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St. Augustine Fishing Report: Tides, Weather, and Hot Spots for October 11, 2025
Published 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Description
Good morning from St. Augustine, this is Artificial Lure with your local fishing report for Saturday, October 11th, 2025. If you’re heading out today, you’ll want the latest on tides, weather, and where the bite is hottest.
The sunrise hit at 7:24 AM, and you can expect sunset to roll around 6:58 PM this evening, giving us a good long window on the water. Regarding tides, the readings for Vilano Beach—just north of downtown—show we had a low tide at 6:05 AM and we’re moving towards a high tide peaking at 12:38 PM, before falling off again toward a 7:09 PM low. The tidal coefficient is around 66 today, so still plenty of movement, though moderation compared to this week’s king tide activity; translation: the bite’s still on, but you may want to adjust how deep you’re fishing as water levels settle back down. Local authorities say the Bridge of Lions is back open after yesterday’s king tide flooding, but be alert for lingering high water in low-lying areas according to St. Johns County Emergency Management and News4Jax.
The weather’s holding clear in the morning, with mild NNE winds and moderate temps in the low 70s to start, warming to the mid-80s by the afternoon. Recent surf reports from NEFL Surf Report indicate wind-driven chop with strong NNE wind, so if you’re looking for clean conditions, you’ll want to seek out the protected creeks or fish the leeward banks of the ICW and Matanzas.
As far as action, it’s fall in Florida, and that means the inshore bite is heating up. The past few days have seen real solid numbers of slot reds, speckled trout, and flounder coming from the flats and creek mouths—Captain Tommy Derringer out of St. Augustine says the outgoing tide around the drop-offs and oyster bars has produced the best action on both artificials and live bait. Some good trout are being reported in Salt Run and up in the Guana Tolomato Reserve.
On the lure front, keep it local—soft plastics like the Z-Man MinnowZ in "Opening Night" or "Laguna Shrimp" have been killer fished on a 1/8-ounce jighead, especially when the water’s still got a touch of stain from the tides. Topwater plugs like the MirrOlure Top Dog Jr. or Heddon Super Spook are drawing aggressive strikes from reds early at first light, especially along the grass lines. For live bait, finger mullet and mud minnows are the go-to, drifted near creek mouth points or under corks along the flats—Chris’s Bait and Tackle has been keeping a steady supply for local anglers.
Offshore, when seas settle, folks have been running out to the nearshore reefs for good mixed bags of snapper, sea bass, and scattered cobia. The bottom fishing charters have been scoring with cut sardines and squid, but don’t overlook jigging heavy bucktails around structure, especially as water temps begin their fall cool down—Captain Experiences notes these techniques have been putting quality fish in the box.
Hot spots to focus on: try the Matanzas Inlet area on an outgoing tide for a shot at bull reds and flounder, and the ICW in the area between the 312 Bridge and Salt Run for trout and upper-slot reds. The Vilano Beach pier and nearby bridge pilings are also seeing life with sheepshead and mangrove snapper, especially around slack tide.
No word of red tide affecting our section of NE Florida, according to the latest FWC update, so things are looking good for healthy fishing across St. Augustine waters.
That’s your October 11th fishing update from Artificial Lure—thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe for your daily dose of local fishing intel, hot spots, and tackle tips. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
The sunrise hit at 7:24 AM, and you can expect sunset to roll around 6:58 PM this evening, giving us a good long window on the water. Regarding tides, the readings for Vilano Beach—just north of downtown—show we had a low tide at 6:05 AM and we’re moving towards a high tide peaking at 12:38 PM, before falling off again toward a 7:09 PM low. The tidal coefficient is around 66 today, so still plenty of movement, though moderation compared to this week’s king tide activity; translation: the bite’s still on, but you may want to adjust how deep you’re fishing as water levels settle back down. Local authorities say the Bridge of Lions is back open after yesterday’s king tide flooding, but be alert for lingering high water in low-lying areas according to St. Johns County Emergency Management and News4Jax.
The weather’s holding clear in the morning, with mild NNE winds and moderate temps in the low 70s to start, warming to the mid-80s by the afternoon. Recent surf reports from NEFL Surf Report indicate wind-driven chop with strong NNE wind, so if you’re looking for clean conditions, you’ll want to seek out the protected creeks or fish the leeward banks of the ICW and Matanzas.
As far as action, it’s fall in Florida, and that means the inshore bite is heating up. The past few days have seen real solid numbers of slot reds, speckled trout, and flounder coming from the flats and creek mouths—Captain Tommy Derringer out of St. Augustine says the outgoing tide around the drop-offs and oyster bars has produced the best action on both artificials and live bait. Some good trout are being reported in Salt Run and up in the Guana Tolomato Reserve.
On the lure front, keep it local—soft plastics like the Z-Man MinnowZ in "Opening Night" or "Laguna Shrimp" have been killer fished on a 1/8-ounce jighead, especially when the water’s still got a touch of stain from the tides. Topwater plugs like the MirrOlure Top Dog Jr. or Heddon Super Spook are drawing aggressive strikes from reds early at first light, especially along the grass lines. For live bait, finger mullet and mud minnows are the go-to, drifted near creek mouth points or under corks along the flats—Chris’s Bait and Tackle has been keeping a steady supply for local anglers.
Offshore, when seas settle, folks have been running out to the nearshore reefs for good mixed bags of snapper, sea bass, and scattered cobia. The bottom fishing charters have been scoring with cut sardines and squid, but don’t overlook jigging heavy bucktails around structure, especially as water temps begin their fall cool down—Captain Experiences notes these techniques have been putting quality fish in the box.
Hot spots to focus on: try the Matanzas Inlet area on an outgoing tide for a shot at bull reds and flounder, and the ICW in the area between the 312 Bridge and Salt Run for trout and upper-slot reds. The Vilano Beach pier and nearby bridge pilings are also seeing life with sheepshead and mangrove snapper, especially around slack tide.
No word of red tide affecting our section of NE Florida, according to the latest FWC update, so things are looking good for healthy fishing across St. Augustine waters.
That’s your October 11th fishing update from Artificial Lure—thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe for your daily dose of local fishing intel, hot spots, and tackle tips. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI