Sebastian Inlet Report

Good morning all you Sebastian Inlet fans and fishing fanatics, hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! To start off I’d like to remind everyone again since the finger mullet are coming down the beaches now, you cast netters PLEASE only take what you need and make sure to toss the remainder of your catch back into the water alive! This is one of the rules we have listed on our rules sign board on your way out to the jetty. Our bait fish resources are NOT everlasting, so your help with making sure you return your “extra” catch back to the water will help insure we have them in the future, plus help us keep the jetty clean. As I mentioned in my previous reports, cast netting on the jetty is a PRIVILIDGE, and can be revoked at anytime should park management decide to do so. Don’t be “that guy” that causes that to happen. Thank you everyone.

Now, off to the fishing report. Over the weekend I was down all three days, Friday through Sunday and for the most part fishing was very slow, even though the mullet were thick as thieves, nothing much was going on. Very early morning high tide and very late evening high tide was producing some snook, but most were over sized and had to go back in the water. I did see a couple nice catch and release redfish caught too, along with jack crevalle. Not what you’d expect for the amount of finger mullet around. Also I did see some nice mangrove snapper still being caught around the inlet, but not in the numbers as before. My take on the slow down id due to the fact that the ocean calmed down a lot, when the mullet are here, the snookies like it roughed up, and the water the last few days was showing 87 degrees along the coast, way too warm for this time of the year!! Also the runoff water still coming out of the Sebastian river had a lot of Tanic acid stain and too much fresh water affecting the water quality. That has a lot to do with what’s going to happen with the fishing. So with all that, here is the break down areas.

North Jetty

Mid week last week when it was a bit washed up out there, Tuesday-Wednesday there was a pretty good snook bite on the afternoon high tide on live shrimp and finger mullet on the beach side. Also 3-4 inch paddle tail swim baits were getting a few fish on the beach side. Also there were some nice catch and release redfish and monster tarpon in the mix. As the ocean calmed back down in the surf, so did the fishing. Granted there were hoards of mullet, but nothing attacking them until just before dark when they decided to feed again, but it still was slow. The mangrove snapper bite is still going on with live greenies, but it has slowed down from what it was. One of my friends has been catching his limit everyday around the jetty pilings, with some of them in the 16 inch range.

Another species that was playing nicely were the spanish mackerel. Live greenies were what they wanted. I saw plenty of fish in the 16-18 range being caught. Also some nice lookdowns being caught as well on the live greenies and small jigs. All this action was on the high incoming tide. On the outgoing tide at the tip there were plenty of jack crevalle being caught in finger mullet and cut bait. There were a few snook caught, not many that I saw over the weekend, but they were all too big to keep. Live mullet and pigfish were the baits of choice there. A couple of catch and release redfish were in the mix. I did hear from a couple of my friends that there were also a couple cubera snappers hooked, but not landed.

South Jetty

Over here it is a different story. The water is very dirty and Tannin stained with a lot of fresh water coming out and going south along the beach, then when the tide changes to come in, it sucks it right back into the inlet and never cleans up. Catfish, stingrays and some puffers are the most being caught. There have been some black margates around along with some jack crevalle and blue runners being caught on cut baits. Incoming tide IF you can find some clean water, you might find a snook or two wanting to play, and possible a redfish. I did see one redfish caught Sunday at the tip. There are some finger mullet over here, but not quite like the north side where they are plentiful. So, yea pretty slow over here.

T-Dock area

Back here it is the same as the south jetty, very dirty and stained water with a lot of fresh in it, and for the most part has chased everything away. Not much back here for bait fish except for some finger mullet running along the shoreline into the intercoastal. I did see some mangrove snapper caught over the weekend, but not any numbers, and no keepers, all were small.

Surf Area, both sides

As I mentioned earlier, the south side is a bust with all the very dirty and stained water going down the beach and not being able to clean up, catfish and stingrays are the norm. The north side is where all the action is! From the inlet all the way up to Bonsteel park. With all the mullet in this area and more to come, with the breeze and waves picking up as we go into the week, along with the cleaner water, this is the area to fish!! Snook of all sizes are being caught, along with some redfish and some big tarpon crashing the mullet schools. So you should be able to find some action on live baits, jigs, swim baits and big spoons fished in the surf. Very early mornings when the tide is high, and late evenings when the sun is going down are the happening times.

So there we have it folks. Fishing is picking up, as it usually does in the fall when the mullet start showing up. All we need to make it better is for the water to cool down a bit to where it should be, 78-80 and it should get better. Just a note for those going to the jetty, or the beach to fish, as the week progresses the wind and the waves are going to pick up quite a bit, courtesy of hurricane Lee as he gets more direct outward from our coast and moves away. The surf is supposed to get to 6-8 ft with NNE winds 15-20 mph. That all should get the fishing riled up again! So get out, wet a line and see what you can catch for dinner! Be careful out there.