Had Joey from Z-Man with us today, and we had a very good day. 4 gators in the boat today on 3" MinnowZ with chartreuse tails and Trout Eye jigs. Now is the time to catch big trout. Please consider catch and release to let these female breeders go.
MrSalty the paddletail does most of the work, so just a slow steady retrieve near the bottom with a few random twitches is all you need. Vary the speed to see what works and every 6 ft or do stop and let it drop. Bass fisherman call that “killing it”
Nice report. I recently rejuvenated my love for trout fishing. My second favorite fish to catch. 2nd only to Cobia on arti’s.
I caught a 28" momma hoss down in Jacksonville last weekend.
It’s tough to beat the violent head shake of a trout.
You opened the question. Do the biologists agree that if we were more restrictive on our trout limits, we would consistently catch larger fish? Personally, I don’t fish to eat, but I eat to fish. One problem we have is the severe cold that seems to plague us every few years. I assume it kills large fish as well as small ones.
My friends at SCDNR think it has to do with the fact that we don’t have a lot of submerged grass flats here in Charleston.
Cold water cannot be the only reason. NC waters freeze over sometimes!
I went to the DNR on fort johnson last summer to see the spawning programs. They have a tank full of 30" breeder trout. Trout grow fast but don’t live as long as reds. IIRC, he said most of the big trout in the tank were 5-7 years old.
the lack of grass flats makes a lot of sense. And trout can handle water down into the 30’s(per SCDNR biologists). The fish kills come from rapid decline in temp rather than just a low temp.