Chasing Birds for Speckled Trout

There are many techniques for catching springtime trout. But one makes catching fish easy and at same time difficult. That technique is chasing trout, that are chasing shrimp, which are being chased by gulls. It is the fishing food chain. When this occurs it makes finding trout easy. The difficult part is catching up to the schools before the fish move on or for whatever reason simply disappear. But there are ways to stay on the fish as long as possible and load the cooler with fish. The key is not to spook the school, so a good trolling motor is key. Another way is to let the wind move you toward the fish, that is if the wind is blowing. Sometimes a good tidal flow can push your boat toward the school without spooking the fish and best case is to have a light wind and tide going in the same direction along with the trolling motor. Schools can produce a few fish to many fish. Today was a good example. The wind and tide were in the same direction and we followed the birds and schools of fish for well over 300 yards. Although this is not the norm for schooling trout, it is possible to stay on fish longer. The best technique bait-wise is to use a popping cork with some type of tout or shrimp like baits. Color-wise can be as simple as chartreuse to combination of browns/greens/whites and clear with sparkles. A weighted cork helps, because they can be tossed much further than one that is not. Making long casts will help you stay on the fish without spooking them. The fish are chasing the shrimp to the surface, so tying the bait 1 to 2 feet below the cork seems to work best. Casting without a cork is also effective. The key is to keep the bait closer to the surface in the strike zone. Another technique for schooling trout is topwater. If the fish are attacking the cork, they will certainly hit topwater. School trout typically run smaller than you will find with spawning fish on reefs or rigs in the spring, but you can still catch good numbers. Best times are early morning and late afternoon, but watching the tide may be the most important time. A slack tide usually results in not finding fish under birds. As long as it is moving, coming in or going out, typically will result in finding fish under the numerous flocks of birds. It is an exciting way to fish, watching feeding trout flip out of the water after fleeing shrimp. Good luck fishing. Hope to see ya on the water.

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