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Week of May 13: The water is heating up and so is the fishing! Pompano, jacks, blue runners, snook.....

Two men holding large fish in front of a boat on a trailer.
Our Angler of the Week is John Entrekin. He writes, "My son, John Jr., and I had an enjoyable trip together on  May 6 in big swells of five to six feet. We caught a few nice Mahi...the largest weight 16 pounds. It was nice for my son to land the biggest. We lost a few in 110 ft waters on pink and green sea witches! We need your fishing photos! If you'd like to be featured as the Angler of the Week, please send your photos to www.sitd.us/contact-us. We love details! Please include your name, hometown, species of fish and (if you want to share) the bait or lure that worked for you!  

Today's forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies, a high of 82 degrees, ESE winds blowing at 16 to 18 mph, and ttwo to three-foot seas. 

It's time for an upbeat fishing report from our own "Snookman" Wayne Landry:

“Good morning, Sebastian Inlet fishing friends. I hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful, hot weekend. The weather was great for the beaches and fishing. Here is this week's report. The fishing has picked up a bit over the weekend, the water has also cleaned up quite a bit and warmed up to near seasonal temperatures. It was 78 on Sunday but 77 on this Monday morning. It should be in the lower 80s this time of year. The other good thing I saw over the weekend was the presence of a lot of baitfish, mullet and threadfins around the north and south jetties. The mojarras have been tough to find. For the most part, though, fishing was pretty good on both sides of the inlet. Here's your breakdown of the hotspots:

 

North jetty: Most of the action here has been on the high tide cycle of the day. Quite a variety of species were caught over the weekend. On the beachside of the north jetty I saw some nice pompano and a couple of whiting caught on fresh dead shrimp, along with plenty of blue runners and jack crevalle. On the inside of the jetty over the rock pile at the tip using large live shrimp, a few snook were hooked up with only a couple being landed. They either were broken off or big daddy G ate them! The goliath groupers were hungry for snook this weekend! I only heard of one slot snook caught all weekend. Around the pilings on the inside they were catching some small black margates, a couple of small mangrove snappers, and a couple sheepshead as well. Another species that were caught over the weekend were some nice catch-and-release redfish all along the shoreline from the gate at the jetty back to the bridge. Live croakers and shrimp were the baits of choice for them. At the tip on the outgoing it was mostly small blues, jacks and catfish, with maybe a snook or two hooked up and lost. Most were fishing either live shrimp, mullet or small croakers. That's pretty much it for this area, it was fishy, but just not up to what it should be yet. 

South jetty: Incoming tide has been the better time to fish. Plenty of small undersized snook being caught all along the inside of the rock shoreline on small live croakers. Saw quite a few caught, but most were too small to keep. Redfish were also present in the area and tide. At the tip and beach side on Sunday the water was pretty clean for a change and they had caught a few nice pompano and whiting on cut shrimp. Incoming tide and the outgoing tide produced. The outgoing tide also produced plenty of blue runners, black margates and jacks just to keep things interesting on the outgoing tide.

 

T-dock area: It has still been slow here, but on the incoming tide when the water is clearer, anglers are catching a few snook using either live mojarra, or croakers. On the dock around the pilings, like I mentioned last week, the small mangrove snappers are beginning to appear. Most are too small to be kept, but they are around. Small live or dead greenies and shrimp will entice them. Incoming or outgoing tide will work. And as always, pesky puffers are ever-present and hungry. For those tossing jigs and silver spoons to the channel area, big jack crevalle are playing around, chasing the schools of mullet in the inlet. 

Surf area, both sides: On the south side of the jetty — the beach all the way down to the ‘day use’ area with the paved parking and rest rooms — look for pompano, whiting and pesky catfish. The water has been pretty clean, but that is expected to change in the next couple days due to brisk SSE winds picking up. Live sand fleas, and shrimp, either live or dead were getting the bites. To the north — the north parking lot in the park and the area just north — also has been producing pompano and whiting, same baits, shrimp or live sandfleas. Also, a couple guys I chatted with said they found some nice snook on the beach when they found schools of mullet there. Most were too big to keep, but that's a step in the right direction, as this time of the year the snook will cruise the beaches looking for food. Also. when the water warms more, we will see big tarpon running the beaches as well. Any live bait or large swim bait will entice a bite from them! Hang on, that will be fun!

That's all I have for this week’s report, but fishing is improving with time. Grab your gear, plenty of water, get out there, catch a memory and dinner for the table.” — Snookman