sebastian sheepshead

John Madru caught this fine sheepshead sheepshead specimen at the north jetty.

Good morning all you Sebastian Inlet fishing folks! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Here is what’s been going on at the ole fishin hole! For the most part the weather hasn’t been conducive to good fishing, winds, waves and dirty cool water, but there has been some action to be had. Snook season open up with a very lack luster bite, not very many have been caught to date, the water has been too cool for them to be active, 62-64 along the coast, we need it to climb back up to 70 or above to get them “comfy” to want to play. Most of the snook I saw caught since opening have been either too small, or mid slot, 29-30 inches. Remember they have to be a minimum of 28 inches with the tail pinched, and maximum of 32 inches, tail pinched to keep, and only one per day can be HARVESTED per person. The talk of the town at the inlet the last few days has been the MONSTER bluefish that have made their presence known! They have been abundant, especially on the south side. All the blues I have seen were in the 8-12 pound range, and they have been biting just about anything you throw at them! So with that being said, here is the break down areas.

North Jetty

Over here there has been several species being caught. At the tip on the end of the incoming, and the beginning of the outgoing tide the black drum are still biting, but not as well as they have been in the past few weeks, but enough to gather a crowd. Most of the fish have been in the 18-24 inch range with a few over that, AND some monsters as well have been caught! Over the weekend I saw 2 fish caught that were in the 50-60 pound range landed!! Nice fun catch, great picture fish, but not any good to eat, as these monsters have a lot of worms in them, not to mention they are our breeder fish and should be returned to the water, which both of these were. Thank you! Live and dead shrimp and clams were the baits of choice for the drum. Along with the drum several large redfish were caught as well, same baits. On the high tide beach side on Saturday I saw a couple nice pompano and whiting caught on live sandfleas. The sheepshead that were there weeks ago have left the building, all my sheepshead hunters have been striking out! ZERO. On the incoming tide at the tip the spanish mackerel bite has been pretty good, but most are kind of small, around 14 or so inches. The snook bite on the incoming as I mentioned earlier has been kind of dismal, not too many being caught, but the ones caught have been on live shrimp. Also around still there are some very nice spotted seatrout being caught. Most of them have been in the 17-20 inch size.

South Jetty

Over here it has been a little slower due to the dirtier water blown up from the SE winds we had last week, but there are some nice fish being caught when you can find some cleaner water. Outgoing at the tip, they have been catching some smaller black drum, sheepshead and black margates on cut shrimp. Lots of catfish too are there due to the dirty water. Incoming tide at the tip is when the MONSTER bluefish, 8-12 pounds were being caught, they will bite anything you toss at them. Big silver spoons are the best for them, but jigs work just as well. Along the inside shoreline if the water is somewhat clean, they have been catching some small snook, with a few keepers mixed in. Live shrimp has been the ticket, but any live bait will work if the are hungry. Also there have ben some big redfish and seatrout over here too. That’s pretty much it over here. No flounder to speak of.

Surf Area, both sides

South side for the most part has been pretty washed out due to the large waves and SE winds we had last week, which muddied it all up, not much except catfish, rays and small bonnet head sharks being caught.

North side the water has been a bit cleaner just north of the jetty and they have been catching some nice pompano, whiting and small black drum on shrimp and sandfleas. Early mornings has been the best time to fish it.

T-Dock area

Not a whole lot going on back here either. On the incoming and the very first of the outgoing tide there have been some small 12-14 inch spanish mackerel being caught on small white jigs, and small silver spoons. Snook fishing back here also has been pretty slow due to the colder water, but some are around on the incoming tide, you just have to find them. Live baits of any kind will work. Not much on the flounder here either, except for the boaters, who have been catching a few on the north side of the inlet in the back.

Well, that pretty much wraps it up my friends for another week. It’s supposed to be kind of windy, rough and rainy through Wednesday, but settle down Thursday through the weekend. So, if you’re feeling up to it, grab your gear, get some bait and go out and see what you can conjure up!! Tight lines. Snookman