Trout Fishing Closed For February

Trout fishing is closed for the month of February in the northeast zone. The northeast zone starts at the Volusia/ Flagler county line and extends north to the Florida/ Georgia border. All trout that are caught inside the northeast zone must be released no matter of their condition. If you launch your boat in Flagler County, go into Volusia County and catch trout you can’t bring them back into Flagler County. If you launch in Volusia you can’t go into Flagler and bring trout back to that county. Your best bet if your looking to keep trout this month is to launch in Volusia and stay in Volusia. Trout fishing will reopen in the northeast zone March 1st.
In my last article I wrote about the benefits of the color gold in clear water. Now that we are getting rain and the water temperature rises you’ll notice the clarity of the water start to change, it will become darker. Once the hue changes it’s time to start looking at trying different colors when it comes to artifical baits and flies. Don’t get me wrong here, gold will still work especially when the sun is the brightest during the day, it’s just time to start thinking about the use of different colors in stained water.
A lot of fishermen have a saying when it comes to fishing dark water; If it ain’t chartreuse it ain’t no use. I have to admit that there’s a lot to be said about that statement. Chartreuse is one of my favorite colors in dark water especially if the color gold is incorporated somewhere in the mix. My favorite lure, the Mirrolure M17, is a combination of chartreuse and gold. This lure, because of the flash it puts off, seems to draw fish from out of the dark depths on bright sunny days. Even when it comes to my flies I’ll use a chartreuse/gold color combination during the daylight hours.
When fishing deeper water, where it’s always darker, I like lean towards dark colors such as black, green or purple. I’ll use these colors or a combination of them weather I’m using a deep running plug, jig or a fly. The darker colors put out more of a silhouette than lighter colors making it easier for the fish to see. They actually make a product that will select a color to use when it is placed in the water. Add to the color a lure that wabbles and puts out vibration or a jig or fly that pulsates when moved through the water and you have a deadly combination for catching fish.