SEBASTIAN INLET FISHING

With all of the flooding and all of the runoff, I really thought the fish were going to suffer and fishing would be slow in the lagoon as it was still too rough to run the beach and look for tarpon and sharks. Inshore bite was strong from Grant to Wabasso with a lot of trout, more trout than I have caught in years due to the return of the sea grass. Along with the trout we caught several snook, some black drum, redfish and plenty of jacks, macs, ladyfish, snapper and juvenile grouper. All on the Rapala Crush City Mooch minnow.

The salinity levels in the lagoon became dangerously low but seem to be improving throughout the week and should as we move forward. Let’s hope we avoided a disaster with the lagoon. We need the water to clear up and keep the grass that has come back healthy so the bait and fish stick around. The forecast is good with little rain and cooler temps late this week so the odds are good for a rebound.

We continue to have high water with the flooding. And gotta be honest, a lot of it smells pretty bad too. It does have a septic-like smell, especially towards the Sebastian River area. I was expecting the fishing to be absolute trash but to my surprise, we had an absolutely amazing week of fishing. There was Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and jack’s, large ones, absolutely demolishing bait up and down the channel from Melbourne Beach all the way to Vero Beach and I’m talking absolutely demolishing it all day long!

The pompano have made their way to the river, although it’s really hard to target them with all this dirty water. The real stars of the show this week were snook, big ones and in numbers. Not very much luck on the outgoing tide and that’s including the backcountry waters but once the incoming made its way, the bite turned on and it was hot using lots of live mullet in various sizes and using mangrove shorelines and oyster beds as structure points.

Parker Russo with a nice red at the inlet

Good morning all my Sebastian Inlet fishing friends, I hope you all enjoyed the weekend, was pretty nice out, even for the fishing, finally! Some relief from the boredom of nothing. Lol.

I’d like to start off by reminding you folks that you can NOT keep any redfish in our Indian River Lagoon area, from New Smyrna Beach all the way down to West Palm, they have been closed since September first 2022, and all have to be released. Also note that the spotted seatrout are also CLOSED for November and December, and open back up January first, can’t keep them either until then, catch and release.

Over the weekend there was a fishing tournament going on at the inlet, and in chatting with several of the teams seems like the fishing was decent for many of them, and for some of our regular anglers. Many different species of fish were caught despite the water being Not so good quality wise. I chalk it up to the cleaner ocean waterr on the incoming tide mixing with the dirty outgoing and making the salinity levels more tolerant for the fish, so they decided to play. The tournament anglers were only allowed to use artificials, so that’s cool, the regular anglers I chatted with were using live and dead baits for their catches. There weren’t really any “hot spots” to focus on, just the fish were scattered around the entire inlet, with the sough side west of the bridge being the better area, both tides, especially back in the T dock area. So here goes with what I have.

North Jetty…. STILL CLOSED….

The walk way area along the wall on the early morning high tides has been producing some small snook, and catch and release redfish on artificials and live baits, along with some small mangrove snapper, sheepshead, and black drum, live and dead shrimp for those species. The outgoing tide up on the jetty walk way area around the gate has also produced some small, but keeper sheepshead, black drum, and margates, all on dead and live shrimp. In the surf pocket area, some redfish and blue fish were caught by the tournament anglers on artificials, jack crevalle were caught as well.

South Jetty

Over here on the early morning high tides same thing, small snook, catch and release reds, bluefish and jacks on live baits, and artificials. The outgoing tide at the tip was the normal cast of characters, sheepshead, margate, blue runners, and some small black drum, all on dead and live shrimp.

T-Dock Area

Back here the fishing has picked back up also. Over the weekend I saw quite a few decent sheepshead, black drum, and black margate caught on dead shrimp along the rocky shoreline, and also around the dock pilings. Also I did see, and hear about quite a few snoom being caught back here, most were too small to keep, but they were being caught. Live pins and pigs, and shrimp jigs were the main baits to use. Either tide was producing fish, with the end of the incoming, and beginning of the outgoing when the water was a bit cleaner, was the better time frame to fish. Another species I heard about being caught by the tournament anglers on this side were some small flounder, yeah I said flounder! Lol. We are getting closer to them to start showing up as the water cools down, they like the cooler water. December-January are the good months for them, if the conditions get to what they like.

Well everyone, that’s it for this week, better than what is has been, thank goodness! This week is supposed to be pretty mild, and we have a cool down coming for the weekend. Everyone have a great week!

As you can guess, guys, we’ve had a pretty rough go-round of weather this week. Rain and wind kept things scattered as far as charter days go. The inlet itself was absolutely terrible. The water was filthy and full of seaweed, debris and the current was ripping beyond belief. I tried it on several tides, and so did a lot of other captains, networking together there wasn’t a bite to be had among us a couple of the days.

We’ve all had to move to the backcountry to save our trips, and luckily the fish back there are fired up. If you’ve ever wanted to experiment with cut bait, now is a great time. We’ve caught lots of snook on cut ladyfish which is not a normal technique for me and the big jacks and redfish are still fired up on finger mullet. Trim the tails so they stand out.

The key this week is clean water. Find it and you’ll find big schools of snook. Once I found clean water with just a hair of current on leeward, protected mangroves, I personally saw the biggest river school of snook I’ve ever seen in my life, around 60 solid fish.

That school is why I keep saying cut bait. These fish were smart and leery, and I had to scale down my leader. Once I’d found them, I backed off and fished somewhere else for about 30 minutes. Then I came back and let pieces of cut bait soak right where they were patrolling around 5 feet off the mangrove line. Be patient with them. I also want to mention that this is a place that I have never fished before and was able to access due to the high water levels. This particular spot is normally skinny skiff territory only and was 3-4’ deep. I think the best part about this report and what you can get out of it would be to explore new territory and have fun exploring new areas while you can take advantage of the high water levels. Remember the fish are doing the same.

If you’re looking for something different to do for the kids, there’s lots of sharks on the flats right now patrolling as well. Seen some as big as 6 feet.

Last week was the windiest week of the year. Rough seas and high winds kept anyone from goin near the ocean but a couple days the indian river lagoon was fishable. We caught several snook on each trip to 35” plus some trout, snapper and a couple nice redfish. We even found a few tarpon in the lagoon as well. This week is starting out with torrential rain and some flooding in the area and that fresh water will make it into the lagoon and slow the bite a bit.

A few weeks of light to medium winds and no rain will help clean the lagoon but we haven’t been getting any breaks. This week, fish near the inlet on incoming tide and you should find a decent bite. That bite may not be trophies but you should be able to put together a fun trip with artificial baits and use your live baits to chase the trophies.

Hello all you Sebastian Inlet fans, I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend despite all the wind and rain. This week is going to be the same weather wise, wind and rain, but not as bad as it has been!

It’s supposed to calm down by Thursday with the winds subsiding to the 8 to 10 mph range, and my coastal surf report shows the seas going down to 3 to 4 mph by then as well. The water will continue to be very dirty with lots of seaweed for a while longer, and the water temp is around 75 degrees, which should bring in some cooler water species for this time of year, when the water cleans back up. But we have to wait an see how that all plays out. No fishing report this week due to BOTH jetties being closed because of the big winds, high surf and king tides, and nobody fishing the back of the inlet either side.

No word as of yet when the north jetty might be opened back up, but please call the north ranger station @ 321-984-4852, or check the Webcam before you come down so you don’t make an unnecessary trip. Have a great week everyone!

The Short Version

The north wind has made offshore and nearshore fishing impossible this week, so we’ve saved our trips by fishing wind-protected mangroves. The inlet is giving up numbers, with bluefish, jacks and Spanish mackerel coming in hot there, and the backcountry redfish bite is strong.

At the Inlet
We’re catching lots of snook in the inlet, mostly in the 22 to 26 inch range. Not many slot or overslot fish are coming out with this rough, dirty water. The redfish bite at the inlet has started to slow, but there are still reds on both the incoming and outgoing tides. Bluefish, jacks and Spanish mackerel have come in hot. Right now they’d eat a chicken nugget if you threw one.

In the Backcountry
There are tons of mullet around, but most of our action has come on live shrimp. We’re also seeing early signs of black drum moving onto the flats for the fall pattern.

The redfish bite is strong. With this extremely high water, the reds are pushed way up into the coves exploring new territory, so don’t be afraid to push in farther than you normally would.

We’re also seeing bigger jacks pushed up onto the flats, which isn’t normal for this area. Tarpon are showing up in stagnant, dirty water with heavy wind protection. There’s not much to report on backcountry snook this week.

This Week’s Game Plan



If you want the most action and a bent rod, fish the inlet.

If you’re after quality fish, take advantage of the high water and explore spots your boat normally can’t reach. The redfish are out exploring too. Don’t be afraid to let your bait soak before you move on. The reds are so far back in the mangroves that it may take a little while for them to push out to where you can cast to them.

Dates to Know
Saturday, Oct 31 is the last day to keep seatrout in the Indian River Lagoon.

Another windy week in front of us and then it looks to calm down. Despite the winds, fishing was pretty good. Plenty of snook in the lagoon as well as redfish and some trout. The trout numbers slowed a bit last week but the snook numbers were better. Clean water was the key as well as finding bait along the shorelines. However, the bait is hard to spot with the choppy water everywhere.

Water has cooled down the last few weeks to mid 70s and that should help the fishing. Full moon week means early mornings and late afternoon fishing will be good. Find a place to hide out of the wind and you should have a good week of fishing,

Hello there all you Sebastian Inlet fans and fanatics, hope everyone had a great weekend despite the brutal winds! It’s supposed to be like this all week long, not supposed to calm down until November 2nd or so according to my weather and surf apps.

The winds are showing upwards of 20-25 with higher gusts at times, and seas from 8-12 feet, with bigger rogue waves on the high tide/king tide phases during our full moon phase which was last Saturday. This makes fishing on the jetties very dangerous at those times. A heads up for you all, as of this report the north jetty IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE! Per park managment. Apparently during the night on Saturday/early Sunday morning, the waves blew out a couple of grates, and there were some anglers out there and one of them fell into the opening and was washed out into the inlet and ended up in the tide pool where he was rescued safely. He was alright, but lucky! Thankfully it was an incoming tide, and not an outgoing tide, or things wouldn’t have turned out the same. One of our safety points on the “rule sign” on the way out to the jetty states “please exit the jetty during periods of inclement weather which may result in lightning and rough seas!” (Rule #19). I hate to see anyone get injured out there, just for a fish! It isn’t worth it, and that’s why I warn you folks in each of my reports when the weather is going to be bad.

So as for the report, the weekend was just a mess, very rough and silty water, but it was kind of clean, all the nasty tannin stained water has moved to the south of the inlet, letting the cleaner water back in with the NNE winds. With all that said, here are the action areas.

North Jetty

Over here it has been all about the early morning high tides, and the late afternoon high tides, we get a tide change every 6 hours at the inlet. The main bite has been all about the spanish mackerel, plenty of the being caught on live greenies, if you can find any, they have sort of disappeared, but if you know where to find some, you will be rewarded! The macks will bite small jigs, spoons, and gotcha lures, but the greenies are the ticket. Several of the guys I know eere getting their limits and then some to release. You can only keep 15 per person per day with a minimum 12 inch fork length. This was all last week before the weather moved in and made it hard to fish comfortably. Other fish being caught were some big jack crevalle chasing the mullet schools around, the redfish have left the building too, along with the snook. Not very many of those species being caught.

Also I did see some nice bluefish caught on finger mullet on the ocean side. All this action was on the incoming high tide last week, early and late afternoon as I stated. Outgoing at the tip was just jacks, blues, a snook or two, and plenty of catfish!

South Jetty

All blown out and mostly under water from the high tides.

T-Dock Area

Back here the fishing was very slow as well over the weekend. It was about the only calm place to fish, but the fish weren’t there. The only thing I saw caught over the weekend, and heard about, were some small undersized snapper, sheepshead, and plenty of those pesky blowfish!! Nothing else being caught.

Surf Area, both sides

ALL BLOWN OUT…

Well my friends, that’s all for this week, like I stated earlier, it’s going to be a “wicked” week weather/surf wise, so if you do go out, find a calm protected area and hope for the best, ya never know what’s going to show up! Be safe, stay well.

Fun morning with Doug with a big redfish, big Jack, several trout, juvenile grouper, mackerel and snapper.

Inshore bite really picked up this week. I have seen more bait around and caught a lot more snook and redfish than we have the last few weeks. We have also caught good numbers of trout plus a lot of snapper, juvenile grouper and tarpon. Live bait has been best but we are catching some on soft plastics as well. Less rain and clean water on incoming should help the salinity get back to normal as well as improve visibility and the cooler temps will cool the water down from mid 80s to the low 80s or high 70s. However, the winds and choppy water will hurt visibility for the sight fishermen.

We will have strong NE winds all week so the best areas to fish will be East shorelines and places with North shorelines out of the wind. Hopefully the forecast will clear up and we can get several more weeks of good snook fishing before the water temps get too cool.