Summer Tides and Shallow Bites: St. Augustine Inlet Report

This is Artificial Lure with your St. Augustine fishing report. We’re working a classic summer pattern this morning. Around St. Augustine Inlet you’ve got a pre‑dawn high tide rolling off into a mid‑morning fall, with the low tide late morning and another push coming in mid‑afternoon. That falling water is the money window: it pulls bait off the flats and pins it to creek mouths, oyster bars, and the edges of the ICW. Weather along the coast is warm and muggy, light southwest wind early shifting onshore by midday, with the sea breeze stacking up a little chop on the beach. Skies are partly cloudy. Sunrise is right around 6:25 a.m., sunset just after 8:25 p.m., giving you a long day but the best bite has been early and late. Water inshore is a bit stained from recent storms, with a light coffee tint in the creeks and greener water near the inlet and the beaches. That color has the predators comfortable up shallow. Finger mullet and glass minnows are thick around docks and marsh edges, with small pogies just off the beach when the wind lets you run. Inshore action has been solid. Local anglers around the Vilano and 312 bridges have been boxing good numbers of slot **redfish** and **speckled trout**, with a few upper‑slot fish caught at first light working current seams. There have also been scattered **flounder** off the rock piles and deep bends in the ICW. A few big **black drum** and **mangrove snapper** have come from bridge pilings on live shrimp and fiddler crabs. On the beaches and nearshore, the summer **tarpon** are starting to show around the pogy pods, with a mix of **king mackerel**, **jacks**, and a few **cobia** reported off the reefs and wrecks when the water cleans up. Surf casters working Matanzas Inlet and south toward Crescent Beach have picked up **whiting**, **pompano**, and the odd **bluefish** on shrimp and sand fleas. For lures, think bright and noisy. In the low light, a small topwater like a Skitter Walk or Spook Jr. in bone or mullet pattern worked along grass lines will draw trout and redfish. As the sun comes up, switch to 3–4 inch paddle tails in new penny, dark green, or purple on 1/8–1/4 oz jig heads. Gold spoons slow‑rolled along oyster points are still one of the best producers for redfish here. If you’re soaking bait, the top choices are live shrimp, mud minnows, and small finger mullet. Shrimp under a popping cork around creek mouths and points has been deadly on trout and slot reds. For flounder, drag a live mud minnow on a jig or Carolina rig right along the bottom. Nearshore, slow‑trolled pogies or cigar minnows over the wrecks will give you a shot at kings and cobia, and a live pogy pitched to rolling tarpon off the beach is your best big‑fish ticket. A couple of hot spots to circle on your map: - The ICW bends and creek mouths between the 312 bridge and the 206 bridge: working the falling tide around oyster points has been putting steady redfish and trout in the boat. - St. Augustine Inlet jetties: fish the inside edges and the tips on the last of the incoming and first of the outgoing for flounder, reds, and occasional sheepshead; bring heavier tackle for the rocks and current. Work the tides, fish early and late, and match your bait to the local mullet and shrimp and you’ll stay bent all day. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn