Kingfish, or king mackerel, are running strong up and down Florida’s Space Coast right now, offering fast-paced action for anglers from Cape Canaveral to Fort Pierce and beyond. With summer heating up, bait is plentiful and so are the strikes.

Look for kingfish in 40–90 feet of water near artificial reefs and live bottom. Hot spots include the Bethel Shoal area, Pelican Flats, and the 8A and On calmer days, kings can be found just a few miles off the beach chasing schools of bait—perfect for the anglers with smaller skiffs and bay boats.

The most effective method to catching kingfish is to Slow-troll with live menhaden, blue runners, or pilchards using a stinger rig with #4–#6 wire and treble hooks to prevent bite-offs. Ribbonfish and cigar minnows on a double-hook rig still produce solid results, especially early morning on the outer reef lines and wrecks. Troll at 3–6 knots for best results and sometimes a slight bumping your boat in and out of gear will get the job done.

Ice them quickly! Kingfish are notorious for spoiling fast. A good ice slurry keeps them fresh for the table or the smoker — they are some of my favorite when in fish dip! The next month or so will only get better and we will probably find bigger fish closer to shore so get out and enjoy some fun summer fishing!

I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July weekend last week. I count my blessings that I live in a country where I’m free to go fishing for a living and I owe it all to the men and women who have served and are currently serving in the US military. Thank you! Now to the catching….

It’s been a really good week. I had a 6 hour charter and fished the Banana River on Thursday and we had jack, ladyfish, speckled trout, redfish, and jumped a tarpon that looked to be about 60 pounds. All these fish ate the exact same lure, a Saltwater Assassin 4-inch sea shad. These are my “go-to” lures when searching for fish. Most of the fish hit either the Opening Night or Slammin’ Shad color. The tarpon hammered a Cajun Croaker colored lure. Why am I telling you this? Because I’m a pretty good fisherman and conservatively consider myself to be a fairly decent fishing guide. There are a lot of Johnny-come-lately-newest, latest and greatest-lures out there that you can spend a lot of money on. I’ve used these same Assassin sea shad lures for about 35 years because they simply catch fish. If these are the lures that I depend on every single day to help me make my living, then you can probably catch a bunch of fish with them too. The other days I fished the near-coastal waters outside the Port. We had tarpon, shark, redfish, snook, ladyfish, jack, and flounder. Some really solid catching occurred. I’ve got some open dates starting the second week of July.

If you would like to get out and chase some fish with me go to my website finelinefishingcharters.com and pick the trip you would like to take and let’s go catch your next memory.

Not much has changed in terms of the strategy that has kept our customers on the fish. The goal is to find live bait before running offshore. Live bait is there; you just have to spend a little time looking for it. Once we have a livewell full of bait we head to the reefs. We start slow trolling live bait in about 75 feet of water. Kingfish, sailfish, cobia and the occasional dolphin are being caught right now.

Just got back from an awesome vacation to Alaska. Inshore fishing is super tough right now. Water quality from the sewage spills a few weeks ago and all of the rain has made inshore fishing tough with live bait during the day. Early bite artificial can be ok but the bite is pre daylight for the most part. Beach fishing is starting to get better with some tarpon around bait pods as well as some bonito have shown up and some kingfish too. Schools of jacks are around but they are very picky. The best bite has been tarpon and bonito this week.

Last week, John and I went to Headwaters for a change of pace. I haven’t been there since this past April. Sure was different looking, everything is grassed up, compared to the wide-open waters of the Stick Marsh. We had a spot close to the boat ramp which produced two fish for John and then that was it for 45 minutes. We moved to one of the pits and worked the edges with no luck. So, we went a little bit farther south, once again working the edges of a pit, dropping our worms along the edge. It was quite slow, but we did manage two really nice fish. John pulled in 6 lbs. 5 oz. and as he was unhooking his fish, I made a cast in the same area where he hooked his and I also hooked up on a really good fish. As he was releasing his, I brought mine in the boat, got the hook out and weighed mine. It weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. I think we caught one or two smaller fish after that and then the bite died. We were back at the ramp by 11 o’clock. The summertime blues are in full effect.

This lucky angler displays beautiful black margate he caught at the north jetty.

Good morning all my Sebastian Inlet fans and anglers, hope everyone had a nice, safe July 4th holiday weekend! Aside from the rain, it was nice. So, without further delay, here is your fishing report for the past few days. Well last Monday, opening day had to be one of the most perfect days you could possibly ask for, perfect weather, perfect water conditions, plenty of fish, and a lot of anglers and sightseers, and great fishing! But as of the Tuesday after that day, it all went downhill pretty quickly! The winds picked up out of the SSE, the surf picked up, and the water got dirty and colder! It was at 81-82 on that Monday, then went right down to the mid 70’s for the rest or the week, 75 is where it went to, and it just shut down everything! On a good note though, today, Monday, it is back up to 77 degrees, but still a bit silted up on both sides, weedy on the south side. So here we go with your breakdown on what’s biting, and where. Also to start off, just a reminder for you all, please remember on the north jetty that all your fishing equipment, carts, coolers, chairs, buckets, bags,and anything else you have belongs in the CENTER of the jetty, NOT in the walkway between the railings and the painted yellow lines. That area is a “safety walkway” for pedestrians and to be kept clear just in case there are any medical emergencies and the EMT’s can get through. You can stand there and fish, but all your equipment needs to be out of that area. Thanks for your help to keep the jetty safe for all..

North Jetty

Over here the bite has been on the late afternoon incoming tide, the outgoing in the morning has been really slow due to the dirtier and stained and cooler water from the Sebastian River rain runoff. The fish don’t really like that, and will move further away from the jetty, but there have been a few catch and release snook and redfish being caught, no numbers. Catfish have also been present, as is always the case with dirty water. The incoming tide where the action has been is producing some catch and release snook and redfish on live shrimp and majorra, but just a few, no numbers. Lookdowns, black margate, spadefish are being caught on live and dead shrimp. Also there have been a few nice bluefish and big jack crevalle around for those using jigs and silver spoons in the channel area. That’s pretty much for the jetty, like I stated, it has slowed down quite a bit. Along the rock seawall between the jetty and bridge has yet to produce any mangrove snappers, I think the water is still a bit too cool, plus we don’t have the big schools of small baitfish for them to feed on yet.

South Jetty

Over here the fishing has been slowed as well due to the dirtied up water, and the seaweed from the SSE winds, and the surf that has kicked up some. I did see some nice catch and release snook and redfish being caught on the incoming tide in the afternoons, shoreline guys, and the boaters were doing well. Live threadfins and croakers were the baits of choice. At the tip on the outgoing tide the guys were catching black margates, spot tail pins, and a few small whiting on cut shrimp. The guys fishing with silver spoons and vertical jigs were catching some nice bluefish and big jack crevalle. Also present were the pesky catfish, puffers and small bonnethead sharks to play with.

T-Dock Area

Back here the fishing has also been pretty quiet, not much going on. The only thing I saw back here were a couple catch and release snook and redfish being caught on live majorra, incoming tide at the cleaning table. The outgoing tide when the small greenies show up, there have been some smaller spanish mackerel being caught on them, and on small white jigs and swimbaits being fished out away from the dock. Around the pilings there have been some small, undersized snappers being caught, muttons and mangroves, on live and dead greenies. Also back here those pesky puffers are everywhere! Hard to get away from them.

Surf Area, both sides

The north side water has sitled up a bit from what it was from the ESE swell, and the SSE winds, but there have been reports of some nice whiting and a few black drum being caught on cut shrimp and sand fleas, north of the jetty area. Also on Sunday on this side I saw some schools of mullet in the surf being blasted by gamefish, not sure what they were, but you never know what’s going to show up when the mullet run. Snook, redfish, jacks, tarpon and sharks. So keep an eye out on that for some surf fun!

South Side

Over here on this side the fishing has been pretty slow due to the roughed up dirty and weedy water. If you can find some cleaner water, whiting and black drum and maybe some pompano are possible with cut shrimp and sand fleas.

Well, that’s all I have for this week, like I said, last Monday was the “banner” day for the fishing on the north jetty, but as always, things change, and our inlet is pretty much dependent on water conditions, and bait present, if conditions aren’t right, there’s no fish action. Everyone have a great week! Snookman.

The trout and redfish bite has turned on this week with lots of fish being caught using live pigfish or croakers. Don’t forget this coming Friday and Saturday is our illustrious two-day red snapper season so plan accordingly. The boat ramps will be crowded so be patient will your fellow anglers. I do have days still available in July if you want to check my website, fatfishguide.com or you can call me directly at 386-295-5991.

The bite has continued to be strong after the influx of holiday boat traffic that had scattered from Daytona Beach south through New Smyrna Beach and Mosquito Lagoon for the Forth of July. The bait pods continue to be throughout the backwaters of New Smyrna Beach making for some great trout and redfishing. The snook and jacks have also been active and can be found chasing bait along the shorelines.

The grass flats of Mosquito Lagoon has also been alive with bait and with bait brings predators. The trout and redfish have been hanging in and around the pods of bait throughout the Lagoon. Plugs, spoons and soft plastics have been working and the live bait like pin fish, mullet and shrimp have been even better.

It looks as though we are in our summer time weather pattern throughout Central Florida with afternoon showers usually stretching from Daytona Beach south into New Smyrna Beach and Mosquito Lagoon on a daily basis.

Fernando with a very nice 31-inch catch-and-release redfish caught on the incoming tide on live shrimp, on the FIRST day of the opening of the north jetty!

Good morning all my AWESOME Sebastian Inlet fishing friends, and jetty visitors! It was a grand day yesterday, Monday, June 30th for the reopening of the north jetty! Was a fantastic turnout to say the least! The weather was great, water was clean and clear, and the fish were there in abundance! I think there probably were about 150 people, or maybe more that showed up to fish, and just “sight see”, was fantastic! With all the people on the jetty it looked like opening day of the fall snook season when the fish were biting good, and they stayed all day too! I have to say though, it is really nice to have the jetty back open as that area is where we do get the most of the fishing action due to the deeper water, and access farther out into the ocean, not to mention the abundance of more and better structure for the fish to hangout. Thank you to EVERYONE involved in the rebuilding of the jetty walkway area, and surrounding dunes and foliage. Job well done by all! So, without further delay, here is your HOT fishing report!

North Jetty

As I mentioned, the jetty was PACKED on Monday, and the fish were everywhere! On the walk out to the jetty with everyone, there were some small schools of very large jack crevalle, 15-20 pounders chasing mullet and majorra along the seawall and making quite the commotion. A couple of the “young guns” I call them were tossing large swim baits at them and hooking up, but none were landed as the hooks pulled out. So that got everyone excited right off to bat! Once everyone got out there and got their spots the tide was starting to come nicely, and the fish started being hooked up, and come over the rails. Most of the fish were caught on live shrimp, black drum, redfish, black margates, sheepshead, and spadefish. For those fishing with live greenies and small crappie jigs and tiny swimbaits, the lookdowns were on fire! There were quite a lot of them caught! Not much to them, but they are VERY tasty to eat, and there is no limits or restrictions on them. For those fishing silver spoons out far, and vertical jigs, there were also quite a few nice bluefish in the 15-16 inch range being caught. The snook was none existent due to the abundance of all the huge goliath groupers harassing the schools and chasing them around. Only two were hooked and the groupers ate both of them, and one redfish. The groupers were trying to eat EVERYTHING being netted. My suggestion since it is so bad with them, please DON’T target the snook during the summer so the groupers don’t eat them all! Let them do their spawning thing, there are other species to catch that you CAN keep. That’s pretty much all for this side, was a great fishing day non the less!

South Side

Over here the water was pretty dirty, but not as dirty as it had been, it cleaned up some. At the tip they were catching black margates, spot tails, some sand perch, and a couple small whiting, and of course the pesky puffers and ever present catfish. Once the tide started coming in all the people that were on the south jetty vacated, and came over to the north jetty! The water over there got pretty dirty, so they left.

T-Dock Area

Back here the fishing has picked up some, especially during the high tide phases. Small mangrove snapper are starting to show more as the water keeps warming up. I had some reports of a few keepers being caught on live greenies, and cut majorra, and shrimp around the dock pilings. And as always, when the water gets a tad dirty, the puffers are abundant for the bait fishermen. On the outgoing tide when the greenies show up, there have some nice spanish mackerel being caught on the live greenies, and very small swim baits. Other than that, it is still a bit slow.

Surf Area, both sides

The north side the water had gotten pretty silted up and there weren’t any anglers fishing, just swimmers having fun. The south side the water remained a bit silted as well, but there were a few pockets of clean water around. For those fishing cut shrimp and live sandfleas, there were a couple nice pompano caught that I know of, along with some whiting. And again, the pesky catfish and once in a while bonnet head sharks to keep it interesting, along with a few bluefish.

Alright all my Sebastian Inlet fishing fanatics, that’s it in a nutshell! Was awesome to have the north jetty back open and to have the fishing there be as good as it was, is a blessing! This week is supposed to be riddled with afternoon thunderstorms, so if you go out, get there early and catch some dinner. The high tides will be in the afternoons, but the fish are there to be caught! I wish everyone a safe and wonderful week!

Summer’s heat is in full swing, and our waters are buzzing with life! The backwaters continue to produce, although many of the larger snook have moved to their spawning grounds. Don’t worry, though – plenty of smaller snook and redfish are still around, and juvenile tarpon are abundant.

When it comes to presentation, slow and steady has been the way to go. The warm water seems to be favoring a more subtle approach, and I’ve had success with 3″ paddle tails, Johnson weedless gold spoons, and artificial shrimp. The key is to work these lures slowly in areas where you’ve spotted bait and structure.

Keep an eye out for those heavy summer rains, which can create increased current and ambush points. Pay attention to areas where water is pushed by points, between islands, or through cuts – these can be hotspots for fish. Tight lines!

Snook are still the stars of the show outside of Port Canaveral this week. Live baitfish are the number one way to get a bite, but you can also cast 4 to 5-inch soft plastic lures to schools of fish that are holding in the surf break. Once you find a school in the surf, multiple fish can usually be caught from it. The flamingo flash and magic grass colors made by the assassin lure company continue to be my go-to colors for my artificial lures right now. I don’t have any open dates until the last week of the month but if you would like to schedule a trip with me, please visit my website for my availability. Just go to finelinefishingcharters.com and click on the reservations tab to book your excursions.