Species guide
Nothing on this coast rewards good timing like a speckled trout. Get the first two hours of light with moving water and you look like a professional; sleep in and you'll swear the bay is empty. The trout is why the bite score exists.
April through June is the main event: big female trout — the gator trout of local legend — prowl shallow grass and bar edges at dawn, and a walked topwater in low light is as exciting as inshore fishing gets. Summer splits the day in two, with a short honest bite at gray light and a fine night bite around dock lights and bridges. October and November regroup the fish over deeper grass and shell in the bays, feeding hard ahead of winter. Cold water stacks them in rivers, dredged holes, and deep canals, where a slow soft plastic crawled across bottom takes the biggest fish of the year. Note that Florida closes trout harvest in February; Alabama stays open year-round.
Trout feed when the water moves and sulk when it doesn't. The first hour of current after a tide change is the most reliable window on the whole forecast. They also care about water quality more than redfish do: find the clean, green edge after a blow, and the trout are usually on the clean side of it. Slick calm mornings favor long casts and quiet baits; a light chop actually helps the topwater bite.
The popping cork with a live shrimp is the coast's universal trout rig for a reason: the pop imitates feeding, the shrimp closes the deal. Soft plastics on an ⅛–¼ oz jighead do the same work faster and find the better fish. At first light in spring, a topwater — Skitter Walk, Top Dog, Spook — walked over grass draws the strikes you remember all year. Live croaker in summer is the big-trout specialist's bait. Light spinning gear, 10–15 lb braid, and a 15–20 lb fluorocarbon leader covers all of it.
Pensacola anglers work the grass of Santa Rosa Sound and East Bay early, then the bridge shadow lines. At Perdido Key, the Old River grass and dock lights hold fish most of the year. Gulf Shores fishes Little Lagoon and the pier's bait schools. Mobile Bay is a trout factory: the causeway rips, the gas rigs, and the bars on either shore, with birds marking the deep schools in November. Dauphin Island's bridge and grass behind the island round out the tour.
Florida: 15–19" slot, three per person, one over 19" per vessel, closed in February. Alabama: 15–22" slot, six per person, one over 22". Big spring females are the future of the fishery — take a photo and put the gators back.
Late April through June for big fish in shallow water, and October–November for numbers over deeper grass and shell. In summer, fish the first two hours of daylight or go at night around dock lights.
A live shrimp about 24–30 inches under a popping cork, worked with sharp pops and long pauses over grass in 2–5 feet of water. Soft plastics on a light jighead are the faster search tool.
In Florida's western Panhandle, trout harvest is closed during February; catch-and-release is still allowed. Alabama waters remain open, so Mobile Bay and Dauphin Island stay in play.
Yes, in deep, slow places: rivers, dredged holes, and canals. Fish the warmest afternoons of the week with a soft plastic crawled on bottom, and expect fewer but bigger bites.
Links may become affiliate links that support the site at no cost to you. Any decent local tackle shop carries the same gear — the bait shops listed on each conditions page will point you right.
Conditions decide more than tackle does. The live dashboard scores the morning from NOAA tide swing, wind, and sky for six local waters, with solunar windows and marine alerts.
Seasons, size limits, bag limits, and closures change. Verify with Florida FWC and Outdoor Alabama before keeping fish.