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2021 Salty H20 Fishing Thread Part II

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    Originally posted by panhandlehunter View Post
    I’ve caught both. I worked for a couple years on the NE coast, definitely different fish. Weakfish is like a giant sand trout with croaker like markings, yellow fins, and live in different water than speckled trout. They like deep water, you catch them on metal jigs, smaller ones can be caught in the bays. They have them in Florida but you wouldn’t catch one wading. They tend to stay offshore.

    WEAKFISH or GRAY TROUT

    I caught them in Chincoteague Virginia - TIDE RUNNERS is their nickname up there, and out of Crisfield Maryland in the Chesapeake Bay.

    The surf side, I used chrome with and red bucktails, stripped with a slice of squid, bottom bouncing for flounder as my primary, mixing things up on drifts following edges and structure where weakfish held in deeper currents and eddies - that swing around barrier island tidal flow zones. They are very tough to target, and they prefer moving water with a lot more depth than speckled trout.

    When the white, long curly tail, MR TWISTERS first hit the market, and red leadheads were just starting to become the replacement to the old standby SPECK RIG jigs, so many threw before 1980. Mr Twister 6" tails didn't make it to Hatteras and or Virginia till 1985 or so. The east coast standard is the classic bone white / red trim bucktail jig. And I hated them, and moved into Mr Twister tails and our style of red leadheads, chasing primarily FLUKE. WEAKFISH LOVED THEM and i tore a few decent weakies up using them, since no one around Chincoteague Island down to Cape Charles - had any clue - how to use them and or even any knowledge of them on the market. A lot of those old East Coast surf anglers were traditionalists to points, it handicapped them with new techniques and or methods.


    On the Chesapeake Bay side, I caught them fishing 70 - 100 ft down, right out of Crisfield Maryland and the DRUM HOLE area, bottom fishing peeler crabs for black and red drum (redfish). They would pick up the occasional crab setup for drum during June there - the month everything swims back into the Chesapeake Bay for Summer.

    My ex Brother In Laws are commercial fishermen on Chincoteague Island Virginia. Back in 1983 up to 1987, I took vacations and ran offshore for extra money with them. We ran gill net highline and lowline rigs - all legal back then - and schools of migrating weakfish would hit the nets at night, checking in 30 - 60ft of water just outside Assateague, Chincoteague and Wallops Island inlet.

    Weakfish and Striped Bass - ran at the same time during the springs and falls. The big bluefish would bring up the rear, nothing swimming, wants to be near a massive school of migrating bluefish. They feed like piranhas when they hit a bait feeding frenzy and anything that shines or moves, will get chomped with those nasty teeth.

    The largest weakfish I've held, gill net variety and shows the size potential of this species - 22 lbs.

    The world record, all tackle Weakfish was caught in Virginia and it went 19lbs.

    So I've held fish bigger but, they were netted.

    I've caught them as I fished for other species - using baits that fit their profile in the hope I could find a pattern. They scatter badly and are tougher to target than speckled trout because they move with the tides and migrate hundreds of miles - speckled trout do not do this at their level.

    Flounder along the Virginia and Eastern Shore barrier islands - I've seen them 14 lbs and up there, they are called DOOR MATS. My largest flatty went 10.5 lbs.

    I fished for flounder up there like I was on fire - they go HUGE above HATTERAS.

    The darn world record was up there nearby in NJ - went 22 lbs.

    Last edited by AtTheWall; 08-03-2021, 04:51 PM.

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      Originally posted by Capt Glenn View Post
      I always have been under the assumption that a speckled trout and a spotted weakfish are one and the same. Cynoscion nebulosus
      Spotted Seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus Despite their name, these are not trout, but are in the drum fish family, named from the croaking, drumming noise they can make. The spotted seatrout have elongated, silvery bodies with irregular black spots on the upper half, and can grow to 39 inches lo


      According to this website they’re not even trout!!! They’re part of the drum family…whatever, I like catching them and they’re tasty as well.

      Comment


        Originally posted by Capt Glenn View Post
        That is a weakfish, not a spotted weakfish. Cynoscion regalis
        Are you a wildlife biologist? Serious question.

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          Originally posted by JES View Post
          https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/di...ion-nebulosus/

          According to this website they’re not even trout!!! They’re part of the drum family…whatever, I like catching them and they’re tasty as well.
          No, they are not trout. Black drum, red drum, croaker, speckled trout, sand trout, gulf trout, weakfish, corvina, etc are all part of the croaker family.

          Comment


            Originally posted by JES View Post
            Are you a wildlife biologist? Serious question.
            No but I slept in a Holiday Inn Express one time.

            Just a life long student of our fish and fishery.

            Comment


              Back to the green colored trout, I catch a few really dark, olive colored trout around here sometimes too but they are generally smaller trout, under 14" or so and they are generally in back lakes north of the ICW where the water is brackish and tanic. Sometimes the trout I have caught out of other back lakes way in the back country but more salty are also darker looking fish but not necessarily as olive colored. Just darker. And the trout we catch out in the middle of the bay, especially bigger ones over 25", are often very light colored and often have very few spots at all. I guess shallow water with lots of light transmission vs tanic water vs deep sandy water all have an impact on what a speckled trout looks like.

              Comment


                Originally posted by JES View Post
                Are you a wildlife biologist? Serious question.
                That would be an insult 😂

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                  Does anyone ever do any good at Galveston state park?

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                    Man I'm tired

                    Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

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                      Originally posted by Snowflake Killa View Post
                      Man I'm tired

                      Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk
                      lmao! I'm on page 3,348 of Moby ****.

                      Comment


                        Glen in the early fall on the big bull tides I fish way up in cow pastures practically, the small trout up there chasing the shrimp in very fresh dirty water are very dark colored like you say. Those little guys get way inland that time of year after the spawning season.

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                          Originally posted by Mexico View Post
                          lmao! I'm on page 3,348 of Moby ****.
                          Even in death Ahab beckons.

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by kevin nicholls View Post
                            Glen in the early fall on the big bull tides I fish way up in cow pastures practically, the small trout up there chasing the shrimp in very fresh dirty water are very dark colored like you say. Those little guys get way inland that time of year after the spawning season.
                            Exactly. Way in the back. I see lots of like 10-12" trout in those areas. I guess it's the nursery with all the little shrimp and shad in those back lakes for the baby trout to eat.

                            Comment


                              Well my fishin buddy has sold his place in Sargent. I'm going to do my best to get down there this weekend, we're planning on going out one more time. It's been a tough few months, I'm ready to go bother some fish.

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by Mexico View Post
                                lmao! I'm on page 3,348 of Moby ****.
                                Sometimes I wish there was a swipe left here

                                Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

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