Fishing in November — Sebastian, Florida

November at Sebastian Inlet brings the first cool-water mix of the fall, with slot snook, big black drum, whiting, pompano and catch-and-release redfish, whenever runoff from the Sebastian River leaves the water clean enough to fish.

The Sebastian Inlet District's weekly fishing report, published on Mondays, covers November 2025 in four reports, and the District's index lists each of them with its year. Read together they split the month in two. The first week of November 2025 was nearly fishless, the second was busy, the third went quiet again, and by November 24 the District headlined its report with a suggestion to call in sick and head to Sebastian Inlet.

Snook size is the November story at Sebastian Inlet. On November 10, 2025, live shrimp at the north jetty tip produced plenty of undersized snook and a couple of slot fish that went home, while boaters fishing the shoreline west of the T-Dock did well on live pinfish and pigfish. By November 24, 2025, quite a few slot fish were coming over the rock pile at the tip early in the morning, and the oversized ones went back.

Sebastian Inlet water is usually the right temperature in November, so the bite rises and falls with clarity, and tannin-stained runoff from the Sebastian River and the C-54 canal is what spoils it.

The November 3, 2025 report found the water dirty and tannin-stained from fresh water flowing out of the Sebastian River and the C-54 canal, and noted finger mullet were still around with nothing feeding on them. All weekend the Sebastian Inlet north jetty gave up little besides jacks, small bluefish and ladyfish, and the guide summed up the surf on both sides as deadsville. Two weeks later, the November 17, 2025 report measured 70 to 72 degrees, the correct temperature for the season, yet the water was muddy, weedy and stained by river runoff, and the T-Dock produced nothing but puffers.

Wind direction decides how fast Sebastian Inlet recovers. The November 3 report expected that a more northerly wind might clean the water, and the November 10, 2025 report, written on a morning when the District's webcam caught rare flat seas, found cleaner water on the north side and the action picking up. NOAA's Coastal Water Temperature Guide lists a November average of 74.5 degrees at Trident Pier in Port Canaveral and 78.7 degrees at the Canaveral buoy 20 nautical miles offshore, the nearest long-record stations north of Sebastian Inlet. NOAA publishes tide predictions for station 8722004, Sebastian Inlet bridge.

In November the Sebastian Inlet north jetty is the main stage, with snook and redfish on the incoming tide, black drum arriving, and jacks and bluefish on the outgoing tide at the tip.

Black drum mark the turn of the season at Sebastian Inlet. On November 17, 2025, the guide wrote that it was time for the 'big uglies' to show up, and some nice black drum came on live shrimp early on the high incoming tide, with the beach side of the north jetty tip and the inlet side over the rock pile the places to stand. A week later the north jetty also gave up redfish and pompano in good numbers, and anglers fishing the first part of the outgoing tide caught black drum, pompano and sheepshead on cut dead shrimp.

November at Sebastian Inlet can also surprise. The November 24, 2025 report described a cobia of 50 to 60 pounds taken from the north jetty on an artificial lure, and a longnose gar, a freshwater fish the guide had never seen at the inlet in all his years, caught on the incoming tide. Along the rocks between the bait shop and the Sebastian Inlet Bridge, the same report found undersized mutton snapper and a mangrove snapper the angler put at 17 inches.

The Sebastian Inlet south jetty fished slower in November 2025 because its water was dirtier and shallower than the north side. On November 24, anglers there caught mostly undersized snook on live shrimp at the tip on the incoming tide, plus pompano on goofy jigs on the outgoing tide, enough for one angler to take a limit.

The Sebastian Inlet T-Dock closed to the public in November 2025 for the Sebastian Inlet District's channel dredging project, and anglers moved to the shoreline and rocks around it.

The October 27, 2025 report gave notice that dredging of the inlet channel would begin in November behind the T-Dock and that the dock would be closed for the duration of the project. The November 24, 2025 report confirmed the T-Dock was closed to the public for the District's dredging project and called the water around it slow, with one angler catching undersized mangrove snapper around the tide pool rocks. Earlier in the month, on November 10, the dock area at Sebastian Inlet gave up a couple of small snappers, a few black drum and sheepshead on dead and live shrimp, and jack crevalle on nearly anything cast toward the channel.

Sebastian Inlet State Park sets its own jetty rules. The November 17, 2025 report repeated one posted on the sign board on the way out to the jetty: anglers may fish only two rods in the water and must attend them. The guide attributed the rule to the Florida Park Service and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, noted that FWC sets no statewide rod limit, and said copies of the jetty rules are available at the ranger station.

The beaches on both sides of Sebastian Inlet produce whiting, pompano, croakers and small bluefish in November when the water clears, while the Indian River Lagoon north of Sebastian stays open to fishing with seatrout off limits.

Whiting are the dependable November surf fish at Sebastian Inlet. On November 10, 2025, with the north side cleaner than it had been, the guide described whiting on the prowl in the trough on live and dead cut shrimp, with a few nice pompano and a couple of black drum in the mix. Anglers on the south jetty the same week caught a couple of Atlantic croakers of 12 to 14 inches on cut shrimp, a size the guide said he had not seen in a long time, and small bluefish turned up in the surf on both sides.

The Sebastian surf can turn within a week. The November 17 report found only some nice whiting on cut shrimp on the north beach, with catfish and stingrays, and a dirty, weedy south side. By November 24, 2025, the north side surf was giving up a mixed bag again on dead shrimp and live sand fleas, and the south side had calmed and cleaned up.

Inside the Indian River Lagoon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge north of Sebastian allows fishing in open water areas year-round, apart from the posted buffer around Pelican Island itself, and lists boat launching facilities in the city of Sebastian, at Wabasso Causeway and at Sebastian Inlet State Park. Sea trout appear on the refuge's list of sportfish, but in November they must be released under FWC's lagoon rules.

In November at Sebastian, flounder stay closed through November 30, spotted seatrout are closed from November 1, snook remain open with a 28 to 32-inch slot, and redfish are catch-and-release only.

FWC's flounder rules close the fish statewide from October 15 through November 30, with a 14-inch minimum and five per person once it reopens on December 1. In FWC's Indian River Lagoon region, which takes in Sebastian, spotted seatrout close on November 1 and stay closed through December 31. Snook in the same region remain open until the winter closure begins on December 15, with one fish per person per day between 28 and 32 inches, and redfish in the region are catch-and-release only.

November also ends the Atlantic hurricane season at Sebastian, which the National Hurricane Center dates from June 1 to November 30. A cobia like the one reported at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty on November 24, 2025 falls under FWC's cobia rules: 36 inches fork length, one per person or two per vessel, whichever is less. Black drum carry a 14 to 24-inch slot with one fish over 24 inches allowed. For cool-weather jetty and surf fishing at Sebastian Inlet, fishing tackle on Digital Towns Market covers rods, rigs and lures. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace. Last verified: October 10, 2026, on the FWC flounder, spotted seatrout, snook, red drum, cobia and black drum pages.