Episode Details

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in from the Ancient City with your St. Augustine fishing rundown.

We’re sitting on a strong morning tide. NOAA’s St. Augustine City Dock table shows a **high around 6:30 a.m.** and the water easing off toward a midday low, then filling back in mid‑afternoon. Tide-Forecast and Tideschart both have us in that 5‑foot morning peak range, so current is moving and the creeks are alive.

Sunrise in St. Augustine this time of year is right around **7:10 a.m.**, with sunset about **5:25 p.m.**, according to Sunrise‑Sunset.org. That gives us classic winter bite windows: first light through the first couple hours of the falling tide, and then again the last hour of the afternoon flood.

Weather-wise, NWS Jacksonville’s marine page has light north to northeast winds early, seas in the 2–3 foot range just off the beach, cool morning temps and clear, high‑pressure skies. That’s textbook winter inshore weather: slick spots in the ICW, a little chop at the inlet, and very fishable conditions.

FishingReminder’s local solunar chart is calling out strong bite periods tied to the early high and mid‑afternoon high. The site also notes a solid high‑tide coefficient, which lines up with what we’re seeing: plenty of water pushing over the oyster bars.

Recent inshore action around St. Augustine has been what you’d expect for December. Local charter listings and Florida reports from Captain Experiences show **redfish, speckled trout, and flounder** as the main players inshore, with some sheepshead and black drum around structure. Most boats are reporting double‑digit days on trout when they get the moving water right, plus a handful of slot reds and the odd upper‑slot fish on the edges of the flats.

For **lures**, this is where I earn the name. In the creeks and along the ICW:

- A 1/8–1/4 oz jighead with a 3–4" paddle tail in new penny or pearl on the dropoffs is money for trout and reds.
- Suspended twitchbaits and small hard jerkbaits over deeper bends are putting specks in the boat when the sun gets up.
- Slow‑rolled soft plastics along the bottom around dock pilings are finding flounder.

If you’re a **bait** angler, bring live shrimp and mud minnows. Free‑line or lightly weight them around oyster edges on the last of the outgoing and first of the incoming. Cut mullet on the bottom will sniff out redfish and black drum, especially near deeper holes and dock clusters.

A couple local **hot spots** to key on:

- **Matanzas Inlet and the ICW edges just north and south of it**: Tides4Fishing’s Matanzas tables line up nicely with St. Augustine’s, and that inlet has been holding reds, trout, and some flounder on the inside bars and creek mouths. Work the current seams and any visible bait flipping.
- **Butler Beach and the adjacent ICW stretch**: FishingReminder flags Butler Beach as a solid area, and the backside ICW points and docks here have been giving up sheepshead and slot reds on shrimp and fiddler crabs, plus trout on plastics during the moving water.

Jetty and near‑inlet anglers should focus on live shrimp, fiddlers, or small crabs tight to the rocks for sheepshead, with a heavier jig or knocker rig. On calmer days, a 1/4 oz jig with a paddle tail worked along the inside of the north jetty can surprise you with a good red or drum.

Overall fish activity is steady, not wild—classic winter pattern. The folks booking recent trips through Captain Experiences out of St. Augustine’s deep‑sea and nearshore listings are still seeing mixed bags offshore, but inshore remains the most reliable for numbers right now.

That’s your St. Augustine fishing report from Artificial Lure.

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