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St. Augustine Fishing Report: Prime Daylight, Solid Bites for Reds, Trout, and Flounder - Oct 25, 2025
Published 6 months ago
Description
Good morning, anglers—Artificial Lure here with your St. Augustine fishing report for Saturday, October 25th, 2025. Local dawn broke at 7:35 a.m. and sunset's set for 6:45 p.m., so you’ve got prime daylight hours to work with. The weather’s mild—expect light winds and partly cloudy skies from first light, perfect for those early sessions before any mid-day breezes pick up.
Today’s tide cycle offers solid windows: the first high tide came around 5:48 a.m. at just over 2 ft and a low tide is following at 11:33 a.m. at about 1 ft, with the day ending on a 2.2 ft high at 6:20 p.m. According to Tides4Fishing, today's tidal coefficient sits at 60—meaning moderate water movement and just enough current to keep fish actively hunting, especially around those tide changes.
Hot spots: locals have been cashing in around the Vilano Bridge and the Matanzas Inlet. Both offer distinct structure and good tidal flow—flats, ledges, and drop-offs attract bait and predator fish. The city dock and Salt Run lagoon are also seeing plenty of bent rods, particularly around dawn and dusk.
Fish activity’s high following a string of cooler nights. According to CaptainExperiences, the dominant catches lately have been **redfish**, **speckled trout**, and **flounder**, with reports of solid slot reds especially around oyster bars and grassy points. Surf casters on St. Augustine Beach are grabbing keeper pompano, while deeper in the creeks, juvenile snook and mangrove snapper are showing themselves more frequently. Recent catches tally up with most boats reporting upwards of 10 keeper reds and a handful of trout on half-day trips, with a smattering of flounder and sheepshead mixed in for good measure.
Bait selection is key. Early birds are sticking with live shrimp and finger mullet under popping corks for trout and reds. Soft plastics—especially rootbeer paddle tails and white flukes—have been top picks for artificial lure anglers, thanks to clear water and active fish. For flounder, try mud minnows on a simple Carolina rig bounced slowly on the bottom—results have been hot off the south-side docks and jetty pilings. Offshore, the few weather windows that have allowed folks out past the breakers produced king mackerel and the occasional mahi on small blue runners and flashy spoons.
If you’re working the rocks or docks with artificials, stick to the classic gold spoon or chartreuse bucktail jig. That flash and thump have outperformed hard baits this week. For bait fishing, both live and fresh dead shrimp are still landing black drum and sheepshead, with crabs picking up the odd red on outgoing tide near the mangroves.
No red tide reports for St. Augustine currently, per the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission—waters are clean and clear, so expect fish to be moving shallow with rising tide. Surf’s running semi-choppy and occasionally waist-high, as NE Florida Surf Report describes, so beach fishing may be slightly stirred up but still productive, especially for whiting and black drum.
Remember: as the sun drops, topwater bites ignite—try a spook or skitter walk near the bridge lights for a shot at aggressive trout or snook.
Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe for your daily fix of local fishing insights, and may your lines stay tight all weekend long.
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
Today’s tide cycle offers solid windows: the first high tide came around 5:48 a.m. at just over 2 ft and a low tide is following at 11:33 a.m. at about 1 ft, with the day ending on a 2.2 ft high at 6:20 p.m. According to Tides4Fishing, today's tidal coefficient sits at 60—meaning moderate water movement and just enough current to keep fish actively hunting, especially around those tide changes.
Hot spots: locals have been cashing in around the Vilano Bridge and the Matanzas Inlet. Both offer distinct structure and good tidal flow—flats, ledges, and drop-offs attract bait and predator fish. The city dock and Salt Run lagoon are also seeing plenty of bent rods, particularly around dawn and dusk.
Fish activity’s high following a string of cooler nights. According to CaptainExperiences, the dominant catches lately have been **redfish**, **speckled trout**, and **flounder**, with reports of solid slot reds especially around oyster bars and grassy points. Surf casters on St. Augustine Beach are grabbing keeper pompano, while deeper in the creeks, juvenile snook and mangrove snapper are showing themselves more frequently. Recent catches tally up with most boats reporting upwards of 10 keeper reds and a handful of trout on half-day trips, with a smattering of flounder and sheepshead mixed in for good measure.
Bait selection is key. Early birds are sticking with live shrimp and finger mullet under popping corks for trout and reds. Soft plastics—especially rootbeer paddle tails and white flukes—have been top picks for artificial lure anglers, thanks to clear water and active fish. For flounder, try mud minnows on a simple Carolina rig bounced slowly on the bottom—results have been hot off the south-side docks and jetty pilings. Offshore, the few weather windows that have allowed folks out past the breakers produced king mackerel and the occasional mahi on small blue runners and flashy spoons.
If you’re working the rocks or docks with artificials, stick to the classic gold spoon or chartreuse bucktail jig. That flash and thump have outperformed hard baits this week. For bait fishing, both live and fresh dead shrimp are still landing black drum and sheepshead, with crabs picking up the odd red on outgoing tide near the mangroves.
No red tide reports for St. Augustine currently, per the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission—waters are clean and clear, so expect fish to be moving shallow with rising tide. Surf’s running semi-choppy and occasionally waist-high, as NE Florida Surf Report describes, so beach fishing may be slightly stirred up but still productive, especially for whiting and black drum.
Remember: as the sun drops, topwater bites ignite—try a spook or skitter walk near the bridge lights for a shot at aggressive trout or snook.
Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe for your daily fix of local fishing insights, and may your lines stay tight all weekend long.
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