Anyone target weakfish this time of year?
A lot of people do…Hard or live bottom…right off the beach. Also artificial reefs, but get a little off of the structure.
Do you fish for them?
You mean whiting? Yes, throw some cut squid or shrimp on the bottom of the river or surf.
Weakfish and whiting are not the same. Weakfish are similar to a trout and usually found on the inshore reefs.
Saltfisher knows whats up. axe him
We have been catching them all summer and fall on the nearshore reefs… Have to move to find them sometimes but when you do, its non stop action for a while. Live shrimp, gulp, minnows, plastics… they all work
Caught some up on the north end last weekend. Hard or live bottom near the beach holds them in abundance this time of year
The last time I checked the limit was 1 over 12"…that’s it. We used to catch them by the hundreds in Mississippi when I was a kid. Years ago, when there was no limit on weakfish, we caught several dozen mixed in with the 100 or so whiting we caught at Dewees Inlet. They are just like a speckled trout without the spots. These are also called white trout on the Gulf Coast and in Florida…I still call them that. Unless the rules have changed…don’t get caught with more than 1. Good fishing dude!
PioneerLouie
Pioneer Venture 175, Johnson 90
Summerville, SC
Weakfish and white trout (aka sand trout) are not the same…no weakfish in the Gulf as far as I know. All are very similar species.
Iain Pelto
Sea Hunt Triton 160 w/ 90 ETEC “JB3”
Native Manta Ray 14
The limits are stupid. It is just 1. It seems to be all or nothing. People keeping 100 of them, or you not being able go keep hardly any. It would be nice if the sensibly managed them. Maybe 10/15…12" size limit. We have good quantities of them around Murrells Inlet, and I enjoy catching them.
Yea weakfish and white/sand trout are different. Yall may find this interesting:
There is a difference between the weakfish and the “yellowmouth” trout but that difference may not be determined visually.
Researchers at FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Reasearch Institute (formerly Florida Marine Research Institute - FMRI) have recently confirmed the presence of the sand seatrout on Florida’s East coast from the St Mary’s River through the Jacksonville area down to the Indian River Lagoon. Before this discovery it was thought that the sand seatrout was found only on Florida’s west coast. The summary bullet points of an in-house report on a genetic study of the distribution of the weakfish and sand seatrout in Florida are listed below.
-
The geographic and reproductive ranges of weakfish and sand seatrout overlap along the Atlantic coast of north and central Florida.
-
Sand seatrout may be the predominant inshore species of the weakfish / sand seatrout duo in Florida Atlantic estuaries northward to the mouth of the St Johns River.
-
Individuals exhibiting the genetic characteristics of hybrids were identified.
-
Visual identification of these two trout species in the Florida Atlantic, even by experienced biologists, may be tenuous.
I learned from personal communication with the chief scientist on this project that the weakfish of the St Johns River may lose their typical striated color pattern, becoming plain silver colored like the sand seatrout. The hybrid species is also unmarked. Genetics is the only sure way to identify these fish accurately. This poses real potential enforcement problems with regards to bag limits. Please check with FWC Law Enforcement with regards to how they are handling enforcement of the weakfish regs.
Eric Sander
Recreational Fishing Surveys
Fisheries Dependent Monitoring
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
- I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave.
[IMG]http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n541/jimmyaadams/dWG_zpsea1898
To make it even more confusing, I have heard locals on the East coast of FL call Sand Trout “Sugar Trout”.
Iain Pelto
Sea Hunt Triton 160 w/ 90 ETEC “JB3”
Native Manta Ray 14
hey just to clarify, weakfish, white trout, and sand trout are all different fish. I grew up in the florida panhandle and we would load up on white trout down there. the PC name for a white trout is a silver seatrout. in the panhandle we had them all, white(silver), sand, speckled, and weakfish. weakfish were pretty rare though and most were caught offshore or in the passes. also, what is called a sand trout here is actually a sand perch. an actual sand trout looks just like a speck without spots and is kinda sandy colored. just a little reference for everybody
speckled trout
[URL=http://s889.photobucket.com/user/bigcountryboy/media/speck1_zps9216429d.png.html]
[/URL]
weakfish
[URL=http://s889.photobucket.com/user/bigcountryboy/media/untitled2_zps74cffc9b.png.html]
[/URL]
sand perch(sand trout)
[URL=http://s889.photobucket.com/user/bigcountryboy/media/sandperch_zpsceddec5d.jpg.html]
[/URL]
silver seatrout(white trout)
[URL=http://s889.photobucket.com/user/bigcountryboy/media/whitetrout_zpsf03fd663.jpg.html]
[/URL]
sand trout
[URL=http://s889.photobucket.com/user/bigcountryboy/media/sandtrout_zps49398420.png.html]
[/URL]
And, the most important trout…
“dinner” trout
I’d really like to go fishing for weakfish. I catch trout all the time, but specifically want to cross some weakfish off of my bucket list. I’ll buy breakfast and the gas!
yep, “dinner” trout is my favorite also.
True weakfish get huge up north. Even in North Carolina some pigs over 6/8 pounds are caught. Anyone know the SC record…??
A friend and me used to catch sand trout . This was in the Indian River on the east coast using same artifical bait.We were south of Grant , a small place .
We either used pig fish or another bait similar for the specked trout . We also caught sail cats with these baits.
I DONT HAVE A BOAT
BUT LOVE TO FISH> HINT