Good morning all my Sebastian Inlet fishing fanatics, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and I wish you all the best for 2024!! So here we go with the FIRST report for the new year. Fishing for the most part throughout the inlet has been pretty good due to the seas calming down from the winds being mostly in the westerly directions, and light. The incoming tides have been the most productive as that’s when the water is a bit cleaner, the outgoing tide, first part of it is good until the river runoff starts taking over and dirtying it up quite a bit. The water is still cold, 65-69, but that has made the “cool water” fish want to bite. There have been some black drum, sheepshead, whiting, black margates, small bluefish, small spanish mackerel, snook, redfish, spotted seatrout , pompano and flounder being caught throughout the inlet. Pretty good mix of fish! So here we go with the breakdown.

North Jetty

The best fishing over here has been as I mentioned has been on the high tide periods, and the first hour or so of the outgoing, at the tip. Last week Wednesday through Friday the black drum made a nice showing for those fishing clams and dead shrimp at the tip, and beach side. Most of the fish I saw and heard about were in the 20-28 inch range, along with some smaller ones being caught as well. Remember minimum size is 14 inches, and maximum size is 24 inches, and the daily “harvest” limit is 5 per person per day, with one fish allowed over 24 inches of the 5 allowed. Some sheepshead were also being caught at the tip as well, but most were being caught between the pilings on small sandfleas, or cut shrimp. Sheepshead have a minimum size limit of 12 inches overall, no maximum size limit, and you are allowed to “harvest” 8 per person per day on those. Some pretty nice whiting were being caught on the beach side of the jetty for those fishing the bottom with cut dead shrimp. There are NO limits on whiting as of yet. I did see a few in the 1-2 pound range caught. Just a hand full of pompano were caught on the jetty as well, sandfleas were the bait of choice. Pompanos have a minimum size limit of 11 inches to the fork, with no maximum size, you can only “harvest” 6 per person per day.

On the beach side also in the surf area I did see a couple nice flounder caught on live shrimp. They were in the 16-18 inch range. Minimum size for the flounder are 14 inches, with no maximum size. You are allowed to only “harvest” 5 per person per day on those. On the spotted seatrout being caught, the season just opened up on them on January the first. Minimum size on them is 15 inches, and a maximum size of 19 inches, and you can only “harvest” 2 per person per day. These fish like live shrimp and any small live baits you can get fished along the shorelines and the jetty area, and the beachside surf area.

For those fishing the outgoing tide at the tip there have been a lot of small bluefish being caught now, the bigger ones have left, so if you do keep any they have a minimum size limit of 12 inches to the fork, no maximum size. The daily “harvest” limit is 3 per person per day. Last but not least, there has been a lot of small spanish mackerel being caught at the tip of the jetty on the incoming tide. Most of the fish are really small, 10-12 inches. Remember on these fish the minimum size is 12 inches to the fork, no maximum size, and you are allowed to “harvest” 15 per person per day. And that’s pretty much it for this side.

South Jetty

Over here when you can catch the clean water, there have been some really nice flounder being caught in the surf pocket area on small finger mullet and mud minnows. All the fish I saw over the holiday weekend were in the 16-18 inch range. These flounder will also hit small grub jigs and other small jigs, you just have to “bump” along the bottom with them. Incoming high tide, again when the water cleans up there have been some nice spotted seatrout and catch and release snook being caught on small live baits, shrimp being the best. Small bluefish and black margates round out the rest of the catch at the tip on the outgoing tide.

T-Dock Area

Back here it has been pretty quiet except for some flounder being caught from the boats fishing the shorelines on both tides. Incoming tide there have been some snook and spotted seatrout along the shorelines fishing live baits, shrimp being the better bait. For those anglers fishing small jigs and silver spoons there are some small bluefish and spanish mackerel being caught on both tides, the first of the outgoing being the better time frame for them.

Surf Area, both sides

South side, just south of the jetty and all the way down to the day use area there has been a really good pompano bite going on from what I heard. A lot of nice were being caught using live sandfleas for bait. Fresh cut shrimp and fish bites or fish gum will work too, but sandfleas are the top bait. Quite a few anglers were getting their limits. Along with the pompano they are catching some nice whiting and black drum in the mix, as it is the time of the year the drum are migrating to the rivers to spawn.

North Side

Over here is the same thing, pompano, whiting and black drum were biting really well just north of the jetty all the way up north to Mark’s Landing. Sandfleas, fresh cut dead shrimp and fish bites will do the trick.

So there you have it my friends! A great report to start out a great new year, 2024! The weather is supposed to be good all week, and hopefully the water will clean up some more, and the bite will continue! Grab your gear, some bait and lunch, and get out and see what you can catch. Happy New Year everyone!