By Capt. J.T. Duddy

As I sit at my desk at Jesse's Trout Lodge and began to try and write this newsletter it is a cold, rainy, gray day in Gulf Shores. So you would think that it would be difficult to find inspiration to write about speckled trout fishing on a day like today but actually it is not. Because this is my kind of weather for trout fishing in February, these conditions seem to trigger a top water and sub surface bite that can be great. Although we do not seem to catch as many fish this time of year, we catch more true gator trout, and when I say gator I mean any trout over five pounds.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching the weather channel at home after supper and they were forecasting light rain moving in during the night and lasting until about mid morning the following day. So I said to myself, self you need to be on Bon Secour river at day break in the morning, and I was. I motored up river from the lodge about half a mile and started fishing. I was casting a modified Heddon vamp spook which a lure that is a sub surface walk the dog bait.

After about an hour of fishing in the rain and not having much luck, my cell phone rang. It was a good friend of mine the legendary Walter Mixon. He lives on Magnolia River and tells me that he had located some nice trout the afternoon before and he wanted to know if I would like to meet him at his boat house. So I did. Walter and I share two strong common interests when it comes to winter fishing and they are fishing in light rain and using top water and sub surface lures for bait.

After loading my tackle into his boat, we began to idle northeast up river. By now it was around 8 in the morning and as I looked over my shoulder to the west, I saw clear blue sky, not a good sign. I pointed it out to Walter and a sense of urgency came over both of us. We knew that when the blue skies were overhead there was a very good chance that the top water bite would be over.

Walter told me not to worry, we were almost there. A couple of minutes later he killed the big engine and got on trolling motor. We both retied our vamp spooks and began casting. For the next hour or so we had a fish on, had a strike or had follows on nearly every cast. But the blue sky had finally caught us. And although we had a very nice catch of two to three pounders in the box, we still did not have any true gators.

The bite began to slow and after eight or ten casts without as much as a follow, I changed lures. I knew I needed something that would fish a little deeper, so I tied on a pink SPRO prime minnow 45. This is a jerk bait that will fish about 2 or 3 feet in depth. On the second cast, I had a really good fish on and pulled the hook. On the fourth or fifth cast, I worked the lure down to depth and stopped to let it rise. As the lure rose, I got slammed. The fish began to take line, rolled and fought on the surface. As I finally started to gain some ground and work the fish closer to the boat, he decided that he wanted to fight deep.

After about six hard runs straight down, the fish began to tire and come my way. When Walter and I fish together we normally net our own fish unless it's a good one. So when I asked him to get the net, he knew I had a big trout. As the fish came to the top, Walter was ready and landed the fish with one fluid motion. It was a very respectable six-pound trout. We went on to catch a couple of more really nice fish before the bite was completely over.

I guest the message that I am trying to relay to you in this story is that although fish bite in good weather, many times as a cold front approaches the temperature rises a few degrees, the sky turns gray and the barometer begins to fall as well as the rain, don't call off your fishing trip if you have planned one. If you have not planned one, pull out your rain gear, get on a coastal river, cast top water and sub surface lures. You may have one of the most productive days for big trout you've ever had.

On the subject of the lures that we used on this particular day, there were only two, a modified Heddon Vamp Spook and a pink SPRO prime minnow 45. Unfortunately, the vamp spook has not been in production for many years, but can be found on the Internet for auction. The SPRO prime minnow 45 can be found at Mark's Outdoor Sports.

Also, remember when I talk about fishing in rain and foul weather that on this particularly day we were fishing in protected waters in the upper end of a river system. And never fish in a lightning storm.

If you have any questions about this article or would like to book an inshore fishing trip, please give me a call. Capt. J.T. Duddy at Jesse's Trout Lodge in Gulf Shores, AL. Toll free 1-877-228-2486 local 251-955-2248.