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Lately I have been fishing the flats south of Piney Island and around the St Marks Lighthouse and have struggled to catch legal trout. It seems that for every 15 - 20 short trout I will catch 1 legal trout. Is anybody else experiencing this same thing? Does anybody have a report from the shoals?

Yep. All weekend. The wife and I probably caught 60 fish for 7 keepers.

Small trout are good. It means we'll have big trout down the road as long as you handle them correctly.

Move up in the water column and stay away from live bait and Gulps to catch more mature fish.

Or make sure your live bait is a mullet about 5 inches long.

="SHOWBOAT... and stay away from live bait and Gulps to catch more mature fish.

What? Didn't know there was anything else.

I've had the same problem in St. Mark's lately. I thought it was just because I was bad at fishing but everything we catch in that area is about 1/2" to 1" too short (story of my life). We had some luck in the East river earlier this spring, including a trout that measured in at 22", but otherwise it's not been good. I've had better success out of Carabelle and my boss consistently limits out over in Econfina.

Just gotta decide if you want numbers or quality. Just like fishing for reds, if you are happy with the pups, stick where you are catching them. If you want bigger, move on. And use other bait options. I know everyone loves topwater, but I think I catch more on suspending, but probably because I seem to have more patience with them.

I've had the same experience this year. Fishing hasn't been good for me this year.

I wish they would drop the size limit down to 14 inches. It is frustrating to drive 2 hrs. to get to fish and then mostly catching throwbacks. Some of the ones we throw back are gut-hooked, and there's almost no way those fish will survive.

DEMON wrote:I've had the same experience this year. Fishing hasn't been good for me this year.

Get up with me buddy...my treat !!

I went to St marks Sunday caught about 30-40 trout and had a 2 man limit(10) and lost a couple of keepers right at the boat by 1pm. Key was to find clearer water, noticed by the lighthouse was pretty dark


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Not much meat on a 14". Would you cook them whole?

DixieReb wrote:I wish they would drop the size limit down to 14 inches. It is frustrating to drive 2 hrs. to get to fish and then mostly catching throwbacks. Some of the ones we throw back are gut-hooked, and there's almost no way those fish will survive.

When folks hammer the 14" fish will you hope they reduce the slot to 13"? Stop live baiting and you won't gut hook near as many. Move shallower and buy a suspending or topwater plug

I fish only artificial, primarily with a Mirrolure Lil John soft plastic. I fish it with a weighted hook, no jig head. I'm not complaining about catching short trout, better to catch short trout than no trout at all. I was just curious if short trout have been the norm this year.

Hey, showboat, I'm not live baiting. No, I don't want 13'' fish. You don't have to get smart.