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St. Augustine Inshore and Nearshore Fishing Report - Winter Reds, Drum, and Trout on Baits and Lures
Published 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Description
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in from St. Augustine with your inshore and nearshore fishing report.
Tides first. Tide-Forecast shows a **low** just after sunup around 7:30 a.m. and a **high** early afternoon about 1:20 p.m., with another skinny low around dark. Sunrise is **7:21 a.m.**, sunset **5:43 p.m.**, so your best windows are the last of the incoming late morning and the first of the outgoing mid‑afternoon.
Weather-wise, the Surf Station surf report has us sitting under light offshore winds early, small seas around a foot, and a gentle onshore sea breeze building later. That means clean water this morning inside the inlets and along the beach, then a little chop as the day wears on. Florida Fish and Wildlife’s red tide update shows **no red tide on the east coast**, so water quality is good and fish are happy.
January bites around here have been classic wintertime. The St Augustine Daily Fishing Report podcast is calling out solid **redfish, black drum, and sheepshead** action in the creeks and around structure. Folks have been putting **slot reds and upper-slot drums** in the boat, plus a steady pick of **16–20 inch trout** on the edges of deeper holes. Sheepshead numbers are up around bridge pilings and rock, with plenty of “convict” fish in the keeper range, a few to 5 pounds.
Inshore, expect **reds** laid up on the mud and oyster edges on the morning low. As that tide turns and creeps in, they’ll slide up onto the shell and into the flooded grass. A local YouTube crew fishing out of **Vilano** and **Butler** ramps this month reported good numbers of reds and drum working current-swept points and deeper creek bends. Work those same bends on the first of the incoming and you should see life.
Trout have been holding in **4–8 feet** with some current—think deeper creek mouths dumping into the ICW and the ledges along the main ditch. Work slow; that winter water has them chewing but not chasing far.
Best baits and lures right now:
- For **redfish and drum**: live or fresh **shrimp**, small **blue crab chunks**, and **mud minnows** on a jig head or light Carolina rig. Scent matters in this cool water.
- For **trout**: 1/8–1/4 oz jig with a **paddle tail** in natural or smoky colors, or a slow-suspended **hard jerkbait** worked with long pauses.
- For **sheepshead**: fiddler crabs if you can get them, otherwise small pieces of shrimp tight to barnacle‑covered pilings and rocks.
A few proven artificial picks: 3–4 inch paddle tails in new penny or natural mullet, a slow-twitched suspending plug in silver/black or ghost, and a quarter-ounce jig with Gulp shrimp for when you need that extra stink.
Couple of local hot spots to circle:
- **Vilano Bridge / ICW edges**: Work the bridge pilings and nearby drop-offs for drum and sheepshead on the last of the incoming and first of the outgoing.
- **Matanzas Inlet and the Fort area**: Tides4Fishing’s Matanzas chart shows good moving water through midday; fish the creek mouths and oyster points just inside the inlet for reds and trout, especially as that tide floods in.
Beachside, the surf is small but clean. Early and late, a shrimp-and-fishbite combo in the first trough can still turn up **whiting, small drum, and the odd slot red**.
That’s the word from the Ancient City. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss tomorrow’s bite report.
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
Tides first. Tide-Forecast shows a **low** just after sunup around 7:30 a.m. and a **high** early afternoon about 1:20 p.m., with another skinny low around dark. Sunrise is **7:21 a.m.**, sunset **5:43 p.m.**, so your best windows are the last of the incoming late morning and the first of the outgoing mid‑afternoon.
Weather-wise, the Surf Station surf report has us sitting under light offshore winds early, small seas around a foot, and a gentle onshore sea breeze building later. That means clean water this morning inside the inlets and along the beach, then a little chop as the day wears on. Florida Fish and Wildlife’s red tide update shows **no red tide on the east coast**, so water quality is good and fish are happy.
January bites around here have been classic wintertime. The St Augustine Daily Fishing Report podcast is calling out solid **redfish, black drum, and sheepshead** action in the creeks and around structure. Folks have been putting **slot reds and upper-slot drums** in the boat, plus a steady pick of **16–20 inch trout** on the edges of deeper holes. Sheepshead numbers are up around bridge pilings and rock, with plenty of “convict” fish in the keeper range, a few to 5 pounds.
Inshore, expect **reds** laid up on the mud and oyster edges on the morning low. As that tide turns and creeps in, they’ll slide up onto the shell and into the flooded grass. A local YouTube crew fishing out of **Vilano** and **Butler** ramps this month reported good numbers of reds and drum working current-swept points and deeper creek bends. Work those same bends on the first of the incoming and you should see life.
Trout have been holding in **4–8 feet** with some current—think deeper creek mouths dumping into the ICW and the ledges along the main ditch. Work slow; that winter water has them chewing but not chasing far.
Best baits and lures right now:
- For **redfish and drum**: live or fresh **shrimp**, small **blue crab chunks**, and **mud minnows** on a jig head or light Carolina rig. Scent matters in this cool water.
- For **trout**: 1/8–1/4 oz jig with a **paddle tail** in natural or smoky colors, or a slow-suspended **hard jerkbait** worked with long pauses.
- For **sheepshead**: fiddler crabs if you can get them, otherwise small pieces of shrimp tight to barnacle‑covered pilings and rocks.
A few proven artificial picks: 3–4 inch paddle tails in new penny or natural mullet, a slow-twitched suspending plug in silver/black or ghost, and a quarter-ounce jig with Gulp shrimp for when you need that extra stink.
Couple of local hot spots to circle:
- **Vilano Bridge / ICW edges**: Work the bridge pilings and nearby drop-offs for drum and sheepshead on the last of the incoming and first of the outgoing.
- **Matanzas Inlet and the Fort area**: Tides4Fishing’s Matanzas chart shows good moving water through midday; fish the creek mouths and oyster points just inside the inlet for reds and trout, especially as that tide floods in.
Beachside, the surf is small but clean. Early and late, a shrimp-and-fishbite combo in the first trough can still turn up **whiting, small drum, and the odd slot red**.
That’s the word from the Ancient City. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss tomorrow’s bite report.
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