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St. Augustine Fishing Report

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

Ocean beach, inlet and estuary around St. Augustine, with free county ramps, a pier closed for repairs and NOAA tide stations from the beach to the Matanzas River.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 6:45 PM
Air / High
74 / 75 F
Wind
N 19 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8720587, 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.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

St. Augustine offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 19 mph, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 75. Tides: high 6:23 AM and 6:45 PM, low 12:05 AM and 12:32 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 10:01 AM-12:01 PM and 10:27 PM-12:27 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 76 F with a rain chance. 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 8720587 (St. Augustine Beach). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW12:05 AM0.7 ft
HIGH6:23 AM5.3 ft
LOW12:32 PM0.8 ft
HIGH6:45 PM5.2 ft
Sat
LOW12:46 AM0.5 ft
HIGH7:06 AM5.7 ft
LOW1:19 PM0.5 ft
HIGH7:29 PM5.2 ft

St. Augustine tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp74 F
High / Low75 / 65 F
WindN 19-23 mph
Pressure1018.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain16% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset07:32 / 18:46
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 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish St. Augustine this week

The best day on St. Augustine this week looks like Tuesday Oct 27, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Tuesday, Oct 27 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:01 AM-12:01 PM and 10:27 PM-12:27 AM
Minor period
4:22 AM-5:22 AM
Sun
07:32 to 18:46
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 21 mph
Rain chance
4%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on St. Augustine: 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 St. Augustine 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 St. Augustine today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 75 F, wind to 17 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 19 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 18 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

A Florida saltwater fishing license may be required; seasons, sizes and bag limits follow the current FWC saltwater regulations, which could not be read for this page.

Access

St. Johns County Ocean Pier (fishing deck closed for repairs until further notice); Vilano Fishing Pier; free county ramps at Vilano, Lighthouse Park, Usina, Palmetto Road and Green Road; Salt Run in Anastasia State Park.

About this water

The ocean beach, inlet and Matanzas-Tolomato estuary around St. Augustine, St. Johns County, Florida, referenced to NOAA station 8720587 (St. Augustine Beach).

Fishing St. Augustine: the full guide

The tide stations

This page uses NOAA tide station 8720587, St. Augustine Beach, on the ocean side. NOAA keeps separate prediction stations in the inlet and estuary, including St. Augustine city dock, Vilano Beach on the Tolomato River, State Road 312 on the Matanzas River and Matanzas Inlet, so tide times in the river differ from those at the beach.

The county ocean pier

The St. Johns County Ocean Pier, a 1,300-foot pier first built in 1939 and rebuilt after Hurricane Matthew damaged it in 2016, reopened in 2023. The county now lists the fishing pier as closed for repairs until further notice, though the pier gift shop, which sells bait and tackle, remains open. Swimming and surfing are banned within 400 feet of the pier. The county also runs the Vilano Fishing Pier on the Intracoastal Waterway at 260 Vilano Road.

Boat ramps

St. Johns County operates 15 free boat ramps. Near St. Augustine they include the three-lane Vilano Boat Ramp at 101 Vilano Causeway, west of the Vilano bridge on A1A, two ramps at Lighthouse Park, the Usina ramp in Vilano, the Palmetto Road ramp south of St. Augustine Beach and the Green Road ramp in Crescent Beach.

Anastasia State Park

Anastasia State Park covers more than 1,600 acres of beach, tidal marsh, maritime hammock and dunes, with 4 miles of shoreline. Its fishing area on Salt Run has a fish-cleaning station, and the park says the waters off its north end are popular; if you come ashore, keep off the marsh and dunes.

Common questions

Is the St. Augustine Beach pier open for fishing?

Not as of early October 2026: St. Johns County lists the Ocean Fishing Pier as closed for repairs until further notice, though the gift shop is open.

Where can I launch a boat?

The county's free ramps include Vilano (three lanes), Lighthouse Park (two), Usina, Palmetto Road and Green Road.

Which tide station should I use?

Station 8720587 covers the beach; inside the inlet use NOAA's St. Augustine city dock, Vilano Beach or Matanzas River stations.

Is fishing good at St. Augustine right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Jacksonville38 miSaint Johns River58 miOrange Lake62 miClearwater Lake63 miSt. Johns River64 miMosquito Lagoon80 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8720587 β€” St. Augustine Beach
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 29.8570, -81.2630 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.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
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 text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was 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.