The Most Sought-after Freshwater Fish: The Speckled Trout
The speckled trout is one of the most popular sport fish in the northern Atlantic. The speckled trout is native to eastern North America from the Atlantic seaboard to Massachusetts, south along the Appalachian Mountains, west to Minnesota and north to Hudson Bay. It is found in a range of waters from tiny ponds to large rivers, lakes, and salt water estuaries. Its popularity as a sport fish has resulted in speckled trout introductions throughout the world.
The speckled trout is also known by the names spotted sea trout, specks, yellow-mouths, and paper-mouths. They are typically 14-18 inches in length and weigh one to three pounds. They enjoy coastal areas where they find sandy or muddy bottoms.
To know if you have spotted a speckled trout in freshwater, look at the adult to see if the back and sides are green to dark brown and black. They usually have light-colored wavy lines on their upper back, dorsal fin and upper part of the tail fin. Red spots surrounded by blue halos and many light spots are usually present on the sides. However, adult speckled trout in saltwater are silvery on the sides and dark blue or green on the back with pale red spots visible on the sides as well as the white leading edge on the fins.
Did you know that speckled trout are our most sought-after freshwater fish? They are best caught with spinning tackle, bait, and flies. Watch your fingers when reeling your speckled trout in since some large speckled trout have been known to eat small mammals such as mice and shrews! Speckled trout can be caught by drift fishing, bottom fishing, wading and surf fishing, giving anglers of all styles an opportunity to catch this fish.
Below is a list of resources we've compiled that will give you more information on speckled trout to help you catch this beauty.
Be sure to also check out our pages that feature Trout Fishing Tips
, Trout Recipes
, Trout Pictures
, Trout Bait
, and Trout Flies
elsewhere on this site.
