February Mobile Bay Inshore Fishing - Speckled Trout

This early afternoon trip on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay started with a few dink trout using the 4” Slam Shady paddletail. Even with small trout I was already happy with the trip. I didn’t see any bait so I followed the birds and the mullet. If I saw a mullet jump or a great blue heron I went to that area.

By chance I changed things up on my retrieve and ended up catching some much larger trout. I stopped my retrieve to adjust the rudder of my kayak. When I started my retrieve I had a speckled trout on the end of my line. After that, I started to work the swimbait like a fluke or jerk bait. I found some larger specks and switched to the 5” Slam Shady.

I lost count of the fish I caught, probably around 15 or so speckled trout. The average size was around 15-18”, with the largest being around 20”. I have been doing a slow , steady retrieve on the bottom during the winter fishing in Fairhope. The twitch-pause action on this trip was such I could feel I was jerking the lurer out of the mouths from some of the fish. However, I think this was getting a reaction strike as it also felt like there were multiple fish going after the lurer. There would be multiple strikes on a retrieve.

Another difference for this trip was where I was finding fish. In December and January, they were holding close to structure. This trip they were typically in the open area between structure. For the most part the winds were Southeast and I had the best bites fishing against the wind with the swimbait going with the current. It started out with a bright sunny day with few clouds and ended with overcast skies. That didn’t change the bite. I stayed on the water until around 5 pm and I left them biting.