Bait and tackle shops — Sebastian, Florida

The bait and tackle outlet that official sources document for Sebastian anglers is the concession at Sebastian Inlet State Park, listed by Florida State Parks as Salt Water Cowboys bait and tackle.

The shop sits on the north side of the park, along the seawall that runs from the north jetty toward the Sebastian Inlet bridge. Florida State Parks lists Salt Water Cowboys bait and tackle with hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day, then adds that it is closed Wednesdays. The two statements conflict, so the listing is best read as a guide and the hours confirmed with the park before a trip.

The same park page says information on fishing regulations is available at both entrance stations of Sebastian Inlet State Park. It also says saltwater fishing licenses may be obtained at all county tax collectors' offices, online or by dialing 888-FISH-FLORIDA, which for Sebastian residents includes the Indian River County Tax Collector.

Sebastian Inlet State Park is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and entry costs $8 per vehicle (Florida State Parks hours and fees). The listed bait shop hours are daytime only, while the park and its jetties stay open through the night tides.

Storefront bait and tackle shops along U.S. 1 in Sebastian and Wabasso were not confirmed open by any official listing or primary source reviewed for this page on October 10, 2026, so none is described here as operating.

Yes: the Sebastian Inlet District reported the bait shop at Sebastian Inlet State Park open again from late April 2026, after a closure that began in the summer of 2025.

The Sebastian Inlet District's weekly fishing report, published on Mondays and indexed by week and year on its report page, followed the shop through the closure. The timeline below uses only what those reports state.

In the August 4, 2025 report, the district's fishing guide wrote that the gift shop and grille restaurant were closed along with the bait shop, and that he was not sure when they would reopen. By the March 16, 2026 report, the bait and tackle shop on the north side of the park had new owners who were working to get it back up and running.

The April 27, 2026 report announced that the bait shop was open. Two months later, the June 29, 2026 report said the Sebastian Inlet shop was open for business with all kinds of live bait most days, or until it sold out, and that it still did not have a phone. The same report noted that the park concession and restaurant had reopened.

Live bait at Sebastian Inlet follows the water temperature: shrimp, fiddler crabs and sand fleas carry the winter, finger mullet and croakers arrive in spring, greenies and pilchards fill the summer, and the fall mullet run peaks in September.

Winter at the inlet is crab and shrimp season. The January 5, 2026 report said black drum at the north jetty favored live clams and that pieces of live blue crab also drew them, while sheepshead around the pilings took live fiddler crabs and shrimp. Water at Sebastian Inlet that week was 65 to 67 degrees.

Spring brings the first schools of baitfish. Live shrimp and live pinfish were the baits of choice in the March 9, 2026 report, and the April 27, 2026 report saw springtime finger mullet schools starting to show on the beach side. By the May 11, 2026 report, live threadfins, small croakers and mojarra were the baits of choice at Sebastian Inlet.

Summer is the season of small, fast baitfish. The June 29, 2026 report said small greenies and pilchards were showing up around the Sebastian Inlet jetty. On the August 31, 2026 report, snook at the tip were taking live mullet, croakers and pinfish, and croakers worked although the fish wanted hand-sized silver mullet.

Fall belongs to mullet. The September 8, 2025 report declared the fall mullet run officially started, with thousands of mullet around the inlet and the beaches, from big mullet to fingerlings. Later in the season the November 10, 2025 report named live pins and pigs, meaning pinfish and pigfish, as the baits of choice, with pompano taken on sand fleas. In 2026 the run arrived on schedule: the September 21, 2026 report said a big blow and surf had pushed finger mullet, and hand-size and bigger mullet, down onto the beaches at Sebastian Inlet.

At Sebastian Inlet the bait depends as much on the spot as on the season, because the north jetty tip, the seawall by the bait shop, the T-dock and the surf pocket each hold different fish.

The seawall between the bait shop and the Sebastian Inlet bridge is a fixed landmark in the reports. In the January 20, 2026 report, anglers along those rocks were catching sheepshead on shrimp, fiddlers and sand fleas, some of them 12 to 13 inches. In the same stretch in May 2026, catch-and-release redfish came on live shrimp and mojarra during the incoming tide.

The surf pocket next to the north jetty is a flounder spot in winter. The January 5, 2026 report described decent flounder there on small rubber swimbaits, small live finger mullet and mud minnows, with fish in the 3 to 5 pound range taken on finger mullet.

The north jetty tip on the outgoing tide is where the biggest live baits go. The August 31, 2026 report said a cubera snapper was quite possible for anglers fishing hand-sized mullet at the tip of the Sebastian Inlet north jetty, alongside snook and tarpon hooked on the tide rip.

Bait sometimes runs short. The April 27, 2026 report noted live mojarra had been scarce at Sebastian Inlet and blamed water clarity and the lack of mojarra for a slow snook bite.

At Sebastian Inlet, baiting hooks counts as taking part in fishing under FWC licensing rules, and leaving dead bait on the jetty deck breaks both park and FWC rules.

FWC says someone who is passively participating, including baiting hooks, must have a license and appropriate permits. FWC also exempts Florida residents who saltwater fish with live or natural bait, on poles or lines without a line-retrieval mechanism, for noncommercial purposes in their home county; for Indian River County residents, that exemption covers simple poles without reels fished in the county.

The June 29, 2026 Sebastian Inlet District report reminded anglers fishing for sharks and goliath grouper that leaving dead baits on the deck to rot in the sun is against park rules and FWC rules. The same report asked cast netters working the greenies and pilchards at the jetty to take only what they could use and return the rest quickly.

Jigs, spoons and terminal tackle for the inlet are listed in the fishing tackle collection on Digital Towns Market, as a supplement to what the Sebastian Inlet park shop stocks. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace.