Slender, dark grey to greenish above and silvery below, scattered with distinct round black spots
running back onto the soft dorsal and tail, with a black margin along the tail edge and one or two
prominent canine teeth at the tip of the upper jaw. Males average about 19 inches and females about
25, both usually two to three pounds; the Texas record is 37.25 inches and 15.6 pounds. They mature
at one to two years and commonly live nine or ten. Diet shifts with size: small trout take
crustaceans, mid-sized fish take shrimp and small fish, and large trout feed almost entirely on
fish such as mullet and pinfish — which is why a big-trout angler throws a big lure.
The Lower Laguna Madre population is one of the most studied fish stocks in Texas, and its story is
not a happy one. TPWD's own summary of gill-net and creel data from 1985 to 2006 found catch rates
declining steadily from the mid-1980s while other Texas bays recovered, spawning stock biomass down
roughly 50 percent between the mid-1980s and 2005, fish of 18 inches and larger disappearing faster
in 2002–2005 than in the preceding period, and — for the first time — the lagoon's seatrout
population falling below the statewide average. Spawning runs from April through September with
multiple events per female per season; a female may release 250,000 to a million eggs in a single
spawn and two and a half to twenty-five million over a season, and 50 to 70 percent of females are
mature at age one, with fish aged two to five and 16 to 24 inches long doing most of the spawning.
Tagged fish moved an average of only about ten miles, and roughly a third were recaptured near where
they were released — a homebody fish in a lagoon with one exit.
Source-backed field notes
- TPWD lists the primary sport species of the Laguna Madre as spotted seatrout, red drum and black drum, with snook, gray snapper, Florida pompano and barracuda as secondary species specific to the lower bay. (TPWD Short Report: Laguna Madre)
- TPWD lists red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder, common snook, fat snook, jack crevalle, gray snapper and ladyfish as the fish of the South Bay paddling trail. (South Bay Paddling Trail (TPWD))
- TPWD lists spotted seatrout, redfish, flounder, snook and tarpon as the species anglers pursue in the Arroyo Colorado depending on season. (Visiting the Arroyo Colorado - Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
- From the late 1980s to the mid 1990s TPWD gill-net catch rates for spotted seatrout in the Lower Laguna Madre ran twice, and sometimes three times, the rate of any other Texas bay system. (TPWD Short Report: Spotted Seatrout in the Lower Laguna Madre)
Observe responsibly
Wildlife, tides and access conditions change. Keep a respectful distance, do not feed wildlife, stay out of dunes and marked nesting areas, and use current official rules before fishing or handling any catch.