Today’s (January 12) forecast calls for cloudy skies, a high of 72 degrees, NE winds of 11 to 12 mph, and two to three-foot seas.

Our fishing guide, “Snookman” Wayne Landry describes last week’s inlet fishing scene as perfect weather punctuated by lackluster fish activity. He explains:

“Good morning, all my Sebastian Inlet fans. I trust everyone enjoyed the awesome weekend weather. It was perfect to be outdoors! But someone forgot to tell the fish. For lack of a better word, it was DISMAL. Many folks were out fishing, but that was all they were doing; fishing, not catching. Just another quick reminder for everyone fishing the north jetty: THE AREA BETWEEN THE RAILING AND PAINTED YELLOW LINES IS FOR PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY AND FOR EMT MEDICAL EMERGENCIES. ALL EQUIPMENT MUST BE PLACED IN THE CENTER OF THE JETTY GRATINGS. You can stand at the railing and fish, but no equipment is permitted there. Thanks for your attention to this safety matter. Now off to the fishing:

 North jetty: Here, about the only action I saw the last few days was the Spanish mackerel bite — lots and lots of them being caught on live pilchards, small white jigs, silver spoons, and gotcha lures. Most of the fish were in the 14 to 18-inch range, and they were FATTIES! Healthy fish. Also, quite a few small and medium-sized blues were caught as well on the same baits —

both sides of the jetty on the incoming tide. As for anything else, a couple of big black drum and redfish very early in the morning at daylight, at the tip, outgoing tide. Along the wall between the bait shop and bridge on the incoming, there were a few nice catch-and-release redfish caught on live baits. No sheepshead, no flounder. 

South jetty: The action was fairly slow as well, with only blues and Spanish mackerel caught on the incoming tide. The water  has muddied up quite a bit from the SSE winds, prompting the catfish and stingrays to return. To that end, it shut down last week’s flounder bite in the surf area. 

T-Dock area: Not many folks have been fishing here. Those who are fishing report small sheepshead and black drum around the dock pilings, as well as the shoreline between the dock and the cleaning table — live shrimp was the ticket for them. A few Spanish and blues in the channel area for those tossing silver spoons and small jigs. The flounder bite we had has fallen of the wagon, again. Not very many ‘flounder boys’ were out, plus finger mullet have been hard to come by. 

Surf Area, both sides: South side, forget about it! The waves have kicked up a tad, and the SSE winds have turned the water into a muddy and weedy mess. Nothing but catfish and stingrays. North side: Pompano are hitting at the northern most parking lot area; also, pompano, whiting and small black drum — on live and dead shrimp, and live sand fleas — only because the water is much cleaner over here. 

That's all we have for this week. We’re expecting another cold front by Thursday, but it shouldn't affect the surf or water quality as the winds will be NNW. I keep telling myself, ‘It's WINTER,’ and things are a bit off. I wish you all a great week!” — Snookman.