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SRSO trout in winter?

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  fishon_57 
#1 ·
I know some specs go in/out (daily pattern) the few canals along Santa Rosa Sound, starting about right now through March. How about the rest of them? They can't all cram into those handful of canals between GB and FWB. So where?

From what I read they only move 1-2 miles in their lifetimes, so I'm guessing they don't migrate to BW. That would mean they aren't far from where they are in the summer. Not sure though.

Don't need specific spots, just general migration patterns. I'm guessing deep water near the grass flats, but not a whole lot of food for them there on real cold days...so? I know over in the ICW (Intracoastal) from Big Lagoon on west, they catch them right in the channel, similar conditions to SRSO.
 
#3 ·
ok, trout 101:

A large percentage of trout live n die within a 20 mile radius of where they spawned.

MOST trout will go out to the gulf in winter, they haven't started moving out yet, not cold enough.

The remainder will hole up in deeper holes where temperature and water salinity make them comfortable.

In our area, that means canals, rivers, creek mouths, etc....salt water is heavier than fresh, they can live in deep water w/ fresh water flowing over the top of them. till warm spring temps. move them out in the flats, bays.
 
#4 ·
barefoot,

Not sure spec trout in the Pcola area go out into the GOM much. They do further west in GSs, and at least into La. I understand what you and Limit are saying about canals, rivers etc., but my point is that SRSO has very little of that for the large population of trout. It's not like the upper bays where we have two major, and a couple minor river systems forming the delta. Local trout there follow a well known, predictable pattern from spring, summer, fall to winter.

Not so simple in the sound. Only a couple dink canals, and a few tidal marshes, much of that too shallow for cold winter days. Yes, some trout do congregate in those areas, but if every trout in the sound did the same they wouldn't come close to fitting. Or at least that is what I'm thinking. We are talking 10s, if not hundreds of thousands trout that populate the sound.

Unless they migrate north to the upper bays, they have to be somewhere else in, or very near the sound. Could be wrong. I'm guessing the channel as there are winter time catches of specs from Sykes. Anyways, I'll do a little research later on to see if there have been any tagging studies done that would settle the matter.
 
#5 ·
SWA:

Try these links, La, Miss, AL & FL all have similar migration patterns but w/ mixed tag results.

Multiple studies in Florida showed that speckled trout seldom move over 30 miles and that most fish never left the estuary, although one fish tagged in the Apalachicola, Florida area was recovered 315 miles away near Grand Isle, Louisiana.

Spotted seatrout do move seasonally within a bay system, however. During the pre-spawning period of February to early April, speckled trout are scattered throughout the system. By spawning season, May to September, almost all the fish large enough to spawn are concentrated in the higher salinity waters of the lower bays. In October, with the onset of cool fronts, spotted seatrout retreat inland into lower salinity estuaries, where they typically remain well into January or February.


http://www.rodnreel.com/gulffish/gulffish.asp?FishID=77&cmd=view

http://www.lsu.edu/seagrantfish/biological/drum/spottedseatrout.htm
 
#6 ·
Thanks barefoot. From reading that I would guess a small resident trout population hangs around the sound year round. The rest probably migrate to the upper bay rivers and estuaries in winter, and then come back again in spring-fall.

I was hoping they all stayed in the sound where I could find them packed in large schools in the sound channel, but guess not. For you that fish the upper bays, keep in mind those really aren't all your fish. Throw the ones marked SRSO back! ;)
 
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