Lookdown in Sebastian, Florida

Lookdowns show up at Sebastian Inlet mainly from June through September, with a few in May and December, according to dated Sebastian Inlet District reports from 2025 and 2026.

The district's fishing report index lists its weekly reports by date and year from December 30, 2024 to October 5, 2026. Lookdowns are named in about twenty of them. None of the dated reports from January through April mention the fish, and none from October or November do either, so the summer pattern at Sebastian Inlet is clear in both years on record.

The best single day on record came when the Sebastian Inlet north jetty reopened after construction. The July 1, 2025 report said the lookdowns were on fire for anglers using live greenies, small crappie jigs and tiny swimbaits, with quite a lot of them caught.

Late summer is steady. The September 14, 2026 report called them the tasty lookdowns and said plenty were being caught at Sebastian Inlet on greenies, small shrimp and tiny jigs, in the same week snook, mangrove snapper and Spanish mackerel all turned on.

Winter fish are the exception. In the December 15, 2025 report, lookdowns on small jigs were among the other species caught on the outgoing tide, and the December 22, 2025 report listed lookdowns with small jacks, blue runners and bluefish as about the only fish caught on the south jetty in turbid, weedy water.

Lookdowns at Sebastian Inlet are caught on tiny jigs, small live shrimp and live greenies fished at the jetty tips, usually on a clean incoming tide.

Small baits matter more than anything at Sebastian Inlet. The July 14, 2025 report saw nice lookdowns caught on small live shrimp and live greenies on the incoming tide, and the September 8, 2025 report found them taking tiny white jigs at the tip on both the outgoing and incoming tides.

Clean water brings the bite. In the August 11, 2025 report, the district guide wrote that lookdowns were biting quite well on the clean incoming water at Sebastian Inlet, and that small live baits, shrimp and greenies, and tiny jigs were catching fish.

The rocks at the Sebastian Inlet jetty tips hold them. The August 31, 2026 report said anglers fishing tiny jigs and tiny live shrimp were catching lookdowns at the tip in the eddy over the rocks, while the July 6, 2026 report pointed to tiny hair jigs and swim baits fished at the tip on the incoming tide.

Bottom anglers pick up a few too. The May 18, 2026 report listed some nice lookdowns among the fish taken on cut dead shrimp on the outgoing tide at the Sebastian Inlet tip, alongside spot tail pins, whiting, black margates and sand perch.

Both jetties produce. The June 2, 2025 report placed lookdowns at the tip of the south jetty on the outgoing tide, mixed with black margates, nice sand perch, whiting and pompano on sand fleas and cut shrimp. The June 22, 2026 report had a couple of small Spanish mackerel and lookdowns caught on the Sebastian Inlet north jetty tip on the incoming tide, which was about the only change from the week before. Inside the inlet, the August 18, 2025 report listed black margates, spadefish, lookdowns and mangrove snapper on live shrimp and greenies while the water ran 88 degrees.

FWC identifies the lookdown seen at Sebastian Inlet by its extremely thin, deep, plate-like silver body, a very steep forehead and long trailing filaments on the second dorsal and anal fins.

The FWC lookdown profile lists the fish as Selene vomer, a native member of the jack family, with silver, iridescent color that sometimes shows brassy highlights. The lateral line arches toward the front, the pelvic fins are small, and the profile gives a maximum size of up to 12 inches. That plate shape is why the Sebastian Inlet reports keep calling the fish thin.

Young fish look different. FWC says juveniles carry spines on the front of the dorsal fin and elongated pelvic rays, and their faint vertical bars fade with age. The profile places lookdowns in coastal waters and estuaries over hard or sandy bottom, which at Sebastian Inlet means the rock rubble at the tips of the two jetties and the sand around them.

Clear water shows them before they bite. On a slow weekend described in the August 4, 2025 report, the water at Sebastian Inlet was so clean that the guide could look down and see spadefish, sheepshead, lookdowns, cubera snapper, snook and reds swimming around the jetty without much interest in the baits.

Lookdowns can be kept at Sebastian Inlet, where the district reports describe no size or bag limit on them, and the guide calls them thin fish that are very good eating.

The August 31, 2026 report put it simply: there is not much to them to eat, but they are good eating, it takes a few to make a meal, and there are no limits on them size-wise or bag-wise. The July 1, 2025 report said the same thing a year earlier, noting no limits or restrictions on them at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty.

A saltwater license still applies. The FWC license page says a Florida fishing license is needed to land saltwater species, wherever they were caught. The Saltwater Shoreline-Only license is valid from a structure affixed to shore such as the 1,000-foot north jetty described in the Sebastian Inlet District FAQ, which sits on the Brevard County side of the inlet across from Indian River County.

Warm, dirty water slows them like everything else. The September 22, 2025 report said water at Sebastian Inlet was still 84 degrees and messy, and Spanish mackerel, lookdowns, blue runners and jacks on the north jetty were about the only fish anyone caught.

The tiny jigs, small hooks and light leaders used for lookdowns at the Sebastian Inlet jetty tips are in the fishing tackle collection on Digital Towns Market. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace.