Been living in Florida for last few years and have fished a location, Fishbone Creek, a tidal creek through salt marsh located Florida Central Gulf Coast. Today went out and for the first time saw a Gator less than 100 yards from where the creek dumps into the Bay. Over the last 2 weeks area has had allot of rain, water was tainted and only bite was hard head catfish. I am assuming there is a large concentration of freshwater in the creek and salinity levels are low, why alligators might venturing this part of the creek. Question, How much influence does freshwater run off in these tidal creeks have on trout and reds?? Do they seek water with higher salinity levels??

I like to fish tidal creeks, bayous and rivers. Gators can tolerate brackish water, at least for a while. Seeing one of those doesn�t necessarily mean it�s too fresh for redfish and maybe even trout. I�d say redfish can handle water with zero or very low salt content. Trout need a little more salt in their water. Normal saltwater is something like 35-40 ppt. I don�t know the exact numbers, but trout can go down to about 10 ppt and I believe they seek out different salinity at different seasons. Less salty in winter, more salty in summer is sort of the general idea from what I remember reading.

https://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOFISHSJ/TOFISHSJ-3-154.pdf

Rising tides will push salt water up the stream. Sometimes, a layer of fresh water will ride over the layer of saltier water. Your creek being that close to the gulf should tend to want to salt up pretty quickly after a freshwater event and resist becoming fresh. Every stream is different, but the closer to a big salty reservoir like the gulf or major bay, the more the stream will tend to remain saltwater. That�s my experience.

If you were getting hardheads, then there was likely a little salt still in the water, maybe in a layer in the deepest part. Hardheads aren�t known to go in completely fresh water.

According to my observations: reds and flatties definitely change their habits and behaviors in freshwater, it gets much harder to find them. Trout initially hunkers down in deeper holes and then mostly moves out if freshwater stays for too long.

Lots of influence... saw the same thing with a bone fish flat near Snapper Creek in Biscayne Bay, Miami after rains, saw the same thing pier fishing when freshwater from Jupiter Inlet pushed southward to Ft. Lauderdale area (the color difference made it easy to see) and fishing reports would always mention it.

Same thing with reds and trout.

The key is not if it effects the fishing, but to act like an expert and give your other buddies some solitude in getting skunked as well. You'll want to scoop up a handful of water under you, look at it, smell it, then taste it. Next you'll want to spit it out in disgust, then tell everyone, " ain't no fish to be caught here". Trust me, they'll be impressed.

Don't use that for excuse too often or they'll catch on.