Today's forecast (August 11) calls for partly cloudy skies, a high of 88 degrees, ESE winds at 13 mph, and two to three-foot seas. 

"Snookman" Wayne Landry says the mangrove snapper bite is ON: "Good morning, Sebastian Inlet fishing fans and sightseers. I hope everyone had a great weekend despite the hot temperatures and afternoon thunder boomers! Here we go with this week’s installment of ‘What's happening at the inlet.’ I'd like to start with a reminder that the area between the railings and the yellow lines around the north jetty are to be KEPT CLEAR of  fishing carts and all equipment you brought out with you. Please place your equipment in the CENTER of the jetty. The walkway around the perimeter of the jetty is to be kept clear for medical emergencies — the EMTs will be able to safely access the inlet walkway. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Now on to the fishing. As I expected, THEYE'RE HERE! And they are everywhere. The mangrove snapper that is; I knew they would show up. It was just a matter of timing with the water temperatures.  The baitfish were here, now the water is good. It has leveled out to the mid-80s — 86 as of this writing and 85 for the past week at the inlet. Here we go with the action spots. 

North jetty: All the mangrove action is during the early morning incoming tide around the tip, the beach side around the pilings, and rock pile. Live bait, shrimp, greenies, and cut mojarra are the baits of choice. Fish them on a Carolina rig, or split-shot rig with a short leader of 30 lb or less as they are kind of leader-shy at times. Most of the fish being caught are in the 11 to 14-inch range, with many averaging 13 inches. Nice sized snappers, and fat ones. Many anglers over the last four days have reported reaching their bag limits — five per day per person, minimum size 10 inches. The other species biting quite well also are the lookdowns on the clean incoming water. Small live baits, shrimp and greenies, and tiny jigs are catching fish. There's not much to them as they are so thin, but if you get a few, they are very tasty fish to eat! Not to be left out, black margates are biting as well, same tide. The snook and redfish bite has slowed considerable mostly due to all the goliath groupers harassing them all the time. They know better than to bite. Outgoing tide at the tip they are also catching the mangroves, just not as well as the incoming, same baits. For those fishing jigs and spoons on the outgoing, there are some big jack crevalle to play with. Along the rock shoreline between the jetty and bridge, the mangroves have moved in there as well, incoming tide is better as the water is higher, and the current is slower, but some can be caught on the outgoing. Same baits as on the jetty. 

South jetty: Mangroves are all over the place! Same baits as the north side, and on the incoming tide as well, all along the jetty from the tip to the bridge. What's different about this side is that the SSE winds, and three to four-foot surf has dirtied up the water again, so the bite hasn't been as good, but still productive for the mangroves. The catch-and-release snook bite has also slowed up here as well due to the dirty water, but live croakers, mojarra are catching some. The outgoing tide at the tip is producing black margates, mangroves, and a few nice whiting and some big jack crevalle for those fishing live and cut shrimp. The big jacks are also hitting silver spoons and jigs fished in the channel area. 

T-Dock: Back here the fishing has been rather good for the mangroves, better than a week ago. Both tides are producing nice fish around the dock pilings and rocks around the cleaning station on small live shrimp, greenies and small mojarra cut bait. Also, back here there have been some of the big jack crevalle around for those fishing spoons and jigs. The snook bite back here has slowed a bit, mostly due to the water being so warm, and they are in spawn mode. They don't want to play. They spawn on the full and new moons in the summer, and we just had a full moon on the 9th, so they are in limbo so to speak. 

Surf Area, both sides: North side surf fishing has been slow, largely due to the beach being full of beachgoers, the surf having increased to three to four feet, and brisk SSE winds that have dirtied the water. On the South side, same thing; fewer beachgoers, just anglers; but poor water conditions have limited the bite to catfish, puffers, and an occasional bonnethead shark. The tides were good, just the water quality was off.

That's it for this week. Expect an on-and-off week with the weather, but the fishing should remain good due to the water temperatures stabilizing and the abundance of baitfish, finally. Grab your gear, water, bait, and catch a mess of fish! Stay safe everyone!” — Snookman.