Waters Around Inlet Running Dirty

Erica, the “snook queen,” shows off a catch-and-release redfish from the inlet’s south jetty.

Good morning all you Sebastian Inlet fans! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe weekend! It sure was hot out there, but it IS August in Florida!

Here we go with the jest of things at our fishing “honey hole,” the inlet. First off, I’d like to start off the report with a little reminder for all those folks using a cast net on the jetty to catch bait. Since there are a lot of greenies and such around the jetty this time of year, and they attract the snappers and mackerel, they are the go to bait for them. When you do cast net a bunch of baitfish and dump them out on the fishing deck and take what you want for the bucket, PLEASE, PLEASE return what you don’t need back to the water! We have rules listed on the big white sign board on the way out to the jetty, and rule number 4 states, “cast netters mush return unused marine life back into the water, this is one of the few jetties that allows netting. Please do not abuse the priviledge.” Thanks everyone for doing your part to protect our fisheries and resources. They won’t last forever! Now, on to the meat of the report.

North Jetty

Well, just as quickly as the fishing got hot, it cooled back down! That’s usually how it goes. The main factor to the slowdown is mainly due to all the rain runoff water that is still coming out of the intercoastal waterway and Sebastian River. All last week and this past weekend we had outgoing tides most of the day, and extremely low tides as well, which made the water pretty low, and tainted everywhere. The mangrove snappers were biting along the wall from the catwalk to the jetty, but you had to be there very early to catch the end of the incoming tide and the clean water. Live and dead greenies are still the bait of choice. At the tip of the jetty and the very beginning of the outgoing tide, again very early in the morning, the mangroves were there until the fresh tainted water showed up and shut it down! Most of the snappers being caught now are too small to keep, but there have been a few keepers, not like the week before last. Saturday and Sunday when I was down and in the morning, there was a pretty good spanish mackerel bite going on, and a couple of anglers took home close to their limit, and pretty nice fish! Live greenies fished with a float of sorts to get it out to where they were was the key. That’s pretty much all for this side.

South Jetty

Same deal on this side, very early incoming tide, or late evening incoming tide when the water cleans up some, is the best time to fish. Mangrove snapper, mostly smaller ones and catch and release snook and redfish were being caught. Greenies for the snappers, and croakers for the snook and reds. Outgoing tide, the very beginning at the tip they were catching some mangroves as well, but again most were too small to keep, or just barely over the minimum of 10 inches. Black margates and some blue runners and jack crevalle were biting to keep it interesting. Not much else over here as the water was very tannin stained and fresh from the runoff coming out and flowing south along the beach.

T-Dock area

Back here the bite has also slowed a bit, and again due to the tainted water flowing out! There is a lot of small baitfish around, greenies and glass minnows, and the snappers are biting, but most are too small to keep, just as everywhere else. Not a whole lot going on for any other species.

Surf Area, both sides

The surf fishing has been pretty slow for the most part around the inlet due to the water being so low, and very tainted with the freshwater runoff. The south side has been pretty dirty with the SE winds we have been having all weekend. Not much but catfish and stingrays being caught. Maybe if you get a pocket of clean water, you might see some whiting.

Well that’s all I have for you fishing fans out there. We need all this dirty tainted water to go away so the clean ocean water can come back. This week should be a better week because we have incoming tides ALL week long, which is what I like to see, and should clean things up quite a bit! So grab your gear and get out and enjoy tot outdoors at the inlet! Remember to take plenty of water and stay hydrated!

Have fun guys and gals!