# Sand Trout, White Trout, Anyone Fish For Those?



## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

Last two trips I went out scouting shorelines for redfish or whatever might be showing and there hasn’t been a whole lot to see, a few undersized flounder flipping after bait and maybe a red spotted and generally spooked at the rate of one per hour, if even.

So, I’ve finished out the skinny water yet very slow sight fishing sessions on some different water with more depth tossing DSL burner shad and Saltwater Assassins on 1/16 ounce jig heads and bumping and bouncing them up and letting them fall in deeper, promising looking areas. 

Anyway, the change of pace and technique on both trips has been productive for mostly undersized specs, several short flounder, a more than a few sand trout. On the first trip, I kept an 18” speckled trout and since I could not seem to get any more of those keepers, I kept a few sand trout. I baked them side by side the next day and my son and I agree the sand trout was tastier.

So the second trip Yesterday, I kept eight sand trout. Plan is to pan-fry these whole, skin on, scales off, scored with some seasonings and a little flour.

I could get into these sand trout, at least until it cools off and maybe I start to see more fish up shallow.


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## Tripletail (Apr 8, 2021)

Delicious, i keep some once in a while.. we catch em mostly as by-catch but we get some 2-3lb in the fall and winter in mobile bay, usually the large fish are in deeper water that time of year, small fish like those can be had year round in any light at night around here. They tend to stay on the bottom of the water column vs specks


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## KnotHome (Jul 21, 2009)

Always happy to keep some white trout when I find them! Like Tripletail said, they’re all over Mobile Bay, but the biggest I caught were in the spring. 3 of us caught 50 in 1 night and left them biting when I was a teenager.


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

pan fried them, they were great. Ate the crispy tails and all.


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

Isnt that a croaker over the speckle trouts head 🤔 they are good eating also !


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

It is a croaker, I’ll sometimes keep those. I get those more on flies like Borski sliders than on the paddle tails. Panfish like croaker, whiting and sand trout tend to get overlooked, but make for good dinner companions. No size restrictions to deal with either.


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

My Grandfather and i use to catch huge croaker up st Johns River off navy fuel tanks, i mean Big enough to pull the rod out of boat LOL Hes the reason im a fisherman today ! And i love a whitting sandwich, id launch the boat any day for a mess of them.....


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## MikeCockman (8 mo ago)

I’ve kept em few times, but they tend to get mushy if not cooked immediately. That has been my experience anyhow. The croaker on the other hand is a yummy table fare, and I honestly don’t care for speckled trout. Now if we are island camping and I can cook em over tha campfire while they are still breathing.. That’s another story. But I rarely bring specks home.


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

Same here i dont really care for trout or reds at all,i use to keep a few reds for my father in law ,but hes passed away now,i do catch a Lot of trout on ultra light rods with grubs for fun but release most all of them ,my main go to fish is sheephead and whitting with a cobia now and then if im lucky😁

With the reds i dont care for the strong taste,so i only fish for them if i have family in town and then i put them on the Big 40 inchers at jettys so they are for a fun fight only then released ....

Cool factor about the jetty fishing is,you can catch a nice tarpon on same rig i use for the Big reds, a 8/0 eagle claw hook on 36 inches of 60 to 100 lb mono leader usen a 6 oz egg weight ,fished on my medium heavy drum rods 30 lb sufex main line ....usen a threadfin or pogie cut on a 45 degree angle so guts dont hang out either piece works great head or tail section their really oily and they love it....

You can load up on them with a sabiki rig in short order at tip of jettys use a 3 ounce triangle weight to help keep them from tangling up the sabiki rig ...i use my larger spinner for this ....


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

Some people say redfish are strong tasting, but I never have experienced this and I think they are delicious. Wonder if there are regional differences in what the fish are feeding on that cause fish to taste different? Then there are the people that really don’t like fish at all, but will eat it so long as it is cut wafer thin and crispy fried to oblivion. One of our friends is like this. She always gets the thinnest, darkest pieces and only will eat fish fried super crisp. The fish at that point is just a flat hush puppy. 

Seems like anything in the croaker/drum family are tasty, with speckled and sand trout being within that grouping. Most of these fish will get mushy if overcooked. We semi-screwed up our sand trout fry because the peanut oil wasn’t quite hot enough, but they were still good. Next time, I’ll get the peanut oil blazing hot.


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

With me its not just the taste but the smell its a real strong fish smell ,and i commercial fished for 8 yrs so ? As a shrimper and scallops in cape 👍😎 and i like the peanut oil costly but preferred 👍sheephead is my favorite flavor they feed on barnacles crustaceans ect....referred to as poor mans lobster and rightfully so !


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

True, fresh caught redfish has a peculiar odor, herbal, like anise or something, that is what I smell anyway. Sheepshead are hard to beat. More something I tend to catch in the fall and winter.
Canola oil is not good, fishy in a way, just an opinion, and said to be not so healthy like the rest of the hateful eight seed oils. Peanut is maybe double canola oil in price, but it isn’t like we fry all that much. I like fish baked, blackened, grilled and various other ways besides frying them every time.

I do wonder what the fish is eating, how that will change the taste of the fish flesh? I try to look at what the fish are feeding on by cutting open at their stomachs. Redfish around here are chowing on some crab for sure. Blue crabs and fiddlers if they can get on those, maybe some mud and other crabs. Sometimes, there’s nothing but shrimp in their guts. Maybe even periwinkles, I’ve seen those in a redfish or two. Blenny fish, mud minnows, mullet, shad, maybe various other unidentified fish kind of round out what I see. I don’t remember seeing very much if any crab in trout. Sheepshead have had a lot of crunched up unidentified shell bits in theirs.


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## rovster (Aug 21, 2018)

I don't care for specks either, and my wife can't stand them. It's become the joke of the family. My grandma loves them so I usually keep a couple for her.


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## Finn Maccumhail (Apr 9, 2010)

I don't specifically target sand trout but if I get into them I'll certainly keep a mess for a pretty immediate fish fry. They're also good for ceviche. However, they don't freeze well. While I've kept specks in the past I generally don't these days post-freeze fish kill. The sandies seem more prolific and less impacted than the specks.

I also don't target croaker or whiting and generally release them, mainly because I don't think I've ever caught one big enough to be worth the hassle of cleaning. I do know that croaker size has declined dramatically as the popularity of croaker for bait has risen. Used to be that people would regularly catch croaker in the 2-3# range and were considered excellent eating but you don't see people stacking up to fish the fall croaker run like they used to. Hell, I'm 45 and I've only ever seen pictures of it as I doubt it's been a thing really since the late-70's/early-80's.


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

Are these also called "sugar trout"? Same thing?


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## GaryEMoody (6 mo ago)

DBStoots said:


> Are these also called "sugar trout"? Same thing?


Yes, The silver seatrout (Cynoscion nothus), also known as white trout, sugar trout, and silver weakfish, is a marine fish of the drum family Sciaenidae.


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

Cynoscion arenarius = white trout, sand trout
Cynoscion nebulosus = speckled trout, spotted seatrout
Cynoscion nothus = silver seatrout, also called white trout, smaller than either sand or speckled trout. Rarely exceeds 1/2 pound.








Silver Seatrout


Silver Seatrout




myfwc.com


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## DeltaFlyer (7 mo ago)

When we go speckled trout fishing, we never keep more than three or four, then we will catch enough white trout for a fish fry. White trout is just as good as Speckled trout, but they just don't freeze well. Kind of like the Biblical mana. One of my favorite trips to take a new/young angler on is to fish the lights around Mobile bay and catch 50-100. They never forget it.


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## SS06 (Apr 6, 2021)

Good to eat and when you get into them it's awesome...keep a few a fry fresh...they get mushy if you try to freeze


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## skinny_fishing (Aug 30, 2021)

I've wondered about whiting because I seem to catch a lot of them on my Pompano jig, some good sized ones too, are they tasty? Maybe I'll keep a few next time and try them on the grill. The other day I caught one that was big enough I thought it was a redfish at first....Very similar shape.


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## SS06 (Apr 6, 2021)

Whiting are great to eat...like the trout they get a little mushy if you freeze them...eaten fresh they are a delicious mild fish


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

Whitting to me is one of the best fish out there, i actually lived off them when i shrimped in off season believe it ,that and potato sandwiches 😁

Fillet it both ways and trim out the rib cage,you'll have a boneless piece of meat,deep fry put it on your favorite bread with a lil mayo ,it will make your tongue slap your brains out 😂👍

Whitting was all my mother inlaw would eat,she loved them like me !

Love to fry my fish in peanut oil in my lil 6 qt presto deep fryer, at 350 only take 3-4 minutes and you got some delicious fish to eat!

And ill add ,squid is the best bait for them ! IMHO and squid dont get all funky smelling like shrimp its much cleaner to fish with to me, They love it and you can catch two or three fish sometimes before they get it off hook LOL a thin wire circle hook works awesome!


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## skinny_fishing (Aug 30, 2021)

Heck I don't need bait they seem to love Pompano jigs! About what size range do you tend to keep them?


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## Silent Drifter (Apr 29, 2021)

They get up to around 18 inches and can weigh 2 lbs ,me personally i dont keep the lil guys only the bigger ones as they are plentiful ,prolly the 1 1/2 to 2 pounders after you clean a few you will know whats best to keep .... the bull whitting are the best.....nice meaty fillets! Cool thing about them is on the beach they seem to mostly be bright silver, but in the deeper channels and river they can have a cool camo pattern dark and light colors mixed like camo,i believe its due to the temp of the deeper water....


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