Sebastian Inlet Report

10-03-14 FRIDAY: REDS, SNOOK, SPANISH MACKEREL, JACKS AND BLUE RUNNERS 

TGIF! The weekend is here and fishing is good! This morning was very hot and humid on the north jetty, but we have a cool down coming on Sunday with very little chance of rain, perfect fishing conditions!

Reds have been giving our inlet anglers a real work out. We've seen some huge fish landed and released. Among those heavies have been quite a few in the slot, 18" - 27". The bag limit for Reds is one per person per day. Finger mullet are thick around the inlet and they have been bringing in a lot of predatory fish. Mangrove Snapper remain active on the incoming tide and anglers using mojarra, menhaden (greenies) or small finger mullet have been having success. Spanish Mackerel, big Jacks and Blue Runners have been chasing and busting up schools of bait. Oversized Snook and a few slot fish, 28" - 32" have been landed by anglers using live shrimp or finger mullet and during low light periods, anglers have had success with bucktails. Tarpon, Barracuda and Sharks are active as well.
Our first photo features Josh with a huge 41" C/R Red, he also landed a nice 23" Speckled Trout. The Red was released unharmed right after the photo.

Photo two is of Efrem with an enormous C/ R Snook, which was released unharmed right after the photo. Efrem also landed a slot Red and some big Jacks and Ladyfish. 
Photo three features Rudy with an 18" slot Red, one of two Reds he landed that day. He also landed Jacks, Blues and Ladyfish. 
Chad Griffin and his brother Justin, both of Satellite Beach, fished the south beach on Tuesday and between them, landed five Reds. Three were over the slot and two were keepers. Both men were using live finger mullet. Justin landed the largest of the five, a 45" C/R Red that weighed close to 40 lbs. Justin is featured in our fourth photo. 
Chad Griffin is featured in our last photo today with a real pretty slot Red with multiple spots. 

From Capt. Charlie @ Fishing Center - Ft Pierce

Rainy weather has drenched the Treasure Coast lately and it appears that it will continue for a while. The St. Lucie River has been flooded with run off and Lake Okeechobee drainage and it isn't good for the fragile ecosystem in the area. Taylor Creek is flooding water into the Indian River in Fort Pierce as well. It's been difficult to find clean water to fish. Until the dry season arrives, we will continue to be challenged with too much fresh water in the river. We have found decent water to the south of Fort Pierce on the incoming tides. 

Trout have been hitting DOA Deadly Combos, DOA shrimp and live baits. Don't forget to use top water lures at first light on the flats. Look for clean water and bait and you should find the trout. Our redfish have been hanging under the mangroves and most are slot fish. Try DOA shrimp, live or cut bait for redfish. Snook have been around the inlets and along the beaches feeding on the finger mullet. You can find tarpon in the same areas where the bait schools are running. Top water, DOA Bait Busters or Terror Eyz are great choices for fishing these areas.

There are still lots of snapper in the river around bridges, docks and channel edges. Some flounder around the jetties this week and lots of jacks and ladyfish in the area. Fall is always a great time to enjoy the fishing on the Treasure Coast!

Sebastian Inlet Report

10-02-14 THURSDAY: REDS, SNOOK, SPANISH MACKEREL, JUVENILE KING MACKEREL, JACKS, BLUE RUNNERS, MANGROVE SNAPPER AND TROUT 

We have another nice morning at the inlet. Nice and humid. We do have some wind this morning which is helping a little. Winds are blowing out of the West-Northwest at 5 mph, gusting to 8 and the water is calm. The good thing about this morning is the fish are biting; we can tolerate the humidity as long as there's a good bite.

Tommy Turowski at the Sebastian Inlet Bait and Tackle Shop report that Snook were biting this morning and a few keepers have come over the rails, along with over the slot fish. The slot is 28" - 32" and the bag limit is one per person per day. You must have a Snook stamp on your license if you are lucky enough to land one in the slot and plan to keep it. Snook that are out of the slot should be handled with care. If you use a net to bring the fish up onto the north jetty, use a net to lower it back down, it's a long drop. We have a lot of different species that are being attracted by the finger mullet which are thick around the jetties. Reds are thick, some slot Reds are being landed but we have a lot of monsters being caught and released. Spanish Mackerel are darting around as are small King Mackerel, be sure you have a Spanish and not a juvenile King, see yesterday's report for a comparison of the two. We are seeing Mangrove Snapper, Blue Runners, good sized Jacks and Speckled Trout. There are a lot of Sharks in the water as well.
Our first photo features Luane  Toves with one of several good sized Mangrove Snapper she landed. 
Photo two is of Tyler Luck with a 26.5" gator Trout he landed at the end of the incoming tide using an XRap lure. 
Luane Toves is featured in our third photo with an undersized Snook she landed and released unharmed. 
Our fourth photo features Earl Truman of Vero Beach and his friend Ben with a huge Permit he landed, Earl has had terrific luck with big Permit this year, this was his twelfth! 

From Capt. Charlie @ Fishing Center - Ft Pierce

October marks the transition into the fall weather patterns along the Treasure Coast. You can expect temperatures to begin to cool down somewhat into more comfortable days to enjoy the outdoors. Water temperatures will begin to slowly cool off as well. This year has brought us lots of rain and a quiet hurricane season so far. October provides great weather and hungry fish. It's a fantastic month to be fishing!

The fall mullet run will continue to dominate the area as large schools of finger mullet fill the beaches, inlets and rivers of the area. You can expect lots of big fish to be feeding on them both day and night. Snook fishing will be best during the night hours on the higher ends of the tides. Live finger mullet, croakers and pigfish will be the best live baits to use. DOA Terror Eyz, Bait Busters and feather jigs will be good artificial lures to use for snook. Try around the jetties, turning basin and bridges as well as many of the deeper docks around the river. Lighted docks are especially productive when fishing at night.

Redfish has continued to be a wonderful fishery for us again this year. Each year has seen their population increase and many anglers have enjoyed the experience of fishing a large school of reds this year. October will continue to be a productive month for those who seek redfish on the flats. DOA shrimp or CAL grub tails are two of the best choices for redfish along with a variety of live and cut baits. The west shoreline south of Fort Pierce is always a good area when looking for redfish.

The trout bite will be good this month. Get out early with a top water lure for some exciting action on the river. Switch to a DOA shrimp or CAL jerk bait later in the mornings. Harbor Branch, Queen's Cove and Middle Cove are all great areas to fish for trout around the Treasure Coast. Look for some sheephead, black drum and snapper around the bridges, docks and channel edges. The surf will be alive with jacks, snook, bluefish and other predators, which will all be chasing the bait schools along the beach.

Snook season has been in full swing for the past month and anglers are always looking for that slot fish to take home. Beaches, jetties, bridges and mangroves are all popular areas to seek snook. Top water lures, DOA Bait Busters, CAL Airheads and live baits are all great ways to target snook in October. Have fun this month!

It's another great month to fish along the Treasure Coast! Have fun and get out fishing soon!

Sebastian Inlet Report

10-01-14 WEDNESDAY: REDS, MANGROVE SNAPPER, SPANISH MACKEREL, BLUE RUNNERS, JACKS, LADYFISH AND TARPON 

There's quite a crowd at the inlet this morning. The jetty is lined up with anglers taking advantage of the massive amounts of mullet that are blanketed around the jetties. Winds are blowing out of the West at 2 mph, gusting to 5 and the water is calm. We will probably see rain showers again this afternoon. 

Fishing is great when the mullet are running and the Reds really come on strong during this time of year. Snook, Mangrove Snapper, quite a few nice Spanish Mackerel, lots of Tarpon, Blue Runners, lots of Ladyfish are hitting as well and this is the time we will start to see some Flounder begin to arrive. We've seen a couple of medium sized Flounder, but the big doormats will come when the water cools down.

We received a "heads up" from Ron Gerson who fished the north jetty on Monday and there were loads of juvenile King Mackerel in the water. Those fish are easily confused with Spanish Mackerel but have a different slot size. King Mackerel must be 24" to the fork; Spanish must be 12" to the fork. Ron reported that he and a friend must have landed 50 juvenile Kings and only 9 Spanish. See our first photo to see the difference. The lateral line slopes gently on the Spanish and the lateral line drops sharply on the King. The dorsal fins are much different. Please educate yourself help save our King Mackerel population and it will also keep you from being ticketed by FWC. 
Mike Ricciardi was on the north jetty yesterday morning from 6:30 - 11:30. There were lots of Reds that were landed early and about 20% were slot fish. Chuck Fischer of Satellite Beach landed several oversized Reds before he landed a slot fish at 25", he also landed a nice 14" Snapper. The outgoing tide was murky from all the rain and there were a lot of Blue Runners and big Jacks taking finger mullet. When the tide changed to incoming, the water cleaned up and Mike landed his limit of five Mangrove Snapper between 9:30 - 10:00. One was particularly nice at 14" and the others were in the 11" - 12" range. Mojarra, greenies and small finger mullet were working well for the Snapper. 
 Our first photo is the comparison of Spanish Mackerel and King Mackerel.
Photo two features David Rosario who was fishing with his nephew, John Maldonado. The duo hooked up with three Reds, two oversized and one in the slot using cut mullet. John reported lots of mullet in the water and many anglers hooking up with Redfish. David's oversized Red in our photo was returned to the water unharmed. 
Our third photo features John Maldanado with a huge Redfish he landed and released. Very nice!
Photo four features David Rosario with his slot Red. 

Catch 365

                      "Inshore Spin"

Few rods are as "multi-purpose" as light inshore spinning rods.  Ranging in lengths from 6-8' and with line class ratings from 6-25lbs; there is a light spinning rod for most applications.  A 7' inshore spinning rod, rated for 10-20lb line, with a medium fast to fast action is a very versatile tool that can be used for a lot of species in fresh and salt water.  No anglers arsenal should be without a few light spinners!

From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart

Inshore the fishing has been great with the mullet schools all over the snook,jacks,and redfish have been all over.The bridges at night have produced well to with jigs and plugs.The beach fishing continues to be good with the tarpon and snook in the bait schools. This weekend should be good with this front pushing down.