Cast netting bait — Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian anglers throw cast nets for live bait around Sebastian Inlet State Park, working the jetties, the T-dock, the south side flats and the surf for mojarra, threadfin herring, greenies, pilchards and mullet.

The Sebastian Inlet District's weekly fishing report, indexed by week and year on its report page, is the most detailed public record of where and when the nets fill. It names the spots: the south side and the T-dock for mojarra, the rocks along the jetties, the open water around the north jetty for greenies and pilchards, and the surf for mullet when the run reaches the beaches.

Mojarra hold tight to structure at Sebastian Inlet. In the June 9, 2025 report, the district's guide wrote that he cast netted a few, but that they were down deep and next to the rocks. The July 14, 2025 report described anglers cast netting mojarra on the south side, who said the water felt cold; the guide measured 75 degrees over that weekend.

Mullet are netted where they run. The September 21, 2026 report said live mullet cast netted in the surf, fished along with pigfish, were the baits scoring catches near the Sebastian Inlet north jetty, after a blow pushed the schools onto the beach.

Access shifts with inlet projects. The May 12, 2025 report said south side sand pumping was complete, so the area at Sebastian Inlet was open again for cast netting.

Baitfish at Sebastian Inlet build from April, when mojarra, finger mullet and threadfin herring return, through the summer greenies and sardines, to a September peak when the mullet run fills the surf.

Spring is the first real netting window. The April 20, 2026 report said baitfish were starting to appear in Sebastian Inlet: mojarra on the south side, quite a few schools of finger mullet on both sides, and some threadfin herring in the inlet.

Late summer is the deepest bait season. The August 18, 2025 report listed greenies everywhere and mojarra thick on the south side, the T-dock and the south jetty, with greenies, pilchards and scaled sardines all around the jetty and a massive school of glass minnows in the Sebastian Inlet surf pocket.

Fall carries the bait into October. The September 14, 2026 report said the water had stayed clean and calm with plenty of baitfish, mullet, greenies and pilchards, and the October 5, 2026 report found baitfish, mullet and greenies still around Sebastian Inlet with the water in the low 80s.

Sebastian Inlet District reports tie empty nets to cool or unsettled water: baitfish thin out when the inlet runs cold in spring or early summer and return as it warms toward the high 70s and 80s.

In the April 14, 2025 report, the guide wrote that water temperature was still playing a big role in the lack of fishing action and the lack of any baitfish at Sebastian Inlet, and that more baitfish would return with warmer water.

Cool upwelling can stall the summer bait. The June 18, 2026 report blamed water conditions and a lack of the summertime baitfish for slow fishing at Sebastian Inlet, with the water temperature dropped back to 81 degrees.

Mullet follow a different clock. FWC's striped mullet profile says adult striped mullet migrate offshore in large schools to spawn, and that juveniles migrate inshore at about 1 inch and move far up tidal creeks. Sebastian Inlet District reports place the big fall schools of mullet along the Sebastian Inlet beaches each September, while the finger mullet of spring show up inside the inlet and along the Indian River Lagoon shorelines.

The July 20, 2026 report shows the summer pattern at its best: baitfish plentiful at Sebastian Inlet, with greenies, mojarra and schools of mullet in the late afternoons.

Near Sebastian, a recreational cast net may be no longer than 14 feet stretched, mullet are limited to 50 per person a day, and unwanted net-caught fish must go back into the water alive.

The gear limit comes from Rule 68B-4.0081, which bars any cast net with a stretched length greater than 14 feet in nearshore and inshore Florida waters, measured from the horn at the center of the net to the lead line. The same rule allows no more than two cast nets fished from a single vessel, which applies to boats netting bait in the Indian River Lagoon off Sebastian.

FWC mullet rules cover striped, silver, fantail and redeye mullet, with no minimum size and a daily bag of 50 fish per person. The vessel limit is 50 fish from Sept. 1 to Jan. 31, the months of the Sebastian Inlet fall run, and 100 fish from Feb. 1 to Aug. 31. Mullet season is open year-round, and cast nets are legal gear.

Section 379.2421(4), Florida Statutes, requires anyone taking food fish with seines, nets or other fishing devices who does not use them, because of size or other reasons, to immediately release and return them alive to the water. That is the rule the Sebastian Inlet District cites at the jetties.

At the Sebastian Inlet jetties, cast netters must return every unwanted baitfish to the water right away, and the district asks anyone who sees netters leaving bait to die to call the FWC hotline.

The September 28, 2026 report called conditions at the North Jetty especially concerning because some cast-netters had left unwanted baitfish and other fish on the jetty. It said signs throughout Sebastian Inlet State Park instruct cast-netters to return unwanted baitfish to the water promptly, and that violations may bring penalties.

The same Sebastian Inlet District report spelled out three practices: no leaving unwanted baitfish or bycatch on a bank, shore, beach, dock or jetty; no leaving unwanted fish in buckets or on a boat deck to die before release; and immediate release of any game fish or species not permitted for net harvest. It listed the FWC hotline, 888-404-3922, for reporting misuse.

The reports frame the rule as a condition of access. The district's guide has written more than once that cast netting at Sebastian Inlet is a privilege, and asked netters during the September 8, 2025 mullet run to keep only what they need.

Cast nets, bait buckets and related gear are listed in the fishing collection on Digital Towns Market; the 14-foot stretched length limit applies to any net used at Sebastian Inlet. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace.