This has been some year for speckled trout on Tangier Sound. Perhaps the best in ten years. There seems to have been another successful spawn this season, with many juvenile fish showing in fishermen’s catches, so I’m cautiously optimistic that the speckled trout population has returned to its once great levels. The final test will be a good 2012 spring season. Lets hope that come May of next year, when the water temperature reaches that magic 62 degree mark, everyone’s favorite trout will once again cruise the grassy flats of Tangier Sound.
Thursday, October 13 – Michael Avara and Mary Norton booked me for a half-day morning trip and enjoyed good action with rock on poppers to 6-1/2 lbs. along with eight speckled trout from 16″-19.” Nice mornings work!
Mary Norton holds her largest ever popper-caught rockfish
Michael Avara pulled this beauty from the banks of Fox Island
Monday and Tuesday, October 17 and 18 – Just as sure as the Monarch butterfly migration every fall, Maurice Klein and Gene Jones show up every October for a couple of days fishing. Well, fishing and eating Smith Island crab cakes. This year was no different as I enjoyed two beautiful fall days fishing with old friends. Monday was record-day, as Maurice and Gene eclipsed the existing two-person, single day record for the season by boating 32 speckled trout. The trout averaged 16″ to 21.” Tuesday was for stripers, as we chose to concentrate our efforts on bagging a creel limit of rockfish. We succeeded, and then some, as we played catch-n-release for the remainder of the day. Another nine specks were added to the mix for a two-day total of 41 specks. Nice work guys!
Maurice and Gene with a net full of good-eating specks
Maurice with his homemade popper/clouser speck teaser
It's "lavender", not purple
Gene with a Smith Island "creek" rockfish
Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog 
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