Fishing in March — Sebastian, Florida

March is snook and sheepshead month at Sebastian Inlet, with pompano, whiting, black drum, bluefish and Spanish mackerel filling in as the water climbs toward the low 70s.

The Sebastian Inlet District fishing report, posted each Monday, covers eight March weeks across 2025 and 2026. The March 3, 2025 report summed up the month in its headline: snook, sheepshead, pompano, margates and more, depending on where anglers fish. A year later, the March 9, 2026 report said many species were possible despite water churned up by wind and waves, from slot snook to Spanish mackerel.

Black margates, sand perch, croakers, bluefish and jack crevalle round out the March catch. Anglers heading to the jetties or the surf for these fish can find tackle in the fishing collection on Digital Towns Market, which serves the Sebastian area. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace.

In March, snook bite at Sebastian Inlet at the south jetty and over the north jetty rock pile, but many fish fall outside the 28 to 32-inch slot.

The south jetty carried March 2025. On March 3, 2025, the guide reported that the snook bite at the south jetty had been really good from Wednesday through Saturday, from the tip and along the seawall, before tapering on Sunday. That afternoon a huge school of croakers moved up the beach with birds diving into it nonstop, and bigger snook moved in to feed. By March 31, 2025, with the water at 73 degrees, there was a fairly good snook bite on both sides of the inlet and on both tides, mostly undersized fish with several mid-slots kept.

In 2026 the action moved to the north jetty tip. On March 9, most of it came over the rock pile on the incoming tide, with several slot fish among snook that were too big or too small. On March 16, 2026, the north jetty gave up a decent snook and redfish bite early in the week on the outgoing tide, with anglers walking live shrimp along the jetty; quite a few snook were caught, most too big to keep, but several keepers. FWC's Indian River Lagoon region rules set the slot at 28 to 32 inches, one per person, and redfish taken alongside them are catch-and-release only.

Sheepshead peak at Sebastian Inlet in March around the bridge rocks and jetty pilings, and FWC's vessel limit for them applies in March and April.

Early March brings the biggest fish. On March 3, 2025, the guide saw plenty of very nice sheepshead of two to three pounds caught on the north side west of the bridge, and on March 10, 2025 the bite under the bridge on the incoming tide was pretty good, with many two to three-pound fish on live sandfleas around the pilings and rocks. In 2026, the March 2 report described really nice sheepshead in between the pilings and over the rock pile at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty tip, on either tide, on live fleas and fiddler crabs.

The FWC sheepshead rules carry a seasonal twist: a vessel limit of 50 per trip during March and April, on top of the 12-inch minimum and 8 per person daily bag. On March 30, 2026, the pilings back toward the beach on the inlet side of the Sebastian Inlet jetty were still producing nice sheepshead for patient anglers.

The Sebastian Inlet surf in March produces pompano, whiting and black drum whenever wind and waves allow clean water.

Pompano lead the March surf at Sebastian Inlet. The March 10, 2025 report described nice pompano on small thumper jigs near the T-dock area, including one fish of 18 inches. On March 9, 2026, the north side surf was producing decent numbers of nice pompano, whiting and black drum on shrimp, sandfleas and fish bites, and bluefish and Spanish mackerel were present for anglers casting spoons and jigs into the surf.

The beach pocket inside the south jetty has its own mix. On March 2, 2026, high tide along the wall and in the beach pocket area at Sebastian Inlet produced small snook, a couple of keepers, some nice seatrout and a couple of keeper flounder, while a large sand bar on the beachside of the north jetty made the water too shallow for fish there. NOAA publishes tide predictions for station 8722004, Sebastian Inlet bridge, which matters in the pocket, where the reports favor high tide.

Inside the Indian River Lagoon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge north of Sebastian permits fishing in its open water for redfish, snook, sea trout and flounder, closes the posted buffer around Pelican Island year-round, and lists boat launches in the city of Sebastian, at Wabasso Causeway and at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

March conditions at Sebastian Inlet swing with cold relapses, wind and construction, so the reports show big weekly differences.

Cold relapses are the main cause. The water was back up to 72 degrees on March 10, 2025, but dropped to 68 degrees by March 24, 2025, when the guide spent most of Sunday at the inlet and saw only one fish caught. In 2026 the water slipped to 66 to 67 degrees in early March, reached 73 degrees on March 9, and fell back into the high 60s to 71 by March 16. NOAA's Coastal Water Temperature Guide gives a March average of 74.4 degrees at Trident Pier, north of Sebastian.

Wind and work crews add to it. The March 30, 2026 report forecast east winds of 17 mph and four to six-foot seas. In March 2025, dredge pipes along the south beach kept anglers away, and the March 31, 2025 report reminded anglers that fishing was not permitted on the rocks east of the fencing near the Sebastian Inlet bridge, marked with three No Trespassing signs during construction.