St. Augustine Inshore & Nearshore Winter Fishing Report

Artificial Lure here with your St. Augustine inshore and nearshore fishing rundown.

## Weather, tide, and light

Around St. Augustine today, expect mild, seasonable temps with light to moderate northeast to north winds, cooler mornings, and dry, stable air — good “jacket at daylight, t‑shirt by lunch” weather. The surf is running small with manageable chop, which keeps the river and ICW plenty fishable. Sunrise is right around 7:05 a.m. and sunset about 5:25 p.m., giving a long low‑light window at both ends of the day.

Tides are running a classic winter-style swing: a pre‑dawn low, strong incoming through the morning, and a solid mid‑afternoon high before draining again into the evening. That late‑morning push is the sweet spot for creek mouths and oyster edges, while the last part of the outgoing this afternoon should stack fish in deeper bends and along the ICW ledges.

## What’s biting and how

Inshore, redfish and speckled trout are carrying the show, with black drum and a few sheepshead mixed in around hard structure. Anglers working the ICW and feeder creeks have been picking off good numbers of slot reds with a few upper‑slot fish when the water has a bit of stain. Trout numbers have been solid on the edges of deeper holes, especially where a muddy bottom meets shell.

Best artificial offerings right now are:
- 3–4 inch paddle‑tail or jerk shad plastics on 1/8–1/4 oz jigheads in natural or “winter dirty water” colors like pearl, new penny, and dark root beer.
- MirrOlure‑style hard twitchbaits and small suspending jerkbaits for trout on the higher stages of the tide.
- Gold spoons and weedless paddletails for sliding along flooded grass and oyster edges for reds.

For bait, locals are leaning on:
- Live shrimp under a popping cork or on a light knocker rig.
- Mud minnows on jigheads or small Carolina rigs when shrimp are scarce.
- Fresh cut mullet strips for reds and drum on the outgoing.

Nearshore, when the ocean lets you, expect winter‑style mixed bags: bull reds, bluefish, and the chance at sheepshead and drum on the wrecks and nearshore structure. Fiddler crabs and sand fleas on light bottom rigs are the ticket for sheepshead; cut bait or shrimp for drum and big reds.

## Recent catches and hot spots

Reports from local boats and piers the last few days point to:
- Consistent slot reds with some overs around the Matanzas River and ICW bars south of town.
- Good trout action in the deeper bends off the main ICW, especially where there’s a 4–8 foot drop and some moving water.
- Black drum and sheepshead around bridge pilings and rock edges when the tide slows.

A couple of local favorite zones to key on today:
- Vilano Bridge and the surrounding ICW: work the pilings, nearby rock, and channel edges with shrimp or fiddlers for drum and sheepshead, and toss plastics along the drop‑offs for trout and reds.
- The Matanzas flats and creeks south of the 312 bridge: focus on creek mouths on the incoming, then slide out to the outer bars and bends on the last of the outgoing with jigheads and cut mullet.

Keep your presentations slow — winter fish in this area will eat, but they don’t like to chase far. Let the tide do the work, keep contact with the bottom, and fish those transitions: mud to shell, shallow to deep, and slack to moving water.

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