Photo by Charlie Church
For the second year in a row, Chesapeake Bay anglers are reporting dead and dying speckled trout in Virginia.
Speckled trout are a popular target species in the Chesapeake, especially in the early winter. In our January 2026 Issue, kayak angler Kevin Patrick Hughes wrote about this cult-favorite fishery. In a recent Cut & Retie podcast, Kevin talked with host Joe Cermele about the 2025 trout kill, and how anglers were still feeling its effects. This makes the current fish kill especially concerning.
Chesapeake charter captain Arvid Dahlberg (@walleyepete on Instagram) made a video explaining that when the water drops below 38 degrees in the speckled trout’s wintering areas, the fish become cold-stunned and begin to die. With ice covering parts of the Chesapeake, things are not looking good for the specks.
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This is a natural occurrence, that mid-Atlantic anglers can recall happening several times in the past. The threat extends beyond the Chesapeake, to North Carolina as well. Last week, the NC Division of Marine Fisheries asked the public to report any cold-stunned trout saying:
During the winter, spotted seatrout move to relatively shallow creeks and rivers, where they can be vulnerable to cold stun events. These events have the potential to occur when there is a sudden drop in temperature or during prolonged periods of cold weather, making fish so sluggish they can be harvested by hand. Studies suggest that cold stun events can significantly reduce spotted seatrout populations as many stunned fish die from the cold or are eaten by birds or other predators. However, some fish do survive a cold stun event.