- May 4, 2024
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The new regulations for spotted sea trout and redfish have gone into effect.
The bag limit for trout is now six per person per day. The size limits remain the same, at 15 to 20 inches, although one fish can be larger than 20 inches. There is no more closed season on trout. The bag limit for redfish is now two per person per day, with a maximum of eight fish per vessel. In short, if you have six people on your vessel, you are only allowed eight redfish.
These new regulations are for the Northeast and Northwest sections of Florida. The Northeast section goes from the Volusia/Flagler county line, north, to the Georgia border. If you launch your boat at the Highbridge boat launch and fish in Flagler County, you can’t bring the Northeast limits on fish back to the ramp. You can only have the limits for the Southern region. If the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission checks you at the ramp and you have the wrong limits, you will be fined. If you have any questions about the new regulations, go to www.myfwc.com.
Snook season is also open now, and the size limits are 28 to 32 inches, with a bag limit of one per day per person. You must have a snook stamp to possess snook.
Remember, when you measure fish that have a broad tail like redfish, trout or snook do, you have to squeeze the tail when measuring them. That’s the way the FWC will measure them if you get checked.
I know the snook fishing hasn’t been good in our area since the big freeze of a couple of years ago, but I’ve been seeing signs that the fishery is on the rebound. I’ve been getting reports of people catching lots of little ones in their cast nets. And since the water has been warming up, I’ve started to catch small ones again with flies. There are also reports of some decent-sized snook coming from the Tomoka River.
The big redfish schools that were in the Pellicer Flats seem to have dissipated with the onset of warmer water. You can still find reds, just not in the big schools that were there a month ago.
Trout fishing remains steady, but they also seem to be more spread out because of the warmer water.
There have also been some sizeable flounder picked up in the flats using Berkley Gulp. I even caught a flounder while trolling a fly down a canal against the wind.
Access to the flats should be a little easier now that the northeast wind has pushed some water back into the area.
