Fishing report — Sebastian, Florida

The Sebastian Inlet fishing report is published every Monday by the Sebastian Inlet District on its website, sitd.us, on a page titled as its world famous fishing report.

The Sebastian Inlet report lives on the District's fishing report page, which states that the fishing report is published on Mondays. The index lists each report by week and year, starting with the week of December 30, 2024, and notes that older weekly fishing reports, dating back to 2021, can be requested through the District's contact form by naming the weeks wanted.

The publisher is a public agency. The Sebastian Inlet District is the independent special district that maintains Sebastian Inlet, its jetties and navigation channel, and the fishing report is one of its public services alongside a webcam and links to real-time conditions. The weekly text is written with the District's fishing guide and carries an Angler of the Week photo sent in by readers.

Each Sebastian Inlet report opens with that day's forecast and then walks through the north jetty, the south jetty, the T-dock area and the surf on both sides.

The September 28, 2026 report shows the format. It led with the day's forecast (mostly sunny, a high of 85 degrees, ESE winds of 6 mph and two to three-foot seas), then a reminder about cast-net rules, and then fishing conditions by area: north jetty, south jetty, T-dock area and the surf on both sides, closing with the week ahead. Within each area the report names the tide, the baits and the sizes of fish seen.

Water conditions are part of every Sebastian Inlet report. The September 7, 2026 report gave the water temperature as 83 degrees and fairly clean, and noted that mullet had thinned out but would return when north-northeast breezes push them down the coast. Regulation notes also appear: the same week marked the opening of snook season, which in FWC's Indian River Lagoon region is closed December 15 through January 31 and June 1 through August 31.

As of the October 5, 2026 report, Spanish mackerel were the main catch at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty, while muddy, fresh water had slowed snook and most other fish.

The October 5, 2026 report is the latest as of this page. Brisk south-southeast winds and two to three-foot surf had turned the water muddy, and because heavy rain had prompted the opening of the C-54 Canal spillway, fresh, tannin-stained water was flowing out of Sebastian Inlet late in the outgoing tide. The water temperature was still in the low 80s, with baitfish, mullet and greenies around the inlet.

At the north jetty, the fishing was still mostly about Spanish mackerel, caught on both tides along the ocean side of the jetty on live greenies, small jigs and spoons. Snook fishing had worsened, with just a few fish at the tip, and redfish caught along the wall by the bait shop were still catch-and-release only. The south jetty water looked like coffee with cream, producing mostly catfish, stingrays, puffers, black margates, blue runners and jack crevalle. At the T-dock, anglers on the open section of the dock caught small snappers, spot-tail pinfish and small sheepshead, and the south surf was blown out with limited parking lot access.

The weeks before were better. On September 14, 2026, the report announced that the good fishing had arrived, listing snook, reds, mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel, lookdowns, black margates, spot-tail pinfish and whiting. On September 28, 2026, after winds of 20 to 25 mph and seas of six to seven feet, the north jetty still produced redfish that had to be released, mostly oversized snook on live pigfish, Spanish mackerel of 12 to 14 inches, and black margates of 10 to 11 inches, a species that currently has no size or bag limit.

Real-time conditions at Sebastian Inlet come from Florida Tech's monitoring stations, NOAA's SIPF1 jetty station, two offshore wave buoys and NOAA tide predictions.

The District's site links to real-time wind, wave and weather data from the Coastal Processes Research Group at Florida Institute of Technology, which maintains a long-term monitoring program at Sebastian Inlet. NOAA's National Data Buoy Center lists station SIPF1, Sebastian Inlet State Park North Jetty, owned and maintained by Florida Institute of Technology, which reports wind, pressure and air temperature.

Wave height comes from offshore buoys: station 41114, Fort Pierce, a Scripps Waverider buoy about 21 nautical miles south-southeast of the inlet, and station 41113, Cape Canaveral Nearshore to the north. NOAA publishes tide predictions for station 8722004, Sebastian Inlet bridge, a subordinate prediction station; NOAA also lists prediction stations at Sebastian on the Indian River (8722029), Micco (8721994) and Wabasso (8722059), with no real-time water level gauge near Sebastian.

The Sebastian Inlet District's index shows that the report occasionally skips a week or posts late, and it labels those weeks.

The index on the District fishing report page marks the exceptions. There was no fishing report for the week of July 27, 2026, and none for March 23, 2026, when the District posted that it would return on March 30. The June 18, 2026 report was labeled as posted three days late, and the report for the week of September 29, 2025 was posted on October 2 because of messy conditions and five to seven-foot seas. Readers following the Sebastian Inlet bite week to week can expect a Monday post in most weeks of the year.