Spotted seatrout are also called speckled trout or by the abbreviated nickname, “specks.” But, whatever you call these beautifully freckled fish, the fishing for trout in colder months is nothing less than spectacular.

“As the water cools down, the speck bite gets hotter,” said Capt. Jot Owens of Wrightsville Beach. “I’ve logged the way the fish bite over a couple of decades and, up to a point, the colder it gets, the more consistent the speck bite becomes.”

Owens said the first northeasters of winter bring the fish to the inlets, with Masonboro Inlet a great spot for the first-timer to try. The jetties are identifiable structure that anyone can find. But after cutting their teeth on the jetties, anglers should try their luck along the channels leading to that inlet, as well as all the other inlets and their adjoining channels.

“The water starts cooling off in September,” he said. “But once it starts hitting 60 degrees, the action gets really consistent. You can go out and expect to catch a dozen or more fish in half a day of fishing.”

But the hot bite is counter-acted by the lack of suitable bait. The colder it gets, the harder it is to find live mud minnows and live shrimp that are the mainstay baits of the cold-weather speck fisherman.

“You may have to resort to buying bait at one of the seafood houses or tackle shops,” he said. “With the fantastic fishing of the past few seasons, the places that sell live shrimp grow in number each year.”

While anglers of the past staked their reputations on being able to catch their own live shrimp in winter, today’s cold-weather angler has even more options than buying his live baits. Scented soft plastics such as the Berkley Gulp and the Saltwater Assissin Blurp have taken the trout fishing community by storm. In fact some of the Storm Lures swimbaits are also making waves among trout fishermen.

“A scented soft plastic allows the rankest amateur to catch fish like a seasoned pro,” Owens said. “Along with the wider availability of live shrimp, the scented baits have revolutionized winter fishing. A decade ago, there weren’t a dozen winter trout fishermen. Now, there will be that many anglers fishing along one of the jetties on a slow day. On a calm, weekend day, you almost have to get a parking pass to anchor your boat in a good trout hole.”