Looking to fish speckled trout in lower St. Mary's County June 18th or 19th

[dsaavedra]

I'll be visiting family for father's day weekend and I'd like to sneak in a fishing trip or two while I'm down there. I've heard the speckled trout bite has been good this year in the waters near Breton Bay/St. Mary's River so I'd like to get in on that action. I have only ever caught tiny ones on accident while targeting white perch. Problem is I don't know the first thing about fishing for them.... all I know is they like 4-5" white or pink paddle tails in shallow water. I know nothing else of technique or locations in the area to target them. I was wondering if anyone more experienced might be going out one of those days and wouldn't mind showing me the ropes. Picking up some schoolie rockfish would be fun too! Hopefully this nasty weather will have fully passed by then.

[captmikestarrett]

A weighted popping cork with a 24 inch flouro leader. Bait is a slipper jig in the light range.. 1/8th to 1/32 nds. A Berkley swimming mullet 4 inch in any color long as it is green/chartreuse. LOL
I have caught them on rainbow and nuclear chicken as well.
The trick is allow the bait to sink down to the bottom. Sometimes a short jig is needed and sometimes a loud pop is needed to get them to bite.
Look for rips and clay banks and shell bottoms.
Rod is very important also. Long 7 foot with some backbone. Line is 40 lb braid. One trick I learned is to set the drag just slightly more than the pull of a good loud pop.
Drag should be lightened once fish is hooked. They have soft mouths.

Hope this helps...
Capt Mike

[Big Mike]

Dave, the 18th or 19th is too far out to determine if the places we catch speckled trout are fishable from a wind perspective. I can tell you that Breton Bay is not a primary spot to target them. While we do catch a few in there it’s more of a surprise.

The guys I fish with are simple folks and rarely mess with popping corks. We’re using 1/8 oz jighead with Zman trout tricks in sexy Mullet or Electric Chicken quite frequently. They’ll also hit 3-4” Gulp Swimming Mullet chartreuse. We rarely go above 1/8th when trying for trout because we’re fishing sand pockets in the grass beds or trolling just along the edge of that grass. Anything that gets very deep at all is a constant battle with the grass, and the grass this year is thick and tall. My preferred rod for fishing the Gulp only has 8lb test so I’m sure you’ve got any equipment you need.

If you can get out try being around high tide, incoming or outgoing, Piney Point and St Inigoes Launch are two spots that have produced specks for us that have launches you can access. Get out your Google Earth and you should see some spots around those launches that have 3-4’ flats. Point Lookout also has trout but on the weekend the park frequently fills up by 8 or 9. Even when we arrive at 5 AM there is a line of 20 or more cars waiting for it to open at 7. You can get into the park 24 hours if launching a boat.

[ronaultmtd]

As one of the SMOG crew...I never use a popping cork...it works especially well in the Gulf Coast, but I have not caught a single fish with one in our region...but that is just me...I have personally seen one of our Snaggedline folks use them with success on Stripers, but not me...and Mike accurately describes our method of catching Specks.I use 10 pound test braid on my 2500 Stradic reel and light action 7' St. Croix Mojo Inshore rod...the lighter line allows for long casts and has caught Southern Maryland Specks for me to 26 inches and redfish to 25 inches... I try to release all my Specks this year...kept one for the table that was hooked deeper than I thought would survive...last year I caught Specks on top water "walk the dog" stick baits...not so far this year...loose grass has been especially tough to fish...and it has been boom or bust...high expectations of success will get you big disappointments...weather conditions have been rough as have been boat traffic...and summer brings out the bane of kayak fishing-jet skis are automatically attracted to our bright colored plastic boats...

[dsaavedra]

What, you guys don't plan your local fishing trips a month in advance?

Thanks for the advice fellas, there's a lot to go through in this thread and I am really appreciative! I'll definitely be reading these responses a few times to make sure I have the right info. I can tell already it's tons more knowledge than I previously had about speck fishing.

Good to know I can rule out Breton Bay, that's new information to me. I don't feel like messing with PLO at all so cross that one off the list too. That leaves Piney Point and St. Inigoes. From Google Maps it looks like a lot more grass in the immediate area around STI which I think makes it attractive... unless there will be TOO much grass. Between Piney and STI do y'all prefer one over the other? Hopefully the weather holds up so I can go out and even better if I run into some of you! I'll check back in closer to the 18th and see if anyone has plans.

[ronaultmtd]

Winds dictates which I fish...either can produce good fish...during the week, I like to fish PLO...not on a weekend, but wind can really kickup PLO

[dsaavedra]

For the Zman Trout Tricks, do you use the "Swimmin' Trout Trick" with the paddle tail or the regular one with the straight tail? I'm thinking paddle tail would be more effective for trolling and casting.

[ronaultmtd]

Yes, I prefer the swimming trout tricks. As the posting on "the best brands" most any paddletail worked correctly with a quality jighead (good quality hooks) will catch fish...we put a lot of stock in time of day fishing...Big Mike swears by launching in darkness and fishing at first light of daybreak...as the summer time heat and water quality affects the fish...if you fish with SMOG you need to be in the parking lot thirty minutes before dawn...colors of lures depend on water clarity...stained water requires darker colors...clear water- white and greens...pearl/chart BassAssassin caught my personal best Southern Maryland Speckled Trout of 26 inches...and a mini Rebel crankbait fishing for White Perch caught a Southern Maryland Redfish of 25 inches...

[goldenyearspa12]

i noticed a shallow area at the end of point lookout where u can see waves breaking a good 1/4 mile from shore. wondering if its safe to fish the area? any advice would be great , its tempting but i want to be safe. thanks

[ronaultmtd]

It depends on wind and tides...it can get really gnarly out on the bar quickly, but under the right conditions it can be a honey hole holding good fish on the leeward side in 3-5 fow...Big Mike, Gary and I have fished the outer bar many times, but we have also gotten blown off in chop and white caps...you have to be really careful of following seas and chop out there making turns and shifting course...just use common sense when it starts getting choppy...

[ski357]

Here's some more info:

https://fishtalkmag.com/tag/speckled-sea-trout

[goldenyearspa12]

will do, i was close to that area recently and a rogue wave 5ft followed by 3 more nearly caught me off guard.

[dsaavedra]

The forecast for Friday morning (5-10am) looks favorable, temperatures in the upper 60's, sunny, and 5-7mph WSW winds. I'm going to launch from St. Inigoes, any of the other St. Mary's crew planning to go out?

I need to go to the tackle store today and pick up some pink and chartreuse paddle tails, those are two colors I don't usually keep in my inventory.

[dsaavedra]

Just got back from the store, they didn't have Trout Tricks but I got some 3" Zman Minnowz (electric chicken), 4" Zman Deizel Minnowz (electric chicken), 4" Gulp mullet (chartreuse), and 1/4oz VMC moon eye jigs. I figure this stuff should work.

I wonder if 1/4 oz will be too heavy, they had 1/8 oz but the hooks looked way too small for these baits. I have some 1/8 oz jigs already but they are just basic Sea Striker jigs. They should work fine anyway and I'll use super glue to make sure the Zmans stay on the hook. Hope all this stuff works and I hope the trout are hungry

[Big Mike]

If you don’t mind switching to Piney Point I’d join you. Although both spots are grassy, St I continues to be a head of cabbage in a blender while Piney is merely half a head. The speck bite continues to be spotty at best. I’ve fished Breton Bay the last two days and had phenomenal large striper action jigging 1 and 1 1/2 oz metal jigs. It’s also become largely grass free. However I’ve only caught one speck there so far this year.

If you do join me don’t be upset if I bail around 830, I’m old and the body not doing 5 hour trips these days.

Also, I’d encourage you to have one rod with 1/8, not 1/4, one set up for perch, and one for jigging. The speck I caught Monday at Piney came from jigging metal. Versatility is name of the game right now.