Mark had a good time catching redfish, jewfish and jacks in the inlet along with plenty of trout jacks and ladyfish in the lagoon.

Had a good week fishing inshore and off the beach. Plenty of trout, some pompano and a few snook on the menu. Artificial bite has been strong but the snook are definitely keying in on live bait along the mangroves. Plenty of jacks and a few redfish and snook in the inlet. Love bait was best for us but the evening bits has been strong on Bucktails. Sharks bluefish mackerel and jacks off the beach. Bite was good the few days we got out. Mostly artificial but the sharks were all on live bait.

This weeks front should help the founder and pompano bite as long as we don’t get too cold.

Our first real cold front hit last week putting the water temperatures on Headwaters at a cool 63 degrees but by the weekend was back to the 70 degree mark. I fished a different part of the lake with one of my old clients from my guiding days that came over from Tampa with his boat and asked me if I wanted to come along. No need to twist my arm, so it was a “win, win.”

We fished in some narrow ditch type areas lined with hydrilla on both sides. We both were throwing Lipless Crank Baits in blue/chrome ripping them out of the hydrilla where most of the bites occurred. About one o’clock we put the boat back on the trailer and headed for a Stick Marsh adventure. Using his electronics we were marking fish but they weren’t interested in eating what we were offering at first but we finally found a group that was. We pulled in around 11 bass with the largest weighing in at 6 1/2 pounds. This lake sure looks different since the planting of bullrush in the southern zone. Time will see just what will survive or not.

Saturday was a day on the river. The snook and trout bite was fantastic with many 18-20 inch trout and a snook that measured 29”. All in all a great week to be living in Florida.

How’s everyone doing today? What a great week we’ve had with weather and fish all over! The pompano have started showing up along with lots of whiting and black drum. The water is starting to cool off a little bit and clean up a tad, but the surf still has some dirty brown color. The weather this week is going to bring chilly nights paired with west winds until Friday and Saturday when the southeast winds try and dirty the water up. The good thing is the winds aren’t going to try and blow you to another state like a couple of weeks ago. The high tides look to be right in the early afternoons, so if you’re a tide watcher, you can get a little more sleep in the morning, haha.

As I said, some pompano have shown up on the beach, hitting sand fleas, clam bites, and pieces of frozen shrimp. It seems that pink and white floats have been the color of the week for most. Put some on your pompano rigs and see what it does for you. Make sure you are using a smaller circle hook or J-hook on your rigs, around a #1-1/0 size hook is all you need. These fish don’t have ginormous mouths, so if you use too big of a hook, you’re going to miss a lot of good fish and get frustrated.

Pompano tend to spend their time looking for food around washouts, so choosing a beach that has a lot of outflows will improve your chances of landing the prized fish. A handy trick that I like to do is go to the beach at dead low tide and browse the surf to find deeper pools of water and slicks. That way, you know where to fish on the rising tides. It will help out tremendously for pinpointing where the troughs are and lengths of casts you have to make.

That is it for this week; the fish are here, and if you are looking for our favorite beaches to fish or any other questions, feel free to stop in and get the daily reports! Look forward to next week and tight lines!

Well, we sat back and watched the wind blow all week. Fortunately, there were a couple of days that we were actually able to fish the beach and go for some sharks at red drum. That’s the game right now and it looks like we got another couple of weeks of wind coming up. The beach is literally on fire right now! There is plenty of bait, plenty of sharks, and plenty of red drum. You can use dead bait or live bait, it really doesn’t matter because they are not picky. Even though it will be tough to get offshore the next couple of weeks, our near-shore fishery should remain strong.

This entusiastic angler, Atticus, age 4, showed off his fifth blenny of the morning.

To begin, not much has changed in the past week from the week before, mostly due to water quality and clarity. Some people will say I’m crazy and that water conditions don’t matter, but I have fished the inlet for a long time and pay attention to the nuances of our inlet and its marine environment. Rain runoff from the intercoastal waterway is mixing with the clean Atlantic water and slugs of freshwater from the Sebastian River. This reduces the presence of baitfish and their predators. The baitfish, greenies and pilchards have thinned out from what they were, but there are still some around the jetty and the inlet. Also, schools of glass minnows have vanished — I have not seen any in a week or so, and the mullet have gone as well. The mojarra are still present in and around the inlet. There are fish around, but you have to hunt them down and find the right conditions to persuade them to bite. Here’s the breakdown:

North jetty

About the only thing action here was a decent Spanish mackerel bite last week. Tuesday through Thursday there were several anglers doing well on live greenies and small jigs, but the greenies were the better bait. Most of the fish were in the 13 to 15-inch range — nothing big, but nice numbers. Also, there has been a little improvement on the mangrove snapper bite, but again, most are still too small to keep. Either tide has been good for both species, but incoming being the better tide to fish. Blue runners, skipjacks and jack crevalle round out the other species wanting to play. The catch-and-release snook bite has slowed, mostly due to the huge goliath groupers harassing and herding them! On the incoming tide when the water is clean enough, you can look down along the jetty and see these huge sea monsters just sitting around, or patrolling along the jetty and out to where the schools of snook are. Barracudas are still around. They chase and eat the Spanish mackerel and snappers that folks hook

South jetty

Here, the action is with mangrove snappers, but many are too small to keep; however, the numbers of them being caught has increased. Incoming tide is the better tide because you have more area to fish along the jetty rocks. Outgoing at the tip there have been a few caught in the eddy pool on the northeast and southeast corners — along with black margates and blue runners. Use cut bait for the runners and snappers, shrimp for the margates.

T-dock area

Back here, it is a snapper world! Plenty of small mangroves, some lanes and a few muttons are being caught on cut and live greenies around the dock pilings. There have been some keeper mangroves caught, but most are still small. For those tossing small jigs or free lining live greenies, there are some nice Spanish mackerel being caught as well. Plenty of bait back here to attract them.

Surf area, both sides

I haven’t heard very much about the surf fishing. Most of the areas that I know of where the fishing is good have been vacant of any anglers. Not to say that there aren’t any fish around. Whiting should be almost everywhere this time of the year and will bite cut shrimp. If you find schools of glass minnows in the surf, snook, redfish, tarpon and Spanish mackerel could be a happening thing. Small swim baits or any live bait could entice a bite. South of the inlet where there are some rock structures in the surf, mangrove snapper and sheepshead are possible. Shrimp, live or cut will do the trick.

That’s it in a nutshell. As I mentioned earlier, the fishing should be better. The water quality and bait situation are the main culprits. Like I said, I have done this a very long time, and this year has been the weirdest/worst summer I have ever seen.

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.

Mark Gajownik and his wife Allison with the snook she caught an hour after sunrise on Thanksgiving Day. She caught the fish on the beach north of the inlet using a four-inch swim bait.

Good morning, all my Sebastian Inlet fishing fans. I hope everyone had a fun and safe Thanksgiving weekend. Now it’s back to the grind and another installment of our weekly fishing report. This one will be better than recent reports because the water conditions have improved. Fishing last week, on Monday, started off with a bang with the cleaner and cooler water and some baitfish still around. I saw some nice snook, black drum, pompano, redfish, lots of Spanish mackerel and bluefish caught throughout the inlet. Then came the NNE winds and big waves from Tuesday through Thursday that pretty much shut that all down. Overnight Thursday and Friday the winds shifted again and the seas calmed a bit. The water cleaned back up and the bite was back on! Here’s the breakdown:

North jetty

When the water has been clean, the bite has been decent, with several species caught. The big deal and the best action on the high tide has been the ‘mac attack,’ Spanish mackerel. Monday and Friday were banner days for them. Many were caught, with quite a few anglers getting their limits of 15 per person. Live greenies and pilchards were the bait of choice. Small crappie jigs and small silver spoons worked as well, but the live bait was the best. Another species caught were bluefish. Either tide was working for them, but the outgoing at the tip was better. Large silver spoons, jigs and cut and live bait did the trick. Also on the high tide, ocean side of the jetty for those fishing small live shrimp, cut shrimp, there was a rather good pompano bite on Monday and Friday during the clean water event. On those two days I received reports of about 7 to 10 fish being caught in the 12 to 14-inch range. Also, there were some black drum caught along with the pompano, most were in the 15 to 24-inch range. Again, live or cut dead shrimp. Also a few whiting. On the inside of the jetty, incoming tide they had a snook bite on live shrimp, and the small shrimp jigs. Most of the fish caught were undersized, and some oversized, but also quite a few nice 30 to 31-inch slot fish were caught. I also saw a couple of redfish caught at the tip on live baits.

South jetty

The water has been much dirtier than the north side because all the dirty water coming out of the intercoastal waterway flows south down the beach, and on the incoming it flows back in, keeping it dirty. Outgoing tide is the only time anything is being caught, with black margates, spot tails and a couple sheepshead being the action. For those tossing silver spoons to the channel, bluefish and jack crevalle are hitting them. The snook bite has been pretty slow during the dirty water periods, but if it does clean up, expect some to want to play. Live baits work the best on the incoming tide along the entire shoreline.

T-dock

Here, the action has been all about the snook! During the end of the outgoing tide and the first of the incoming — after the water cleans up — the fishing has been on fire, off and on, for the boaters tossing live baits. Pinfish and pigfish are the key baits. The shoreline guys have fished live baits and the shrimp jigs have also been getting in on the action and getting some nice fish too! Some big redfish have been caught as well. The bluefish and Spanish mackerel have also been biting back here for those tossing small jigs and spoons to the channel area.

Surf, both sides

The area south of the south jetty has been slow due to the dirtier water. Catfish and stingrays have been a problem, but also there have been a few hit-or-miss pompano and whiting caught. On Sunday I saw a couple small snook caught over there too. Live finger mullet. Flounder may be present this time of year. The season for them opens back up December 1. I was talking to one of my friends who fishes them and he caught one the other day measuring 22 inches! Nice fish. Remember they have to be at least 14 inches to keep, and can only harvest five per person per day!

The surf area just north of the north jetty has been producing a few different species. Black drum, pompano, and whiting have been biting dead and live shrimp and fish bites. Snook are still being caught as well on medium-sized swim baits and live baits, mullet and shrimp. Most of the snook have been too small, but a few have been of slot sized to keep. Those fishing silver spoons should look for bluefish and Spanish mackerel. If there are any bait fish in the surf you might run into some tarpon and blacktip/spinner/bull sharks, too.

That’s a wrap. The week will start out on the windy and cool side, but will warm up after Wednesday (see forecast at the top of the report).

Have a great week everyone and stay safe!

The last few days have allowed us to get out off the beaches to chase a variety of species. With the cooler water temps we are seeing more whiting, Spanish mackerel and bluefish at this time. Snook and redfish action has slowed considerably. You can’t rule them out, you just need to be a lot more patient and when they actually decide to take a bait, be ready to capitalize on the opportunity.

Weather windows are crucial for us over the next few weeks. When we have the opportunity to get outside we will. Until then we can always chase redfish, black drum, and other species in the backwaters of our Space Coast lagoons. We have some days available between now and Christmas so give us a shout at 321-505-8217 and we will get you out on the water to catch your next memory.

The past week provided us with manageable weather, allowing us to engage in some fishing and yielding good catches. However, it wasn’t a banner week. We encountered some dirty water that seems to be lingering a bit longer than I had hoped, but it held promise for pompano fishermen! This week will be fishable for sure, with swells averaging about two feet throughout the week. The winds don’t appear favorable for cleaning the water very well, but they won’t wash out our fishing days with churning choppy water.

The week was filled with bluefish, jacks, and ladyfish. Don’t get me started on the seasonal crabs, haha… We did observe some smaller pompano and some keeper-sized fish in the Cocoa Beach area and south Patrick areas as well. Reports for pompano have been sporadic all along the east coast, with a few early schools moving our way. It’s only a matter of time before they start showing up in big schools.

Live sand fleas, accompanied by frozen shrimp pieces, have been the preferred bait for many people. Using a pompano rig with pink floats or sand flea imitation floats has been producing the best bites.

In our shop, we have all the rigging tackle for making your own custom pompano rigs, ranging from pompano floats, hooks, and weights. That’s it for this week. Stop by our shop and get the daily report in person. Tight lines!

Only one day out last week. I spent Tuesday at Garcia to fish a little and look around as well. The winds were relentless blowing around 15-20 out of the east on this day. Usually I like some wind to fish but this was a little extreme to say the least. Only a handful of bass caught. After fishing the main lake areas I headed to the canal that leads to the spillway to the SE corner of the Stick Marsh. As we made the turn to head west right away you could tell they were moving water, a tremendous amount into the Stick Marsh. These waters would then go into 3 Forks before making it to the St. Johns River system. Needless to say we didn’t fish long before giving up due to the strong currents.

We headed back to the main lake for a while. It was amazing to watch smaller bulrush islands floating as fast as we were moving with the winds. The south entrance of the lake was blocked by vegetation so we had to turn around and head back to the northern end to make our way back to the docks. Water temperatures were sitting at 72 degrees but that will change by the end of our week due to the temperature dropping. I heard that some bedding activity has been noticed on both Headwaters and Okeechobee waters but I didn’t notice any on Garcia, winds will play a factor again this week for our days of wetting a line.