Brian caught this redfish at the tip of the north jetty on the outgoing tide. The fish was netted, de-hooked, and returned to the water quickly. Nice job, Brian!
Good morning to all you Sebastian Inlet fishing friends, hope everyone had a wonderful weekend despite all the rain!! It’s time once again for the that all important fishing report that everyone looks forward to, so here we go!
Well, to start off, Sunday was a total blown out rainy mess! The winds were blowing 20-30 NNE, the swells were 6-7ft, and the inlet was just one huge washing machine. The bad thing about it is the entire week is supposed to be much the same. The good thing about it is that this weather will bring down some more mullet along the coast, and the water temps should drop back down again to get things fired up. October is always been my favorite month to fish. Lots going on. Before all the Sunday mess, Thursday through Saturday when I was down, the fishing was getting pretty good! There were plenty of mullet around the jetties and inside the inlet. There were very small fingerlings along with some of the bigger 10-12 inch mullet and the predator fish were there to feed on them! There were plenty of snook, redfish, big jack crevalle, tarpon, sharks, black drum, sheepshead and lots of pretty big spanish mackerel on the north side! I even got a report from one of my guys of some pompano being caught north of the inlet. So yeah, there were fish everywhere, and when it calms back down and cleans up, expect the same to continue. So here we go with your break down of action.
North Jetty
Over here was the hot spot for the fishing Thursday through Saturday. There were hoards of mullet coming down the beach and big tarpon, jacks and sharks were just blasting them all over. Was cool to watch. It was mostly all about the “big mac attach”!! I’ll call it that because almost ALL the spanish mackerel caught were in the 3-4 pound range!! Monster macks for sure. The fish were measuring anywhere from 24-28 inches!! Live greenies and the small finger mullet were the baits of choice for them. It’s been a couple years since we had spanish that big. It was cool to see them just ripping through the schools of finger mullet like laser guided missles, so neat. The fish were being caught on the beach side of the jetty, and on the early high tide, once the tide dropped off too much, and the water dirtied too much, they were gone. I did see several anglers with anywhere from 5-to 8 fish each. The other fish playing nicely were the snook and redfish. Again, the early high tide on both sides of the jetty was producing fish. The predominate bait was live shrimp, but the reds were also keyed in on the finger mullet. Live pig fish and pins got the bite on the beach side of the jetty fishing way out over the sandbar.
Also I did see a few nice snook and red fish caught in the surf “pocket” area, live mullet is what they like in that area. One of my friends on his first bait out got a nice fat 32 inch slot! Can’t beat that. The other species I saw caught were some black drum and sheepshead, a bit early for them as they like the cooler water, but non the less, they were there. Dead and live shrimp do the trick for them. Outgoing tide at the tip there have been some big lack crevalle being caught on just about anything you fish with, along with some small bluefish as well. They are showing up early too. Usually don’t see them until November/December. There are still some really nice cubera snapper being caught on live baits at the tip. I saw a pic of one angler who had caught two of them in the 20-24 inch range, perfect size for eating! Also there have been a few snook and reds being caught at the tip, but on the outgoing tide they are harder to get to as they move way out away from the jetty. Along the rock seawall between the catwalk and jetty there are still some nice mangrove snapper being caught on live and dead greenies, but not in the numbers as before. There have also been some nice redfish being caught as well along with some small, and sometimes slot snook. Live shrimp and pigfish seem to be the baits working well. The incoming tide is the tide to fish.
South Jetty
On this side the fishing has been a bit slower due to the rough conditions. The big waves coming in the inlet make it very tough to fish the rock wall especially on the incoming high tide. It gets very wet and hard to fish, plus the water dirties up quicker over here because it is so shallow. That being said, there are still some small to slot sized snook being caught on all live baits and swimbaits. On the outgoing tide at the tip there are big jack crevalle, some bluefish, black margates and blue runners being caught. Cut baits of shrimp and greenies are the baits to use. Just hasn’t been very good over here.
T-Dock Area
Back here it has been pretty slow as well. With the greenies and other small baitfish being absent around the dock, things have slowed quite a bit. Small mangroves are still being caught, along with a few mutton snappers and the pesky puffers are around the dock pilings. On the incoming tide you might encounter some of those nice spanish mackerels that are around the inlet, along with some of the big jack crevalle that are chasing the schools of mullet coming in the inlet. Either tide is good to fish. I got a report from one of my friends who resides at the park in the camp grounds, and he told me that Thursday and Friday night the mullet came in in droves and the huge jacks were just chasing them everywhere!! And that was at night, but he didn’t see any snook caught, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t there!
Surf Area, both sides
North side before it got all wiped out, there were lots of schools of mullet coming down and snook, tarpon, redfish and big jacks and sharks were everywhere. All you had to do was go find your favorite beach spot and walk the beach with a swim bait and look for the bait, or catch some mullet in your net and fish them. Another report I got was about some nice pompano being caught in the north surf before it got roughed up, around Bonsteel park. Cut shrimp and fish bites got it done. As the water cools down, and it cleans up we will start seeing more of them show up. Usually November we see them in numbers. South side surf, same thing. If you find some clean water and it’s not too rough, and find some mullet, anything is possible. Snook, reds, jacks, tarpon and sharks, and quite possibly some of those pompano!!
Well guys and gals, that’s it for what’s up at the inlet. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s going to be a rough week wind and wave wise, but if you find some calmer, cleaner water and all this bait that is around, you just might catch some fish. They’re there, just going to have to “work at it” to get them. Have a great week everyone!! Snookman.
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