This week’s fishing report is an exciting one! We kicked off the week with a bang, scoring multiple productive trips with a variety of species. Snook, trout, redfish, flounder, and jack crevalle all made an appearance, keeping our rods bent and our adrenaline pumping.

I targeted a range of habitats, including docks, seawalls, mangrove shorelines, and spoil islands, and was pleased to find that all spots were producing well on most trips. My go-to lures for the week were topwater lures (Spook Jr), 4″ paddle tails, and the trusty MirrOlure Lil John.

The recent rain brought a change to the water conditions, making the fishing a bit more challenging due to the murkier water. However, the payoff was well worth it – the topwater bite was absolutely electric! While the murky water added some difficulty, it sure did make for an exciting topwater bite that I suspect will continue in the coming days.

Overall, it’s been an incredible week on the water, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this week brings!

What a great week we had, it was solid fishing every day. Kings and Cobia is what’s for dinner! Bait is located every day up in the corner, both bunker and mullet. Take all that bait straight to the reef and throw them out naked! Only issue this week was the shark population and then mother nature. Try to be back by 2 and you’re golden. Definitely bring your frozen bait just in case you can’t get on that live bait. Frozen cigars from the Cocoa Beach Fishing Center are on point, just ask for Nicky. He’s more than eager to assist you. Shark fishing has also been on point. Fresh king and bonita work just fine and will get you hooked up. Capt Joe has been doing the daily crushings.

Stay safe out there and God Bless y’all.

The water temp is 84.3 degrees when we started this morning and 86 when we finished this morning.

Top baits this week for me were the Bass Assassin RSB worms, Chatterbaits and the Mike Bucca 6” Trick Shad Gizzard color.

I’m fishing the Bass Assassin RSB worms with an 1/8oz weight and fishing it along hydrilla edges near deeper water. Gooseberry, Green Pumpkin Blue Flash and JB Blue are the best colors. I’m using a 6/0 VMC EWG hook. I like letting these sink to the bottom and pull it along the bottom fairly slow. I had to really let it sit the later in the morning before they’d pick it up. I’m fishing these in 6-13’ of water along hydrilla edges for the most part.

I’m fishing my Jackhammers pretty fast through the hydrilla and ripping it out of the thick stuff. Green pumpkin with a Spunk Shad or Zako have worked well for my trailers. All my chatterbait fish are in 5’ of less water.

We picked up some solid fish the past 2 weeks on buzzbaits. I’ve been a huge fan of the Boogerman Buzzbaits and I’ve had really good success on the Big Bite Baits Tour Toads. I’m fishing these on grass edges in 3’-5’ of water and early morning has been best for me.

The 6” Mike Bucca Trick Shad in gizzard color is my go to swimbait this week. I’m fishing these along thick grass edges near deep sharp drops. I have been testing this bait for a couple years and it was just released yesterday. It is a fish catcher and it will work all over the country because it is the perfect size and shape. Get on the Bullshad email mailing list so you can get the bait drop info.

Tight lines!

Justin with a nice Trout and Nice Tarpon off the beach

The beach was a little rough to fish it by boat most of the week but we did get out a couple days and found some small schools of mullet with tarpon and sharks. The sharks were so thick we couldn’t get through them to get the tarpon but on several occasions we did manage to land a few. Inshore the bite has been good if you can find some bait which has been hit or miss most of the week. Plenty of snook and redfish with some trout and jacks mixed in.

The upcoming week looks to be similar weather with a front stalled above the Space Coast with some wind and rain storms and seas around 2-3’. Inshore bite should get better with both live bait and artificial (topwater bite will be excellent) as that front above us should be getting some mullet pushed out from north of us and get it moving down through the lagoon and along the beaches. If the winds and seas stay down, the nearshore bite should be good as well.

The mullet run continues to be the best fishing action along the Space Coast. Captain Justin and I have had several fantastic days out on the lagoons and near-coastal waters this past week. Live mullet on a knocker rig or a free lined live fingering mullet fished around mullet pods is not going to last long as the predators following these pods will rush to eat them. We also like to cast Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad style jigs or Rapala X-Rap lipped diving plugs into the mullet pods to elicit a strike from the snook, bluefish, jack, tarpon, ladyfish and redfish that are following the mullet down the coast.

We have a few days open this month if you would like to book a trip with us. Just visit our Fineline Fishing Charters website to book online or give us a call at 321-505-8217. Let’s go catch your next memory!

Charity with a 40″ snook caught at the inlet!

Good morning all my Sebastian Inlet anglers, and sightseers, hope you all had a great weekend, and were able to dodge the rain showers. OK, so, again I need to start this report off with a little bit of dismay and concern as to the condition of the north jetty. For whatever reason, people seem to forget that your fishing on this jetty is a PRIVILEDGE, not a right! This privilege can be REVOKED at anytime by the park management if the rules for the well-being of the jetty, and the marine resources, not to mention the safety and consideration of your fellow anglers. It is, and has been an ongoing problem on the jetty, and now that more folks are coming out because the fishing is picking up, the littering of trash all over the jetty, junk being stuffed into the fishing line recycling tubes that doesn’t belong there, and there are stickers on them stating such, and the blatant disregard for our marine resources, the bait fish that are caught in the cast nets and just dumped out and left there to die! Take what you need and please return the rest to the water alive and unharmed! It is a jetty rule listed on the rules sign by the beach warning flags, read them! Also the amount of trash just discarded all over the jetty needs to stop as well. There are trash cans located on the jetty to dispose of your trash, if you are to lazy to do that, please take it back home with you and dispose of it properly. I know I have mentioned all this before, but again, there are gates at the beginning of the jetty, and if the park management team decides they have had enough, they will close and lock the gates and NOBODY will be able to fish! Please don’t let that happen. If everyone does their part to help keep the jetty clean and presentable, we won’t get to that point. As always, if you see someone doing anything that is not right, say something, or if you don’t want to do that, please call the north ranger station @ 321-984-4852, and they will send someone out to resolve the issue. Thanks everyone for your help and support! Now on to the good stuff!

The fishing at the inlet over the weekend has been on fire for a change! Lots of fish of all species were being caught throughout the entire inlet, and plenty of baitfish as well to keep them excited. So here we go with the action spots.

North Jetty

Over here there has been good action on both tides, with the incoming being the better tide as the water has been cleaner, and there is more room to fish the inside, whereas the outgoing everyone stacks up at the tip. Live shrimp on the incoming has been the bait of choice for the snook and reds. Several nice catch and release redfish were caught over the weekend, but the hot action was on the snook! Lots of really nice slot snook were caught over the weekend as of Friday, with Saturday being the hot day for them. In the time I was down there on the jetty I witnessed about 12-15 slot fish landed averaging in the 29-31 inch size, with quite a few overs and unders returned to the water. Sunday was a tad slower, but still there were quite a few slot fish taken home. Other species I saw caught over the weekend were black drum, lots and lots of spanish mackerel on live greenies, some nice mangrove snappers around the rocks at the tip, and around the pilings. Lookdowns on live greenies at the tip. Another species I saw caught over the weekend, and they are early, were some nice bluefish! The ones I saw were in the 2-3 pound range, on cut bait on the beachside. On the outgoing tide at the tip they were catching some big snook on live mullet, too big to keep, along with quite a few catch and release redfish too. But the focus was on the cubera snappers. Ever since the schools of mullet have been around the tip of the jetty, they decided they wanted to play! Several very nice fish were caught over the weekend on live mullet fished around the rocks at the tip, with one big one that I know of that a friend of mine caught, the fish was 30 inches long! Monster cubera! Another species hanging around to play have been the big jack crevalles, they will eat anything you throw out, from live bait, cut bait to artificials.

South Jetty

Over here the action has been pretty hot as well, with the snook action being what everyone is focused on. Incoming tide has been the best time to fish them from the tip all the way back to the bridge. Live baits of any kind will bring a bite, but the croakers have been the bait of choice. Lot of small fish under the limit, quite a few over slot, but there were quite a few slot fish taken home. Redfish have been mixed in with them for that added fun factor, along with the big jack crevalle. For those fishing the incoming along the shoreline for mangrove snapper, the bite is still going on with dead or live greenies, and shrimp. Most fish I saw were 10.5 to 11 inches, with some pushing the 12 inch size. On the outgoing tide at the tip the action is all about the jacks, blue runners, black margates, some mangrove snapper, and I even saw a couple of nice pompano in one anglers bucket!

T-Dock Area

Back here the action is a bit slower, not too much going on as there aren’t very many people fishing back here. But those that are here are catching small mangroves around the dock pilings on greenies, either live or dead. Also there are lots of the pesky puffers around too to keep the kids entertained. The snook action has been slow, again not very many guys fishing back here due to the action being so good out on the jetties.

Surf area, both sides

The north side has been all about the mullet running down the shoreline in the surf. Big snook, redfish, tarpon have been the dominate action, along with maybe some of those big jack crevalle, not to mention it’s time for the blacktip and spinner sharks to show up with the bigger schools of mullet. The south side surf has been pretty muddied up from the SSE winds, and the leftover NE swell we had last week making things ugly. About the only thing I saw and heard about were the kitty fish, puffers and bonnet head sharks. If the water does clean up, and we are getting into the fall season, and the water cools down a bit, the pompano just might show up, as I saw two nice ones caught on the south jetty over the weekend.

So there you go folks, another great report for you all, and it will only get better from here as the water cools down a bit, and cleans back up some, was showing 86 along our coast this morning. So get your gear some bait, water and snacks and get out and catch some dinner, or a Memorie! And remember, take a big bag of patience along with you because it will get crowded at times! Have fun and be safe. Snookman

Fall has arrived! Fall is probably my favorite time of the year to fish. Snook season opening, bull redfish spawning in the lagoon and still some lingering tarpon makes for lots of options! September 1st marks opening day for snook season, and anglers can find lots of opportunities this time of year from fishing the inlets and passes, to pitching docks and mangroves in the lagoon. Those searching for their slot can usually have the best luck fishing at night, tossing bucktails, small jigs, and swimbaits even, look for fish crashing bait along rocks, current edges and even bridge pilings from Sebastian all the way to New Smyrna. My go to baits are natural colored 5″ — no live bait needed — paddle tails rigged on 1/2 oz jig-heads, or hard baits such as the bomber wind-cheater. These are great mullet imitators which produce well especially with the mullet migration known as the “mullet run.”

Not only are the inlets and passes good but anglers can find fish spread all down the beach along the entire coast and walking the surf casting 30-50 yards off around any bait activity can have some really good results. The same lures that produce around the inlets will do well in the surf, but it’s hard to beat a free lined live mullet, or even a large croaker rigged with 50 lb leader and a 6/0 gamakatsu octopus style hook.

Another fun and productive way to catch snook is around residential canals and mangrove points with deep water close by, pitching small live mullet, topwater rapala skitterwalks, or smaller soft baits such as the big live bait needed mini mullet are great choices. Early morning or late in the evening definitely proves to be best!

I highly recommend catch and release in the river system as these fish don’t move and migrate as much in our area such as the fish Oceanside, however, keeping within your limits in the surf and staying within regulations is definitely not frowned upon. I hope everyone has a great fall and gets out and enjoys some epic fishing!

I would have to say that we are no longer in drought conditions here in Central Florida, it has rained every day for the past week. Although with the influx of water in the Mosquito Lagoon it has not affected the bite at all. It has made it a harder to locate them because it has allowed them more areas to wonder but when you find them they will eat. The key has been focusing on the schools of bait scattered across the oyster bars in the New Smyrna beach area and the shallow grass flats in the Lagoon. Artificials and live bait have both been working well. It looks like the afternoon showers will be here for the rest of the week so the mornings will most likely be best to stay dry.

Get the latest word on the bite with Damon from Spacefish on the Mark Moses Show. We talk local fishing every Friday on the air at 4pm.

Big fish were on the move this week one 9.7 2 over 8 and one at 7.15
Top water whopper plopping got the biggest in shallow water on hydrilla clumps others came in 5 to 7 feet.
Fluke bite found some girls as did the wacky worm
Water is way up moving and cooler
3 forks is way up
Headwaters near pool
Kenansville is way up not full
Running water holds alot of fish drifting worms
Haulinbass

Good morning all my Sebastian Inlet fishing friends! I hope you all had a great holiday weekend, and were able to dodge all the rain storms we had over the weekend, with whatever you were doing! Well we now have the first two days of the fall snook season under our belts, and I have to say, just like always, it was a very dismal start to the season with not very many fish being caught.

I have learned over the years that they may be biting like gangbusters just before the season, as they did, then when it opens up, they’re gone! Happens every year in the fall. They go to school to learn this and how NOT to be around when all the anglers come from out of the woodwork to throw junk at them, plus all the boats anchored up around them, they just tense up and get “lock jaw.” They will be back on track in a week or so when the water cleans back up some. It did get pretty dirty over the weekend. There was plenty of mullet, greenies and pilchards around for food for all the other species to keep us entertained. Monster jacks, some reds and a few tarpon were around crashing the mullet schools on Friday and Saturday when I was down then, all throughout the inlet. Spanish mackerel, mutton snappers, mangrove snappers, and lookdowns and blue runners were keeping folks active. So with out further ado, here are your action spots.

North jetty

All weekend the winds had picked up and blew SSE 10-20 and just really dirtied up the water, but it remained warm at around 84-85, which it needs to cool down some to really spark the action we had a couple weeks ago when it was that temp. The last of the incoming tide over the weekend did produce some snook hookups, but not like it was a week ago. Most fish caught were either too big, or too small to keep, and had to go back. There were just a couple slot fish caught that I know of. Outgoing tide at the tip there were some big snook being hooked up on live mullet, but again, too big to keep. Along with them were also a few big redfish caught, same bait, live mullet. But you still CAN NOT keep reds. On the beach side of the jetty, both tides the spanish mackerel were biting pretty good on live greenies fished either on a float line, or freelining them. Most fish were in the 14-16 inch range, and several limits of 15 were caught by some anglers. Around the pilings of the jetty, and the rock shoreline from the jetty to the bridge they were catching some nice mangrove snapper in the 11-13 inch range on either live or dead greenies, or the tiny majorra, and shrimp. The muttom snappers that were around have seemed to slowed down a bit, but they are still catching them, but again, all short of the 18 inches they need to be.

South Jetty

Over on this side the action on the outgoing tide has been at the tip with cut bait. Blue runners, small jack crevalle, black margates, and some small mangrove snappers were being caught, along with plenty of those pesky kitty fish, as the water has been so dirty from the wind switch, and big surf. Incoming tide, all along the shoreline from the tip to the bridge, once it gets going a bit the snook and redfish bite has been pretty good on this side all along the shoreline. Any live bait is producing fish, but again, most of them are either too big, or too small, most have been too small the guys said. This side is notorious for the smaller snook. You might catch a bunch, but there are usually some slots in with them, ya just have to weed through them. Also being caught over here are the mangrove snapper, small live baits, or cut bait such as shrimp and greenies will work for them.

T-Dock area

Back here around the dock pilings the small snappers are keeping folks busy, muttons and mangroves. Small live bait, and cut dead baits are the baits of choice. The incoming tide, if you get some cleaner water back here, the snook and reds are biting live mullet, croakers, and flair jigs at night. Also, back here on both tides when the big schools of mullet are around, you can toss one out to the channel area, or large silver spoons, and mix it up with the huge 15–20-pound jack crevalles that are chasing them through the inlet. You might even get hooked up with a tarpon, I have seen them around, and they usually show up in the fall to feed on the schools of mullet.

Surf Area, both sides

The surf on the south side has been pretty much blown out with the winds and big waves making the water pretty muddy. The north side surf for the most part has been pretty clean all along the state park shoreline. For the cut bait anglers using shrimp or fish bites, expect to catch some whiting and croakers, and possibly a small black drum or two. I saw a couple caught on the jetty last week, so they are around. And for the heavy-duty bait guys, the mullet are still coming down the coastline, but not like they were last week. If you see them, either fish a medium swim bait in and around them, or cast net some and fish them in the wash. Big snook, big reds, tarpon and jacks, not to mention the sharks all possibly could be there for some action.

Well guys and gals, that’s it for this weeks report, the action has slowed a tad on the snook, but everything else is still on target for this time of the year. So grab your gear, and some bait, water, and get out and enjoy the inlet, and catch some dinner, or a trophy!! Snookman.