Spanish mackerel — Sebastian, Florida

Spanish mackerel run off Sebastian Inlet from June through November and again in a winter bite of smaller fish, with almost none reported in April and May.

Spanish mackerel show up off Sebastian Inlet in two seasons. The Sebastian Inlet District's weekly fishing report for 2025 and 2026 describes a summer and fall run from June into November, when greenies, pilchards and glass minnows crowd the north jetty, and a winter bite of smaller fish in December and January. In between, the reports for April and May 2026 found none at all. The inlet sits at the north end of Indian River County, on the Brevard line, with both jetties inside Sebastian Inlet State Park.

The fall of 2026 is the strongest recent stretch. On September 14, 2026, the Sebastian Inlet report said that at the beachside of the jetty, on both tides, it was all about the Spanish mackerel, with lots of fish caught on live greenies, silver spoons and tiny white jigs. On September 28, 2026, mackerel of 12 to 14 inches were taken on the same baits, and the October 5, 2026 report said the north jetty fishing had still mostly been about Spanish mackerel, caught on both tides along the ocean side of the jetty.

The summer run at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty starts when glass minnows, pilchards and greenies gather around the rocks, usually in June.

Bait comes first. The June 1, 2026 report noted tiny glass minnows and pilchards all around the north jetty, the rocks at the tip and the beach, and called it a good sign because it would attract the Spanish mackerel. The year before, the June 2, 2025 report told anglers to expect Spanish mackerel to start showing up with all the tiny minnows around the dock, and on June 16, 2025 the cleaner water at the T-dock held small baitfish on the outgoing tide that were attracting Spanish mackerel.

Size and numbers build through the hot months at Sebastian Inlet. On July 20, 2026, the District's fishing guide saw a few nice 16 to 18-inch Spanish mackerel caught on live greenies on the incoming tide, beach side, and wrote that the fishing should improve as the mangrove snapper and Spanish mackerel move in, those two species being the inlet's summertime go-to catches. In 2025 the arrival came later: the August 18, 2025 report said Spanish mackerel had showed up, not a lot, but enough to keep anglers interested.

Late summer at Sebastian Inlet can produce a tide-specific bite. The August 24, 2026 report recorded 83-degree water, tons of pilchards and greenies around the north jetty, and nice Spanish mackerel caught on both sides of the jetty during the end of the morning outgoing tide, the slack tide, on live greenies, small jigs, small silver spoons and gotcha lures. Most of the fish seen were in the 14 to 16-inch range.

Spanish mackerel stay at Sebastian Inlet through the fall, shrink in size over the winter, and vanish from the reports by April.

The fall bite continues into November at Sebastian Inlet. On September 8, 2025, a few nice Spanish mackerel were caught on gotcha lures on the beach side of the north jetty during the first weekend of the mullet run, and on November 24, 2025 the north jetty produced nice Spanish mackerel on small jigs, silver spoons and gotcha lures.

Winter fish are smaller. The December 29, 2025 report described a few small Spanish mackerel on small metal jigs that were barely keeper size. Two weeks later, on January 12, 2026, the only real action at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty was the Spanish mackerel bite, with lots and lots of them caught on live pilchards, small white jigs, silver spoons and gotcha lures. By February 17, 2026, small Spanish mackerel were still being caught, but most did not make the 12-inch minimum to keep.

Then they disappear. The April 20, 2026 report said bluefish and jack crevalle were still in the channel but there were no Spanish mackerel yet, and the May 4, 2026 report repeated that blues, jacks and ladyfish were at the T-dock with no Spanish mackerel yet. The gap in the Sebastian Inlet record runs until the June bait arrives.

Spanish mackerel come and go at Sebastian Inlet because the Atlantic stock winters off Florida and moves north each spring.

The Sebastian Inlet calendar fits the species' coastwide movement. NOAA Fisheries writes that along the Atlantic coast, Spanish mackerel spend the winter off Florida and move northward to North Carolina in early April and to New York in June, returning south to Florida waters as the water cools later in the year. That timing lines up with the empty April and May reports at the Sebastian Inlet jetties and the winter fish of December and January.

The Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida adds that in the waters off Florida, Spanish mackerel spawning typically occurs from July through September, overlapping the summer bite documented at Sebastian Inlet. The museum lists a maximum reported length of 35.8 inches fork length, well above the 12 to 18-inch fish in the District's 2025 and 2026 reports. NOAA Fisheries rates the South Atlantic stock as not overfished and not subject to overfishing, based on its 2023 stock assessment.

Spanish mackerel at Sebastian must measure 12 inches fork length, with a limit of 15 per person per day all year under FWC rules.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sets one rule for Gulf and Atlantic state waters, so it covers the Sebastian Inlet jetties, the surf and the Indian River Lagoon alike. As listed by FWC in October 2026, the minimum size is 12 inches fork length, the daily bag limit is 15 per harvester, and the season is open year-round. Legal gear is beach or haul seine, cast net, hook and line, and spear.

The 12-inch minimum shapes the winter fishery at Sebastian Inlet more than the bag limit does. The February 17, 2026 report noted that most small Spanish caught that week fell short of it, and the December 29, 2025 fish were barely keeper size. The north jetty, where most of these fish are caught, extends 1,000 feet, and the south jetty 575 feet, according to the Sebastian Inlet District; anglers on the catwalks under the Sebastian Inlet Bridge, completed in 1964, fish the same channel water.