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Sebastian Inlet Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Florida's snook capital: one violent little cut in the barrier island where the Indian River Lagoon breathes through to the Atlantic.

2/5
Slow. The wind owns today.23 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.
Next tide
Low 12:41 AM
Air / High
74 / 79 F
Wind
NE 14 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8722004, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. The wind owns today.23 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Sebastian Inlet sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings cloud cover, wind NE around 14 mph, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 79. Tides: high 6:12 AM and 6:25 PM, low 12:00 AM and 12:24 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:57 AM-11:57 AM and 10:24 PM-12:24 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

BluefishExcellent

Warming water pushes the schools north along the coast. Casting spoons and poppers into bait and chunking menhaden are the usual approaches; use a wire or heavy leader every time.

Tomorrow: Similar at 78 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Florida requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $17.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Florida licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with FWC before you keep anything. The season dates for Florida, read off the agency, are on the Florida seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8722004 (Sebastian Inlet Bridge). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW12:00 AM0.6 ft
HIGH6:12 AM2.7 ft
LOW12:24 PM0.7 ft
HIGH6:25 PM2.6 ft
Sat
LOW12:41 AM0.4 ft
HIGH6:59 AM2.8 ft
LOW1:08 PM0.6 ft
HIGH7:08 PM2.7 ft

Sebastian Inlet tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp74 F
High / Low79 / 71 F
WindNE 14-17 mph
Pressure1016.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain82% cloud, 6%
Sunrise / Sunset07:26 / 18:44
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Sebastian Inlet this week

The best day on Sebastian Inlet this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

23 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Solunar majors
9:57 AM-11:57 AM and 10:24 PM-12:24 AM
Minor period
4:18 AM-5:18 AM
Sun
07:26 to 18:44
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 23 mph
Rain chance
6%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Sebastian Inlet: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Bluefish illustration

Bluefish

Peak harvest: May-Oct, most in Jul-Aug (NOAA)

Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) are sharp-toothed schooling predators that move up and down the Atlantic coast with the seasons and feed in surface blitzes on menhaden, silversides and squid. Warming water pushes the schools north along the coast. Casting spoons and poppers into bait and chunking menhaden are the usual approaches; use a wire or heavy leader every time.

When to come: the Sebastian Inlet calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
Bluefish
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Sebastian Inlet today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 23 mph gusts make boat control the real battle. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 23 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 27 mph gusts make boat control the real battle. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 80 F, wind to 27 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 23 mph gusts make boat control the real battle. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 23 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Florida requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Florida saltwater license. Snook: seasonal harvest windows + one-fish slot 28-32 inches + snook permit: confirm current FWC dates. Pompano 11-inch fork.

Access

Sebastian Inlet State Park (both sides: fee), north jetty and catwalks, surf access on both beaches, boat ramps inside.

About this water

Atlantic inlet between Melbourne Beach and Vero Beach, Brevard County, FL. The Indian River Lagoon's most famous vent.

Fishing Sebastian Inlet: the full guide

The snook mecca

Sebastian Inlet concentrates Florida's east-coast snook like nowhere else: the north jetty's outgoing tide is the signature stand, live croakers or big swimbaits swum along the rocks while linesiders ambush in the wash. Summer nights during the closed season turn the jetty into a catch-and-release theater; the open-season windows (check dates) draw the state's most focused slot-hunters.

More than snook

The same current serves redfish over the flats inside, giant jack crevalle mauling topwater at dawn, Spanish mackerel on the outgoing green water, flounder on the sand spillover, and the winter pompano parade along the beaches both sides. Offshore, the reef line sits close: kings and cobia patrol within small-boat range on calm days.

Tide craft at the cut

The inlet runs fast: fish the seams, not the middle. Outgoing tide pushes lagoon bait to waiting predators at the tips; incoming stacks fish inside along the channel edges and the catwalks under A1A. Heavy jigheads (1-2 oz) reach bottom in the current; everything lighter is decoration. The bridge catwalks fish all night: snook in the shadow lines, tarpon rolling silent through the lights.

The lagoon behind

The Indian River Lagoon spreading north and south is a fishery of its own: sight-fished redfish schools, seatrout over grass, juvenile tarpon in the mangrove creeks. Sebastian's stretch has weathered algae crises: the recovery zones fish better every year, and the inlet keeps its corner flushed and alive.

Common questions

When can you keep snook at Sebastian Inlet?

Only in FWC's open windows (historically spring and fall: verify current dates) with a snook permit, one fish 28-32 inches. The rest of the year is release fishing: the jetty is packed anyway.

Is the north or south jetty better?

North is the storied snook stand (outgoing tide, ocean side); south fishes the incoming better and runs less crowded. Both produce: the tide matters more than the side.

Is fishing good at Sebastian Inlet right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. The wind owns today. 23 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Nearby waters

Fort Pierce30 miStuart47 miLake Kissimmee51 miLake Istokpoga61 miLake Tohopekaliga62 miMosquito Lagoon66 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8722004 β€” Sebastian Inlet Bridge
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 12 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 27.8600, -80.4450 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.