Your Guide To Louisiana’s 2024 Speckled Trout Spring Pattern

The speckled trout spring pattern is productive, but poses its own unique challenges from the rest of the year. In this guide you will learn what you need to know: the behavior of speckled trout, where to find them and which tackle works best.

Be prepared to use your tabs, because there's a lot of useful resources linked in below!

Everything You Need To Successfully Catch Speckled Trout During The Spring Pattern On Louisiana's Coast

It's that time of year when the grass is growing greener, flowers are blooming and the weather is just plain nice outside!

Perhaps you're getting your boat ready because the fishing is stepping up and you want to know where some trout are.

Well, you've come to the right place, not just to find good fishing spots, but find good fishing spots on your own.

So, let's get started by detailing the speckled trout spring pattern in these steps, or use the menu below to jump to your favorite part.

Why See The Big Picture?

The marsh is like a giant puzzle, with things like conditions and fish behavior being the smaller pieces you must put together.

Perhaps you've put together a few puzzles and know you can look at the box it came in to see what it looks like when finished. 

Without that "bigger picture" it'd be pretty hard to identify the pieces you need to complete the puzzle because you'd have no idea what you're putting together in the first place!

Pretty easy, right? But how did they end up in the marsh in the first place?

Let's cover that next.

Brief Rundown Of The Speckled Trout Winter Pattern

During the winter time, when water temps were in the mid-40s to low-50s, speckled trout were found hiding out in deep and stable "holes" inside the marsh.

It's in these spots they hunkered down to hide from rapidly dropping water levels and temperatures brought on by cold fronts.

Once the front passed and weather stabilized, they'd come out to feed, mostly on demersal finfish since the fall shrimp migration has long since been over.

When they do, it will be for short periods of time, since they are in "survival mode" and don't have to do anything but make it through the winter.

But, with the coming of spring, their priorities change.

Speckled Trout Spring Pattern Begins

The spring pattern for speckled trout begins in March or April, depending on a couple conditions:

Important Details

To be clear, we like to see water temperature stabilized in the 60s, not brief spikes of warm weather.

After that, we look for the photoperiod to grow longer (photoperiod is just a fancy ten dollar word describing the length of day).

Dominant Weather Patterns

Just like winter, the dominant weather pattern of the speckled trout spring pattern is the cold front.

Several conditions change when they sweep across the marsh:

Though not all cold fronts are the same, they all tend to drop the water level, cool it down, make it dirty (though not everywhere), and cause light conditions to go from overcast to bluebird. 

As they do, speckled trout speckled trout will react accordingly, as they did during the winter pattern.

Don't Forget Rain!

Rain is a big factor we must pay attention to!

No, not the rain landing in the marsh, but rain that's been falling across the United States all winter long, and the snow that melts once spring arrives.

All that water eventually drains to the Mississippi River and will come our way to Louisiana, raising the river level as it does.

This additional river water flows across the marsh and open bays, causing speckled trout to depart for cleaner and saltier waters.

If there's enough rain, spillways will be opened, dumping additional river water into the surrounding area.

Note Concerning Long Term Mississippi River Cycles

The Mighty Mississippi does not flood and recede the same amount at the same time each year

Each year is different, and it really depends on how much rainfall the North American continent sees.

For example, during the late 90s and early 2000s, we saw an unusually low river that resulted in a phenomena I have termed a saltening.

When this happened, the speckled trout fishing was the best we had seen in a very long time and, simultaneously, many state record speckled trout were landed.

The opposite of a saltening would be a freshening, and we had one occur from 2011 to 2020. 

This significantly impacted our speckled trout fishing in a bad way, ultimately resulting in lower numbers and a reduction in the speckled trout creel limit.

I wrote about The Freshening in this article, and there you will find lots of graphs and evidence to support my idea.

But where are we now?

Well, it appears we are in another Saltening, and you can learn more about it in this article.

Primary Forage

So far we know how river water, cold fronts and the need to spawn will cause speckled trout to behave.

But what about food?

Speckled trout have to eat, and knowing what they will eat is key to knowing where they will be.

Brown Shrimp Migration

During the spring, especially in May, there's a strong run of brown shrimp through the marsh.

This is because they're leaving the marsh for the Gulf of Mexico, where they will spawn and send small, baby shrimp into the marsh where they grow and start the process all over again.

During this migration brown shrimp become vulnerable to hungry speckled trout.

Pelagic Finfish

It's also during the speckled trout spring pattern we see juvenile pogies (aka Gulf Menhaden) and finger mullet swimming about, a product of their respective species winter spawn.

These fish are typically found in open water near the surface, sometimes relating to a shoreline, but not always.

Gizzard shad are another species, commonly mistaken for menhaden.

Demersal Finfish

These are baitfish that live and feed on or near the bottom of the water.

These include:

It's safe to say that speckled trout have a long menu to choose from, and which one they choose will dictate where and how they feed, so let's jump into that.

Speckled Trout Location During Spring

This is where the rubber meets the road!

Everything we've covered up until this point is key for two reasons:

• eliminating unproductive water
• zeroing in on the most productive water

So, if you skipped over all that stuff, do yourself a huge favor, scroll up and catch up on it.

Where Speckled Trout Begin The Spring Pattern

Because we know what trout were doing during the winter time, we know they are starting spring deep inside the marsh.

Where Speckled Trout End The Spring Pattern

And because we know where they need to go to spawn, we have a good idea as to where they will end up.

Hone In On Exact Fishing Spots By Understanding What Bait Speckled Trout Are Eating

Speckled trout behavior before, during and after a cold front is pretty straightforward, but how they behave when feeding on different bait is different, so let's knock that out.

Speckled Trout Feeding on Shrimp

Where brown shrimp flow is fairly predictable because they cannot swim well under their own power.

Instead, they use the tide to exit the marsh, and where we find the tide flowing, we will find shrimp!

What's cool is that this flowing water can be seen from a distance because it creates visible "lines" at the surface.

We call these "tidelines".

"Highways" in the Marsh

Bodies of water can be categorized by how much water moves through them.

A small bayou doesn't move a lot of water, so it is more like a "sidewalk" for fish to use.

However, a large pass is more like a six-lane highway, because it moves a lot of water (and typically has large tidelines when it does).

If this concept is new to you, then you really ought to read this blog post about highways in the marsh.

Anyway, locating these tidelines in the marsh is key to locating where brown shrimp will congregate and be fed upon by speckled trout.

It's pretty much the same thing that happens with the white shrimp migration during fall.

Diving Birds

While I strongly recommend using tidelines to find feeding specks, diving birds are certainly the low hanging fruit.

However, there's no point in hashing it out here, as an ultimate guide on fishing diving birds already exists.

Note on White Shrimp vs Brown Shrimp

I have found that white shrimp tend to penetrate further inside the marsh than brown shrimp. 

Yes, they can be found in places with very low salinity, so it's typical to find them far inside the marsh when fall begins.

But this is not the case for brown shrimp!

I have observed brown shrimp being more toward the outside of the marsh when they begin their migration in spring.

For example, I typically find them in saltier water in the East Biloxi Marsh in April and May, whereas I find white shrimp as far inside as the west side of Lake Pontchartrain during September and October.

So, if you remember catching speckled trout under shrimp somewhere deep inside the marsh during fall, I would not count to find them there doing the same thing when spring arrives!

Speckled Trout Feeding on Finfish

Pogies and mullet tend to get fed on when they get near the shoreline, or at least shallow water.

When they do, it's pretty obvious.

What's less obvious are the demersal finfish that are well under the water, but how do we find them?

A lot easier than finding mullet or pogies, that's for sure!

This is because they're attracted to places that offer them food to eat and cover from predators. Examples include:

Want to learn more? There's more detail in this blog post about demersal finfish and the winter pattern.

Best Tackle & Live Bait To Catch Springtime Speckled Trout

This section will be short because the best tackle you need to be using is already detailed in other guides. 

Inshore Rig

The Inshore Rig is an all-around favorite for spinning tackle, because it doubles as two rigs, eliminating the need to have a second rod or retie. 

Click here to learn how to build an Inshore Rig.

Jigging Tackle

Jigging is – without a doubt – the best way to catch springtime speckled trout, especially in deep moving water. 

Here's a list of my favorite rod, reel and line for jigging.

Double Rig

Why catch one when you can catch two?

It's hard to beat the catching ability of a Double Rig when the action gets hot and heavy.

Click here to learn what you need to tie one.

K-Dub Rig

This features the same benefits of a Double Rig, but with the addition of a cork.

Because of this, it's tied a little differently.

Drop Shot

The drop shot is a time tested finesse solution for finicky fish. 

However, there's only one way to tie it (well, a true drop shot anyway) and this guide shows you exactly how.

Heavy Drop Shot

The heavy drop shot is a great way to fish deeper water with tackle that is more rugged and, therefore, more dependable and practical to use.

Learn my favorite way to tie it in this video guide.

Live Shrimp

Live shrimp is popular, but keeping them alive can be a pain. Here's a quick guide showing you the best way to do that.

However, with that said, fishing with live shrimp is not necessary to catch limits of speckled trout this spring. Yep, I said it!

If you're not sure, then these 11 reasons why may change your mind.

Live Croakers

Bite-sized croakers are irresistible to big speckled trout, and something you should consider using if you prefer live bait.

This guide shows you the best way to rig them.

Learn How I Catch Fish From Scratch, Year Round

The speckled trout spring pattern is dictated by their need to spawn, prevailing conditions and primary forage.

Master the ability to recognize these and you'll be on your way to locate and catch speckled trout all on your own!

But there's more to it..

There are many more things needed to make a successful (and safe) speckled trout trip happen: