Topwater speckled trout fishing in the Elizabeth river

I got an evening to fish, so Rob Choi and I decided to try our luck at the hot ditch. Rob called up our friend Matt Anderson who had a much better idea. Matt took us to a spot that was much more aesthetically pleasing (as much as you can expect in the Elizabeth), a lot less boat traffic, and also very productive.

Rob started off with the first trout soon after we launched at 9pm, but it was slow for a while after that. I caught one on a purple demon mirrolure after about an hour of fishing with the bites being few and far between. With only 2-3 fish total in the first 2+ hours of fishing, it was looking kind of bleak. It was a flat calm night with a beautiful bright half moon, so I just couldn't help myself...I had to throw some topwater. I sure am glad that I did, because it was on after that! Shortly after tying on my super spook jr. I had several blow-ups and caught a couple nice trout in the 19"-20" range. Rob and Matt were soon to follow. The rest of the night consisted of walking the dog in the moonlight with specks crushing our baits...I can't think of much that can beat that!

We fished until 3am because that's all we could handle. A couple times I was dozing off while fishing and had some trout wake me up with a violent explosion. I ended up with 7-8 trout ranging from 14"-20", but had at least 25-30 topwater explosions and several hook-ups. Rob and Matt had similar luck with the biggest trout going about 21".

Big thanks to Matt Anderson for sharing his spots! Had a great night!