Sebastian Inlet Fishing Is Good Year Round

People ask me whether the month they are coming is a good one to fish Sebastian Inlet. The honest answer is yes, whichever month it is. The inlet is the only natural opening between the ocean and the lagoon for a long stretch of this coast, so whatever is moving along Florida’s east coast comes through it, and something is always moving. What changes through the year is which fish are the headline, not whether there are fish. Here is what each season brings, so you know what to look forward to.

Winter: December to February

The cooler water brings the best eating fish of the year. Sheepshead and black drum stack up on the bridges, jetties and docks, pompano show on the beaches and in the inlet, and redfish and trout feed on the warm afternoons. The days between fronts are calm, clear and cool — some of the pleasantest fishing we get — and it is peak visitor season, so the earlier you book the better your pick of dates.

Spring: March to May

Everything is awake at once. Snook harvest is open from 1 February through May and the big ones move onto the inlet and the mangrove points. Pompano peak, cobia pass through in April, the kingfish and the first mahi arrive in May, tarpon show late in the season and the sharks move in nearshore. The weather is the most settled of the year, and if you want the widest choice of fish on one day, this is it.

Summer: June to August

Hot, flat and early: we leave at first light, fish hard while it is cool and are back before the afternoon storms build. Tarpon are the headline, big fish along the beaches and in the inlet. Sharks are at their thickest, mahi and kingfish are offshore, mangrove snapper fill the inlet and the reefs, and snook are everywhere (catch and release in these three months). Summer is also the best season for families: the lagoon is warm, the islands and sandbars are at their best, and the kids’ trips fill with children catching their first fish.

Fall: September to November

The mullet run pours through the inlet in September and October and everything follows it: snook, tarpon, jacks, sharks, redfish in the surf. Snook reopen on 1 September, seatrout fish well through October, flounder in the first half of October, kingfish come back past on their way south, and in 2026 the Atlantic red snapper season opens for two weeks in October. The summer crowds have gone and the water is still warm. The locals’ favourite stretch of the year.

What Each Month Brings

Taking Fish Home

There is something to keep in every season: snook in spring and fall, trout most of the year, sheepshead, drum and pompano in winter, snapper all summer, and the reef fish whenever we run outside. Redfish are catch and release all year in the Indian River Lagoon, and tarpon and goliath grouper are always released. The rest follows the FWC calendar, which changes a little most years; Can We Keep What We Catch? has the current rules, and I will tell you on the day what goes in the cooler. Cleaning and bagging is included.

Whatever Month You Are Here

Book the trip for the dates you have. I fish this water every day of the year, I know what is biting this week, and I pick the water on the morning to match it. If you have a particular fish in mind, the species guides say when it is at its best; if you just want a good day on the water with a cooler at the end of it, any month works. Rates and trips.