Fishing in September — Sebastian, Florida

September at Sebastian Inlet brings the snook harvest back on September 1 and the start of the fall mullet run, along with redfish to release, mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel, lookdowns and big jack crevalle.

The Sebastian Inlet District posts its fishing report on Mondays, and the District's report index lists four September reports for 2025 and four for 2026. Both Septembers began with crowds on the jetties for the snook opener and water a few degrees too warm for a hard bite. They ended differently: a tropical storm closed Sebastian Inlet State Park on the last weekend of September 2025, while late September 2026 produced snook and Spanish mackerel between days of strong wind.

September tackle at Sebastian Inlet runs from small white jigs and silver spoons for mackerel to large swim baits for snook in the mullet schools, and similar gear is listed under fishing tackle on Digital Towns Market. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace.

Snook harvest at Sebastian Inlet reopens on September 1, when FWC's Indian River Lagoon Region allows one snook per person per day between 28 and 32 inches.

Sebastian sits inside that region, which FWC's snook rules draw from Lytle Avenue in New Smyrna Beach south to the Martin and Palm Beach county line. The summer closure there ends August 31, and a winter closure follows from December 15, so September through mid-December is the main fall window to keep a slot fish at Sebastian Inlet.

Opening day 2025 was a letdown. The District's guide wrote in the report for the week of September 1, 2025 that hardly any fish of any species were caught in the entire inlet, and he blamed tannin-stained stormwater from the Sebastian River and the C-54 Canal mixing with the ocean. He also noted that snook tend to disappear for about a week at that time of year, and that the water, showing 86 degrees, needed to drop to around 80 to 82 degrees to fire up the action. The south jetty did better than the north that week, with decent snook on live mojarra and croakers on the incoming tide.

The 2026 opener went the other way. The report for the week of September 7, 2026 said snook drew most of the action at the north jetty on the early morning outgoing tide, biting mostly on pigfish, with most fish oversized but plenty of slot snook going home. The guide explained that snook strike the pigfish and pinfish leaving the Intracoastal partly out of aggression, since those fish are an enemy to snook eggs and fry. A week later, on September 14, 2026, the north jetty held plenty of snook, mostly keepers, on live pigfish and mullet.

The fall mullet run reaches Sebastian Inlet in September, and the schools moving south along the beaches pull snook, redfish, tarpon, big jacks and sharks in behind them.

In 2025 the District called the start early. Its report for the week of September 8, 2025 said that during the previous week and a half there had been thousands of mullet around the inlet and the beaches, with schools coming down both sides nonstop. Redfish led the north jetty that week, most in the 28 to 34-inch range on live finger mullet, mojarra and shrimp, while the jack crevalle tearing through the bait were mostly in the 10 to 15-pound range. On the south jetty, one angler took a limit of pompano of about two pounds on goofy jigs.

In 2026 the run arrived later. On September 7, 2026, the guide wrote that the mullet had thinned out considerably and would return when NNE breezes pushed them down the coast. They did: the report filed in the District index as the week of September 21, 2026 described millions of finger mullet in the entire inlet after two days of NNE wind and five to six-foot surf. The snook bite in the surf pocket at the north jetty was really good on live mullet, though most fish were too big to keep because anglers used large mullet; the guide pointed to hand-sized mullet for slot fish.

The mullet also revive the beach north of the jetty inside Sebastian Inlet State Park. The September 21, 2026 report said beach snook were showing because the large sandbar there had shrunk, and that tarpon and sharks in the 50 to 100-pound class follow the schools. South of the inlet the surf stayed quiet in September 2026, since there was no access from the parking lot and most anglers walked about three quarters of a mile to the south jetty without stopping to fish the beach.

Water at Sebastian Inlet usually starts September in the mid 80s, and the District's reports tie a better bite to the water cooling toward about 80 degrees.

The readings in the District's Sebastian Inlet reports show the pattern. The water was 87 degrees on September 8, 2025, and the guide wrote that it needed to drop to around 78 to 80 for the snook to turn on. By the week of September 22, 2025 it read 84 degrees, when it should be in the mid to upper 70s, and the finger mullet in the inlet had no predators chasing them. In 2026 the water held at a cleaner 83 degrees on September 7 and again in the week of September 21.

NOAA's long-term numbers agree. The NCEI Coastal Water Temperature Guide lists a September average of 87.0 degrees at Trident Pier in Port Canaveral, the closest listed pier north of Sebastian Inlet, and 84.0 degrees at the Canaveral buoy 20 nautical miles offshore, falling in October to 81.0 and 81.8. Tide times for the inlet come from NOAA station 8722004, Sebastian Inlet bridge, and nearly every September bite in the District reports is tied to a tide.

September is the height of hurricane season, and offshore storms closed or blew out the Sebastian Inlet jetties in both 2025 and 2026.

The National Hurricane Center climatology page puts the peak of the Atlantic season on September 10, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October. In the week of September 22, 2025, the District expected Hurricane Gabrielle to stay away but warned of a possible swell under constant ENE winds. A week later, the report posted October 2, 2025 said the Florida Park Service had closed Sebastian Inlet State Park for the weekend because of tropical storm watches and warnings, and that the north jetty would stay closed with surf of 9 to 11 feet forecast through Friday.

Late September 2026 brought wind rather than a named storm. The report for the week of September 28, 2026 described winds of 20 to 25 mph and seas of 6 to 7 feet at the north jetty from Thursday through the weekend, and the surf on both sides was completely blown out. A short morning bite on the incoming tide still produced redfish on finger mullet, all released, oversized snook on live pigfish, and Spanish mackerel of 12 to 14 inches.

The same September 28, 2026 report took aim at cast netters who left unwanted baitfish to die on the Sebastian Inlet north jetty. It cited Florida Statute 379.2421(4), which requires fish caught in a net and not kept to be returned to the water alive, and listed the FWC hotline, 888-404-3922, for reporting violations.

Besides the snook opener, September anglers at Sebastian Inlet work under FWC's year-round redfish release rule, a lower mullet vessel limit from September 1, and Spanish mackerel size and bag limits.

Redfish are the September fish that never go home. FWC's red drum rules make the Indian River Lagoon Region catch-and-release only, so the 28 to 34-inch reds the District reported at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty in September 2025 all went back in the water. For mullet, the FWC mullet regulations allow 50 fish per person with no minimum size, while the daily vessel limit drops from 100 fish to 50 between September 1 and January 31, the period that covers the run past Sebastian.

Spanish mackerel caught off the Sebastian Inlet jetties must measure at least 12 inches to the fork, with 15 per harvester under the FWC Spanish mackerel rules. The District's September 7, 2026 report added that mutton snapper must be 19 inches before they can be kept, and the few caught at the north jetty that week were undersized.

The lagoon side offers a calmer option when the jetties are crowded or closed. At Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, north of Sebastian, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allows bank and wade fishing on the lagoon side of Bird's and Pete's Impoundment Trails, and lists mangrove snapper and jack crevalle among the refuge's sportfish.