Today’s (May 18) forecast calls for partly cloudy skies, a high of 84 degrees, E winds of 16 mph, and two to three-foot seas.

Our fishing guide, “Snookman” Wayne Landry describes wind-whipped, murky water at the inlet last weekend:

“Hey there, Sebastian Inlet fans and fanatics, I hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather was awesome! The fishing over the weekend from Friday on was kind of slow again, but fish were biting on both sides. On Friday, the water cleaned up decently —schools of snook were  visible at the north tip — but the winds and the surf picked back up and muddied up the water everywhere, north and south. Finger mullet are still around on both sides, but the mojarra that were around the south side have vanished again! On Sunday, the water was nasty/dirty, and was loaded with seaweed on the outgoing. The south side looked like the Mississippi River! Despite this, anglers were catching fish early in the morning, so here we go with the action.

 North Jetty: Over here, most the action has been in the early morning and late evening during the incoming tide for snook. Live shrimp and croakers were the baits getting bitten — most of the fish were oversized in the 34 to 38-inch range, but there were a couple slots caught. The goliath groupers were on hand, as always, eating quite a few of the hooked snook and reds at the tip over the rock pile; they were hungry as always. I didn't see them, but I was told that a few nice black drum were caught as well early Friday morning. They are usually gone by now when the water warms up; it’s 81 degrees as of this writing, but some are still here. The redfish I was told made a fairly good showing on Friday on the incoming tide along the inside of the jetty, just about any bait or artificial got bit, especially up by the bait shop. For those fishing for sheepshead, they are still catching nice ones in and around the pilings and rocks at the tip. On the beachside of the jetty, there were a few nice pompano caught on dead shrimp and sandfleas, alone with a few decent whiting. The outgoing tide at the tip was catfish city as the water was dirty, but those fishing croakers and big shrimp hooked a few decent snook, and most were undersized. I was told about a couple nice cubera snapper caught! It's time for them to turn on, especially with the spring mullet showing up. Blues and jacks round out the bite at the tip on the outgoing tide. Along the seawall, between the bait shop and the bridge, during the incoming tide, it has been all about the redfish - quite a few have made their presence known. Spoons, topwater chuggers, jigs and any bait you tossed out got a bite - that was Friday morning, and evening. If fishing dead shrimp and fiddlers, the sheepshead are still around, along with a few small mangrove snapper starting to show up.

South jetty: Over here, the action has been on the incoming tide, and if you had clean water as in early in the weekend, the pompano bite was rather good. Plenty of fish, I heard, were caught: goofy jigs and sandfleas. On the inside along the rocks, the snook bite was decent with quite a few fish being caught on live shrimp, small croakers and threadfins. Most were undersized, but a  couple of slots were caught. Also, there were reds mixed in, but not like at the north side. If fishing dead shrimp, fiddlers or sandfleas around the rocks, sheepshead and small mangrove snappers were there to be caught; the snappers have been under the legal 10-inch minimum to keep, the bigger ones will be here later. On the outgoing tide at the tip, using cut dead shrimp, there was action with spot tail pins, whiting, black margates, sand perch, some nice lookdowns, blue runners, and of course, our pesky catfish! 

T-Dock area: Nothing to report. There wasn't anyone fishing the dock or the surrounding area. That was a sight I've never seen before. But oh well, it is what it is. 

Surf area, both sides: On the north side, before it got blown out, they were catching whiting, pompano, sheepshead, and a few black drum on shrimp and sandfleas during the early morning hours and late evening high tide periods. A few blues and jacks were around too to keep it interesting. South side was just a mess all weekend, very dirty water, lots of weeds and a big surf shut down the bite they had early Friday on the pompano and whiting. So, it was a bust all weekend. 

That's all for this week. Unfortunately, expect stiff 10-20 ESE winds all week, with a 3 to 4-foot surf. It will be ‘iffy’ when you go out. You chance of catching fish will improve if you find clean water and catch the high tide. Everyone have a great week, and stay well!” — Snookman.