Pretty well any recipe that works for rainbows works for them. I like mine kept whole but gutted wrapped up in foil while being coated in oil, salt, pepper, fresh dill, fresh thyme, and onions cut up as small as you can get it, get all that on the inside and outside, finish with a sprits of lemon juice inside and outside of the fish. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. It's so damn good.

Gut it. Cut head off. Stuff it with dill,garlic, lemon, and seasoning then tie it up with cooking twine. Airfry it on 400 for 8 minutes. It’s simple, fast and delicious.

Old Bay , butter, lemon , salt, aluminum foil, charcoal.

Build fire. Gut and scale fish. Season with salt, pepper, lemon. Shove a stick through the mouth, through the open cavity from gutting and into the tail section. Roast over fire while drinking beer till it’s probably overcooked but whatever its still good. Leave nothing but bones behind because you’re drunk and want to man up and eat the eyes too!

Cornmeal. Fry that shit up

Trout bite is pretty strong right now. If you are on foot and want easy you should try little bridge like that other guy mentioned, bait recommendation by that person was good as well. Otherwise you could wade OI by the ramps and/or go on a walkabout in the marsh.

Folks are also catching decent drum in the surf. Piers are doing well also. Didn't say where you were staying on vacation but if in/around Nags Head swing by Oceans East on the causeway....they can help you out with whats catching.

I fish off the little bridge in the early morning and am usually able to catch a few. I usually white or chartreuse gulps that are scented they seem to work best.

For big Gator trout it's finger mullet or pin fish, big trout 6+lbs will eat a shrimp but they prefer fin fish. I've caught big ones on artifical as well but if I'm not caring about numbers and strictly targeting Gator trout I'm using a mullet most of the time. For trout in general either a live shrimp with a popping cork or a soft plastic shad swimbait, although at daylight and dusk I'll throw a top water.

If we are talking early fall then I throw topwaters early then soft plastics with a 1/32 or 1/16 jig head.

If it's late fall/winter then it's corky time. Down here in texas, I'll use corkys from around November until May

Top water at dawn or paddletail with an irregular retrieve.

My go to is a Trout Trick. In the original purple color. I even have some Gambler ones left over from before Z-man bought the mold hahaha. They're just a little bit smaller but they get the job done. I usually use a Blue Water Candy X-eye jig head 3/16 of an oz... Seems to do the trick. Its been so productive that my theory is now: if they're not biting that, then there's nothing there or they're not going to eat anything at all. With that being said... I absolutely LOVE a topwater bite. So if the setting is right I throw spooks or top dawgs. And then finally there is the Mirrolure Heavydine. Great lure!! Idk where to start when it comes to colors but I match water quality and lighting conditions. I fish for reds, and flounder and pretty much whatever I think I can catch. But specks are my favorite for some reason, and stripers come in at a close 2nd place. I guess its something about fall/winter season. Most of the tourists are gone and only the diehard will brave 50 degree and lower weather on a sporty 10-15 knot N or NE wind on the Lower Cape Fear. Anyhow... I'm gearing up now for a little excursion tonight into tomorrow morning. Thanks for reading! Catch em up!!!!

Nice! I have yet to find the bigger ones. Probably caught 50 or so in the last two days but all little ones.

What are you catching them on?

I live on a tidal river in southeastern VA, and the speckled trout have really moved in the past few weeks. Took a couple pics of the ones I kept last Monday (a 23”, 21”, and an 18”). Our limit here is 5 from 14-24”, with 1 fish over 24” allowed. The release citation size for us is 24”, so I just missed it on one of them. Normally only keep a few of these for the freezer, so it’ll probably be catch and release for the rest of the fall.

Gator on the fly 🤘

Bud if it was on the ground momentarily for a photo the fish is very likely fine. I’m all for good handling of fish for release but acting like it’s dead because it was placed down for a couple seconds is absurd.

Either way my canoe was leaking so bad it could've swam away.

Nice. One of my favorite fish to catch because of how aggressively they strike.

nice one

Eat dat

I mean, it's regulated to 5 in Florida minimum of 15 inches and only one fish over 19" per boat where I fish, so 15 fish limit doesn't seem so bad. Redfish is 1 per person where I fish.

Honestly, I know a lot of people who have been going to Louisiana just to fish because of the more lax laws regarding reds and trout, I figured it was a matter of time before they'd have to tighten the limits up some.

fuck that paywall.

Totally support the limit change though. Guides will scream, but they've screamed every time any limit gets raised in Texas and they're still doing just fucking fine, even with 3 FISH PER DAY LIMIT.

From the reading I've done, it's about time they tighten restrictions. All the states around Louisiana have tougher restrictions, for a reason. All the charters want to throw a fit about tougher restrictions, right up until they fish it dry, and then they'll be without a job. If you're gonna be a fisherman, you need to be conservation minded. 15 fish limit still seems plenty reasonable to me especially with that slot limit. In my area I can't even harvest bass unless they meet a 15 inch minimum and then you're only allowed two fish. I don't complain because I want a healthy fishery.

That’s wild compared to Florida rules.

Good

Those are rainbow trout

Shiny metal definitely works.