Journey down river.
The driver
said he had never been to the GA Coast and both the guys
were from Alabama. He told me they were lost and were
looking for Two-Way fish camp. I told both of them they
may need fuel and we'll have to go to lunch and let me
draw them a map to find their way back. These guys were
so far from their launching area, I couldn't believe it.
During our
conversation, the guys said they stopped along the way
and fished several "points" of marsh grass that
looked good to them. I asked them what they had used for
bait and both the anglers were tossing black rubber worms
with green and blue tails and had also been tossing a
few spinner baits and jerk baits.
Now, for the
big question I had been leading up to for nearly 15 minutes.
"Did you catch anything?", I asked. The driver
looked at his companion and answered "Yes, we did…
But we're not sure if these fish are legal in length and
we're not 100% sure what they are". When he said
that, my gut hit my knee caps. I was thinking these guys
had killed a pile of undersize Redfish. So, I asked to
see their catch and let them know I was not the ‘Police"
and would lead them in the proper direction.
The drivers
fishing buddy opened up the large center release well
on the aft deck of the Bass Cat with hesitation. His motion
seemed intentionally slow and lifeless and was driving
me nuts at that point. I wanted to know what they had
in that well!
Finally, he
opened it and asked me to step on board. I took a quick
look and stepped back on the dock. I shook my head and
looked down and he slammed the lid shut. The driver of
the boat asks me, "Are we in trouble?" with
a curious look on his face. I answered with only this.
"If I were you, I wouldn't take that mess of fish
up here and clean them". It would have caused a fiasco
if they had.
The boys had
themselves a box full of Trout in the 3-5 pound class!
I finally quit holding out land let them in on their accomplishment
and exactly what kind of day they had. "Getting lost
was a good thing if this is the result", I said.
I told them to be sure they didn't have any more than
30 fish total, so they began counting very cautiously.
They had 26 Trout and 6 Redfish, all legal.
The Speckled
Trout were huge and every one of those fish came off Rubber
worms, spinner baits and Jerk Shad. These guys didn't
know a thing about saltwater fishing, were lost and had
never fished this area in their life. They were simply
good fisherman during a great Trout season.
These guys
were so scared they had done something wrong; they didn't
know what to do and out of fuel. They wanted to ask directions
and buy fuel, but were worried someone would ask if they
had caught anything. Again, they weren't 100% sure they
were trout, but they only THOUGHT they might be. Incredible…
I will never forget it.
After I was
sure the speckled trout were all of legal size and creel,
I offered to ride with them back to their launch area,
so they agreed to bring me back by truck to St. Simons
Marina after we loaded the boat on the trailer. We fueled
them up and I kept the "vultures" off the guys
so we could get them out of there without everyone swamping
them with questions. The boys were nervous enough as it
was and felt bad for getting lost. I didn't let the marina
hang out group hammer them, and we headed north.
The driver
(David) showed me where he thought they had fished, and
the areas looked likely. It was hard to tell with no GPS
track to follow, but he and his partner (Ronnie) were
sure about a couple of the spots.
The men were
so grateful after I got them back to their launch site;
they ended up giving me every trout in the box. I argued
that they should clean them and eat them as the table
quality would exceed largemouth bass any day.
David said,
"Man, we didn't come to catch no Trout. We came to
catch Bass". I didn't have any words on that note
and accepted the fish with no further argument.
David and Ronnie
dropped me back off at St. Simons Marina 3 hours after
we fueled their Bass Cat and drove off. I had a great
time talking fishing with them. They were from Mobile
Alabama and had only fished the lakes near there and a
few North Georgia lakes as well. They had never been saltwater
fishing in their life, so they were interested to hear
about Bull Reds, Tarpon and other fish they had only seen
on TV.
Upon returning
to the Marina, I missed a lot of catches being cleaned,
but every one of those boats caught plenty of "keeper"
size trout that day. This could be a premier year on the
Georgia Coast estuary system for Trout.
The spots:
Points, rips, shell beds, covered mud/shell mix areas
on the flood tide and any type of structure. It looks
to be a no brainer this year, so far…
The Tackle:
Popping Floats, Slip Floats, Soft Baits, Top-water (daylight
& dusk) and bottom fishing as well. Looks like pretty
much anything..! If you need live Shrimp, just email me
for details on which marinas offer bait.
Get on the
water, get your feel and catch some fish… The bite
is on!
Good Fishing
to All!
Capt. Richie
Lott
www.charterfish.com
St. Simons
Island Fishing Forecast:
Looks like
St. Simons Island Georgia Fishing is shaping up well for
2010. Georgia Fishing in general has started to lean toward
spring fishing trends.....
For up to date info:
www.charterfish.com
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