1/30 Ochlocknee River and Bay

[slow motion]

Put in at the park Saturday afternoon. Fished several spots that have produced in the past. Soft plastics, twitch bait, and shrimp. No love from the fishes. Headed out to the 98 bridge and cast around the pilings. By then I had downsized to a 2-1/2 inch gulp minnow. Caught a few 5 or 6 inch baitfish. Not sure what they're called. Silver with yellow fins. Surprised they could get a 3/0 circle hook in their mouth. Not much action but it was good to be on the water. First time out this year.

[bman]

sp.jpg (54.96 KiB) Viewed 3747 times

Look like that? Silver perch or as my dad called them sugar trout.
small hand sized. mild - almost no fish flavor.

[slow motion]

Yes sir. That's it. Thanks. Also I misspelled Ochlocknee in the title. Sorry folks.

[Greenbone]

They make for good live bait, I was told by a friend.

[ropeman]

I caught a few of those on the St Marks river weekend before last. They are called Sand Seatrout on the Fish Rules app. Bag limit is 100 lbs! I was told they are good to eat if you are hungry.

[EddieJoe]

Nope, that isn’t a silver or sand trout. It’s commonly called silver perch, or Bairdiella chrysoura, the scientific name.
Pesky little buggers that love a shrimp under cork in winter creeks where larger trout also feed.

EJ

[ropeman]

I found them on The fish rules app called sand seatrout but I heard they go by multiple names. I figured if they were there some bigger fish should be around to eat them!

[Redbelly]

I've always called them sand trout

[STMU]

Nope, that isn’t a silver or sand trout. It’s commonly called silver perch, or Bairdiella chrysoura, the scientific name.
Pesky little buggers that love a shrimp under cork in winter creeks where larger trout also feed.

That's correct, it's Bairdiella chrysoura, or Silver Perch. Both Silver Perch and Sand Trout (Cynoscion arenarius) are in the drum family and easily mixed up. Silver Perch have a terminal mouth, where the sand trouts lower jaw extends/projects slightly. Anal fin soft rays and Dorsal soft rays are also different, and Bman's picture shows those pretty well. Silver Perch have 8-10 anal soft rays (I count 9 on the image), and 19-23 Dorsal soft rays (I count about 21). Sand trout are 10-12 and 25-29, respectively.

Silver perch max at about 11 inches where Sand trout can also get way bigger (up to 24"). If it's over 10" or 11", you've probably got a sand trout. It's harder to tell on Bmans photo because the mouth is open, but the lower jaw protrusion is fairly noticeable (if you know to look).

They both eat well when fried I think! Just need to catch a bunch more silver trout. Fortunately, they often school in big groups, especially during the summer.

[slow motion]

Always plenty to learn here. Thanks for the information folks.