Week of September 9: The snook bite is on!
Today's (September 9) forecast calls for afternoon thunderstorms, a high of 87 degrees, ESE winds at 7 to 9 mph, and 2 to 3-foot seas. Scattered thunderstorms are expected throughout the week and into the weekend.
"Snookman" Wayne Landry, our fishing guide, needs your help to keep the north jetty enjoyable for all:
"Good morning, all my Sebastian Inlet anglers and sightseers. I hope you had a great weekend and dodged the rain showers. I need to start this report off with dismay and concern about the condition of the north jetty. People seem to forget that fishing on this jetty is a privilege, not a right. Park management can revoke this privilege if you violate the rules and impact the jetty, marine resources, or the safety of your fellow anglers. It is, and has been an ongoing problem on the jetty. Now that the fishing action is picking up and drawing more anglers, litter has increased exponentially. People are stuffing junk into the monofilament recycling tubes despite their being marked for monofilament only; and there has been a blatant disregard for our marine resources: bait fish caught in the cast nets are dumped out and left on the jetty to die. Take what you need and please return the rest to the water alive and unharmed! The rules are posted by the beach warning flags. Please read them. The volume of trash discarded all over the jetty needs to stop as well. Use the available trash cans or carry your trash home with you. This isn’t my first post about this problem. Park management can lock the north jetty gates if the team decides they have had enough; they will close and lock the gates and NOBODY will be able to fish! If everyone does their part to help keep the jetty clean and presentable, we won't get to that point. If you see someone littering or breaking the rules, say something, or call the north ranger station @ 321-984-4852, and they will send someone out to resolve the issue. Thanks everyone for your help and support! Now on to the good stuff!
The fishing at the inlet over the weekend has been on fire for a change! Lots of fish of all species were being caught throughout the entire inlet, and plenty of baitfish as well to keep them excited. So here we go with the action spots.
North jetty: Over here there has been good action on both tides, with the incoming being the better tide as the water has been cleaner, and there is more room to fish the inside; whereas the outgoing everyone stacks up at the tip. Live shrimp on the incoming has been the bait of choice for the snook and reds. Several nice catch-and-release redfish were caught over the weekend, but the hot action was on the snook! Lots of really nice slot snook were caught over the weekend as of Friday, with Saturday being the hot day for them. In the time I was at the jetty, I witnessed about 12 to 15 slot fish landed, averaging 29 to 31 inches in size, with quite a few overs and unders returned to the water. Sunday was a tad slower, but still there were quite a few slot fish taken home. Other species I saw caught over the weekend were black drum, lots and lots of Spanish mackerel on live greenies, and nice mangrove snappers around the rocks at the tip and around the pilings. Lookdowns on live greenies at the tip. They’re also catching some nice bluefish, and they are early. The ones I saw were in the 2 to 3-pound range, on cut bait on the beachside. On the outgoing tide at the tip, they were catching some big snook on live mullet, too big to keep, along with quite a few catch and release redfish too. But the focus was on the cubera snappers. Ever since the schools of mullet have been around the tip of the jetty, they decided they wanted to play! Several fish were caught over the weekend on live mullet fished around the rocks at the tip, with one big one that I know of that a friend of mine caught, the fish was 30 inches long! Monster cubera! Another species hanging around to play have been the big jack crevalles, they will eat anything you throw out, from live bait, cut bait to artificials.
South jetty: The action has been hot here, especially snook. Incoming tide has been the best time to fish for them from the tip all the way back to the bridge. Live baits of any kind will bring a bite, but the croakers have been the bait of choice. Lot of small fish under the limit, quite a few over slot, but there were quite a few slot fish taken home. Redfish have been mixed in with them for that added fun factor, along with the big jack crevalle. For those fishing the incoming along the shoreline for mangrove snapper, the bite is still going on with dead or live greenies, and shrimp. Most fish I saw were 10.5 to 11 inches, with some pushing the 12 inch size. On the outgoing tide at the tip the action is all about the jacks, blue runners, black margates, some mangrove snapper, and I even saw a couple of nice pompano in one angler’s bucket!
T-dock: Back here the action is a bit slower, not too much going on as there aren't very many people fishing back here. But those that are here are catching small mangroves around the dock pilings on greenies, either live or dead. Also, there are lots of annoying puffers around to keep the kids entertained. The snook action has been slow, again not very many guys fishing back here due to the action being so good out on the jetties.
Surf area, both sides: The north side has been all about the mullet running down the shoreline in the surf. Big snook, redfish, tarpon have been dominating, along with big jack crevalle — not to mention it's time for the blacktip and spinner sharks to show up with the bigger schools of mullet. The south side surf has been pretty muddied up from the SSE winds, and the leftover NE swell we had last week making things ugly. The only thing I saw and heard about were the kitty fish, puffers and bonnet head sharks. If the water does clean up, and we are getting into the fall season, and the water cools down a bit, the pompano just might show up, as I saw two nice ones caught on the south jetty over the weekend.
So, there you go, folks. Another great report for all, and it will only get better from here as the water cools down and cleans back up. It was showing 86 along our coast this morning. Get your gear, bait, water, snacks and catch dinner or a memory. Remember, take a big bag of patience along with you because it will get crowded at times! Have fun and be safe.” — Snookman