Spotted Seatrout

Spotted seatrout are silver-gray with an iridescent purple-blue sheen along the back and distinct round black spots scattered across the upper body, dorsal fin and tail. Two large canine teeth protrude from the upper jaw, the inside of the mouth is often yellow-orange, and the mouth is thin and tears easily, which is why anglers call them "paper mouths." They are not a trout at all but a drum, closely related to the weakfish of the Northeast.

The species ranges from Cape Cod to the Florida Keys and throughout the Gulf of Mexico to Mexico, with the heart of the fishery from North Carolina to Texas. Seatrout spend their whole lives in estuaries: grass flats, oyster reefs, marsh edges, channels and the surf just outside the passes. They feed best from the mid-60s to low 80s F (18 to 27 C), move to deep holes and rivers when water drops below about 55 F, and suffer kills in hard freezes. Louisiana, Texas and Florida's Gulf coast hold the greatest numbers; Florida's Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon grow the biggest "gator" trout.

Trout are opportunistic predators that eat shrimp, mullet, pinfish, menhaden and crabs, feeding most actively at dawn, dusk and night, especially around moving tides and lights. Smaller fish school tightly over grass and shell in 2 to 6 feet of water; big females over 25 inches are solitary and ambush mullet in very shallow water in spring and fall. They spawn in the estuary from spring through summer, drumming loudly at dusk.

Seatrout are the everyman's inshore fish: easy to find, willing to eat a shrimp under a cork or a topwater at dawn, good in numbers and delicious. Guides from Charleston to Corpus Christi build their businesses on them, and the pursuit of a 30-inch gator trout in Florida is a sport in itself.