To the angler who loves to fish the beaches, shores, jetties, bridges and piers of Florida.
If you would like to attend and receive a Free Capt Paul Pompano rig please text your name to
609-903- 8243 or email the same information to dsperco@yahoo.Com . This is a two event day as Fishbites Brett Burford and Billy Carr will be there holding their “Buy 2 bags , get one free” promotion.
Come see Capt. Paul his Seminar at Bass Pro on December 3 . You can still pre register by texting your name to 609 903 8243 or emailing that information to dsperco@yahoo.Com . Anyone who pre registers will receive a fee Capt Paul Pompano rig .
And now for Wayne “Snookman” Landry’s brief but informative fishing report:
“Good morning, all my Sebastian Inlet friends and anglers! I hope everyone made it through hurricane Nicole without any damages or down time. We were spared again, but Sebastian Inlet State Park didn’t fare so well, especially the North jetty. The hurricane undermined the concrete walkway slabs leading to the South jetty. Use caution walking to the South jetty and avoid walking on the jostled slabs. Use the sand path that parallels the walkway. Seaweed and sand blanket the T-dock but we are cleaning it today. The entire North side of the park is closed until further notice. There is no water, sewer or electrical service yet. For updates on its reopening, call the south ranger station at 772-589-9659 or visit the state park website www.floridastateparks.org/Sebastian-Inlet.
Now, on to the fishing report: Fishing at the inlet as a whole has been limited, south side only. On Saturday, I noticed a lot of finger mullet and smaller baitfish all around the north jetty on the webcam, which is operational again. Fish were busting them up in the north surf and inside the inlet and it looked like the boaters were having a great time! Incoming tide was when all the action was going on, and also the south jetty anglers were catching small snook and jacks on live finger mullet along the jetty shoreline, incoming tide. The only other area producing any fish was the T-Dock. Boaters were catching small snook and jacks on live baits on the first part of the outgoing tide. The water back here and most everywhere is still very dirty and weeded up. It's going to take some time to clean back up and get back to normal.
The most productive zone in the forecast is the surf. Relatively calm conditions allowed anglers to wet a few lines, and for some, the pompano bit. Spanish mackerel are also in the surf zone. Snook are there, too.
There is still flooding in the St. Johns River north of Lake Harney near Geneva but the water levels are receding and should be better by the weekend.
Closures & regulations changes in effect: Anglers are reminded about these fishery harvest closures currently underway and ones about to begin and end.
Speckled trout, redfish, black drum, jacks are all on the catch list in the shallow waterway. Use live shrimp. They can be freelined or fished under a popping cork. Sometimes, that extra action can trigger trout to feed on sound thinking that other trout nearby are feeding.
This zone has been the hot one this week as anglers are reporting catching pompano, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, jacks, blue runners, snook, sharks and more. High tides mean no long casts necessary. The fish are over the bar and near the trough. For those who aren't crazy about macks, try this: Only take as many as you will eat fresh that day. Leave the skin on when filleting. Broil skin down in an oven for 10 minutes flavored with butter, lemon, favorite spices, or if in a grill, wrap fish in tin foil after flavoring and cook for 10 minutes. Serve with cheese grits, string beans and tartar sauce.
Spanish mackerel are the catch in this region. Gotcha plugs or diamond jigs are the best to throw at these toothy fish. The other key to catching them is to reel fast. Mackerel love the chase so the faster one reels, the more successful he or she is. Snook can be caught on the rocks off north jetty with live bait. Flounder can be caught around the T Dock, but the season is closed for harvest right now, so let them all go until the end of November.
Small tarpon can be caught and released in the Thousand Island area of the Banana River Lagoon using small swim baits or small live baits. Snook can be caught around structure like seawalls, docks, causeways and channel edges. Redfish have been biting in the same areas, but remember, all redfish must be released in the entire lagoon system according to FWC regulations.
Inshore Fishing Report
October brought us a few early cool fronts which is a great sign for our winter inshore fishery. Species you will see making the inshore catch list in November include Sheepshead, Red Fish, Black Drum, Triple Tail, Pompano, Croakers, Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Snook and more! If it is too rough offshore and you are looking to fill the cooler, you will have plenty of opportunities inshore this time of year.
We have had a really nice Redfish bite here lately, unfortunately Redfish were closed for harvest and are only catch and release as of 9/1/22. They are still an awesome fish to target and a species that we really haven’t seen much of in our area over the past few years. The majority of the reds that have been caught have been around the Stuart Causeway. The most productive method there would be fishing live shrimp on a jig head around the bridge columns. Live Croakers, Finger Mullet and cut mullet are baits that will too. There have been a few caught at the Jensen Causeway, towards the power plant and you can also expect to see some caught on docks throughout the river this time of year as well.
The Black Drum bite has started up and we can expect it to only get better as we get later into the season. You can expect to find them around the causeways: The Stuart Causeway, Jensen Causeway, 10 cent bridge and Roosevelt Bridge. Live shrimp and crabs on the bottom will be your most productive baits for targeting Black Drum. Similarly to targeting Redfish around the causeway, you can fish a Shrimp on a jighead with the weight of the jig depending on the current around the bridge columns and you should be able to run into a few!
Stone Crab season has opened up which means you will see stretches of crab trap buoys lining the channels of the river. All the crab trap buoys provide a great opportunity to look for some Triple Tail. You can cruise down stretches of traps on clear days and see if you can spot one. If you do, you can pitch them a live shrimp on a small jig head or free lined and they will typically be all over it!
October brought us some great inshore Pompano fishing. The majority of that action came from the Jensen Causeway east side relief bridge (The Mosquito Bridge). A lot of anglers were able to successfully catch their limits multiple days. 1/4oz-3/4oz Pompano Jigs depending on the current with a teaser produced the majority of the fish. Pink jigs with a chartreuse teaser and chartreuse jigs with a pink teaser have been the hottest colors here lately. We can expect the inshore Pompano fishing to continue to improve with more cold fronts. You can also expect to start finding them by the Stuart Causeway, on the Sailfish Flats and in the inlet.
You can still expect to find plenty of Snook action as we have reached the tail end of the mullet run. A lot of these fish are fattened up from the mullet run and summer spawn and are a bit more lethargic especially on the cooler mornings. Fishing slower presentations such as live shrimp, artificial shrimp and slow rolling swimbaits are great presentations to get you a bite in these conditions. As the sun gets a bit higher, they will be more willing to chase a live bait such as a Croaker or Pilchard. You can expect to find them around docks, the bridges, on seawalls and cruising mangrove lines. A lot of anglers will find success around the bridges in the evening and at night fishing the shadow lines.
Surf Fishing Report
The surf bite is starting to tick in the right direction, we have been hearing about a lot of juvenile Pompano being caught from 75-100 yds off the beach which is common for us here this time of year. There have been schools of bigger Pompano being caught in the Sebastian and Melbourne region north of us. As we continue to get cold fronts, these schools will begin to push south and be right off of our beaches. Electric Chicken Crab and Sand Flea flavored FishBites have been the hot FishBites flavors for the Pompano. You can catch them fishing with baits such as Clam and Sand Fleas as well. It is extremely important to have the proper equipment to be able to reach these Pompano at times. You will want to have an 11’-13’ rod to be able to sling your bait out to the deeper troughs. Long cast spinning reels such as the Penn Spinfisher VI spooled with 15-20 lb monofilament will also make a huge difference in increasing your casting distance. The proper sand spike will also make a big difference, longer sand spikes will help with your line entry and bite detection. Capt. Paul Sperco sat down with Jeff Weakley from Florida Sportsman to discuss the equipment he uses when he hits the beach, you can check it out here: https://www.floridasportsman.com/onlineexclusive/saltwater-pro-tips/videos/465178/penn-sealed-saltwater-reels-durable-reels-for-surf-pier-and-other-saltwater-fishing/465322?fbclid=IwAR3q3jk2abd1qTsxuiTzRqObgFT2dfbCp2Kib3LxKlZMDHIZLhHxiMVl73A. Capt. Paul is in the shop on Thursday mornings from 6am to noon and is always happy to provide any tips or advice.
There has also been some steady Whiting and Croaker action going on in the first trough. Pieces of shrimp or bloodworm flavored FishBites have been producing the most action. If you are looking to target them, try to aim for the high tides.
If you are looking to cast artificials, the Spanish Mackerel have been showing up in good numbers off the beaches. You can throw spoons, Gotcha Plugs or Gulfstream Flash Minnows to have a good shot at them when they are around. You can also expect to catch Bluefish and Jacks fishing this same method this time of year.
Our Angler of the Week! Augustine Chan writes: "i was casting a Rapala X-Rap XR10 (8 lb. Fireline, Daiwa 2500 reel, 7'6" medium light rod) on the ocean side of the North jetty for jacks and mackerel when the big bluefish struck my lure. I fought the fish for a few very exciting minutes when I finally brought it up (with the help of a landing net courtesy of friendly regulars. It's nice to know there are always friendly regulars around to help me with unexpectedly large catches). It weighed 8 lbs. on my grip.
And now for the fishing report, courtesy of Wayne "Snookman" Landry:
Good morning, fishing friends and family! I hope you all had a great weekend and got out to fish as the weather was fantastic. The inlet was abuzz with fishing action last week. It didn't really matter where you fished because fish were caught just about everywhere in the inlet. Most of the action though was at the north and south jetties, with several species being caught. The water has cooled down and cleaned up pretty nicely and has made the fish frisky. Greenies and mullet have attracted and kept the predators interested, as it is the best time of the year, fall, for great fishing at the inlet.
North Jetty: Snook fishing most of last week was excellent, with the majority of the fish caught on the high tide on live shrimp. Many slot-sized fish were caught, along with shorts and oversized specimens as well. Keepers were averaging 29 to 32 inches, and plenty were taken home. That bite lasted from Monday thru Friday and slowed dramatically Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday being a croaker-only day; that's all they wanted, and not very many were landed. All last week boaters hammered the snook with live pigfish and croakers and pinfish. I saw nice black drum, sheepshead and even nice pompano landed. The drum and sheepshead were caught on dead fresh shrimp, and the pomps on the small yellow ‘goofy jigs’. Drum were averaging 15 to 24 inches, the sheepshead one to two pounds, and the pompano 15 inches or so inches. At the beginning of the week, Spanish mackerel were hitting small jigs, silver spoons and greenies. Quite a few fish were caught with some folks getting their limits. The average size of the Spanish was about 16 to 18 inches, with a few I saw pushing the three to four-pound range. The inlet also had the ‘men in grey suits,’ aka the SHARKS! Large bull sharks have been looking for a quick meal. I saw a few boaters have their snook bit in half, and a few anglers hooked sharks on the jetty while fishing live jacks on the incoming tide. A few snook were also eaten on the jetty as well by the sharks. These majestic animals were in the six to seven-foot range.
South Jetty: Fishing here was on fire Friday thru Sunday for the snook on the incoming tide! Lots of fish being caught on just about everything live that you tossed at them. Live croakers seemed to be the better bait. The fish were all along the jetty and rock shoreline from the tip to all the way west of the catwalk. Lots of smaller fish are over here, but also there were plenty of ‘slots’ taken. There were the big girls present as well to make it interesting. Some redfish were caught as well in the mix, but remember, they are catch-and-release only during this time of year. Large jack crevalles and Spanish were in the mix on the outgoing tide at the tip on spoons, jigs and live baits. I also heard of some nice flounder caught, and kept (which was a no-no, as the season for them is closed until December 1). You can catch them; just releasee them. I heard of spotted seatrout caught, but as of Nov. 1 they too are closed for harvest, and don't open ack up until Jan. 1.
Catwalks, both sides: The North side is still closed. The South side has provided a decent sheepshead, both tides with the incoming being the better tide to fish. The water is higher and cleaner. Sheepshead are biting live fiddler crabs - their favorite food. They will bite small pieces of dead shrimp too, but prefer the fiddlers. The snook bite at night has been rather good for the jig anglers, but has slowed a bit. Please remember that the fenders are off-limits anytime. There are ‘no trespassing’ signs posted to warn you it is prohibited. We’ve received complaints of people going out there at night, so be aware. If you are caught trespassing, you will be cited.
Surf, both sides The north side surf has been slow due to NNE winds, low tides and low water on the beach to fish. The South side has been much better as the south jetty partially blocks the wind and waves coming on shore, and there is a deeper trough over there. With the water cleaned up a bit and cooled down, I had reports of some pompano being caught along with whiting and a bunch of croakers in the area, which can be used for snook bait right where you catch them.
T-Dock: The fishing here has been fairly good for the sheepshead. There are some nice fish being caught around the dock pilings on live fiddler crabs. Most of the fish are around 12 to 14 inches. Either tide is good with the incoming being better. Spanish mackerel are being caught on small white jigs and smaller silver spoons. The snook bite has been fairly good as well. Plenty of fish being caught from the dock, boats and the shoreline on live pigs, pins and croakers with the incoming tide being the best for them.
So, there is the ‘beef,’ my friends! Supposed to be a really nice week weatherwise except for a big swell making the surf kind of messy. Get out there and do some fishing or some lounging on the beach and enjoy the oceanside outdoors! Cheers. Snookman