Pompano Fishing at Sebastian Inlet

Pompano turn up at Sebastian Inlet in most months, but the Sebastian Inlet District reports put the steadiest catches from late fall through spring, whenever the surf runs clean and cool.

The Sebastian Inlet District's online fishing report archive runs from the week of December 30, 2024 to the week of October 12, 2026, and a new report is published on Mondays. Most report pages give the week but not the year, so they are cited here by week; two pages state the year in their text. Across that archive, pompano appear in reports for the weeks of September 8, November 24, December 15, December 30, January 5, January 13, March 3, April 27, May 18 and June 2.

Water temperature and clarity drive the pattern. FWC states that local pompano movements follow the tide and seasonal movements follow temperature (FWC species profile). The week of December 15 report found the inlet at 65 to 68 degrees, good for cold water fish including pompano, but noted that cold, stained water from the Sebastian River made fishing tough (Sebastian Inlet District). At the other end of the year, the week of September 8 report measured 87 degrees while a few pompano had made an appearance in the surf alongside the whiting (Sebastian Inlet District).

The Sebastian Inlet reports name the same pompano water again and again: the tip and beachside of the south jetty, the north jetty beachside, and the surf on both sides of the inlet.

The south side carries most winter reports. In the report the District calls its final one of 2024, the week of December 30, pompano were taken on the south side in the cleaner water, and the guide explained that the north jetty blocks most of the bigger waves rolling in from the northeast (Sebastian Inlet District). The week of January 5 report, which opens 2026, had the beachside of the south jetty producing a few nice pompano on goofy jigs during the incoming tide because the water was clean and the right temperature (Sebastian Inlet District).

The north jetty takes over when the south side muddies. The week of November 24 report counted redfish, black drum and pompano in good numbers at the tip of the north jetty, with cut dead shrimp working for the drum and pompano on the jetty's beach side (Sebastian Inlet District). In the week of March 3, anglers along the rocks on the inlet side caught black drum, snook, sheepshead, whiting and pompano on live shrimp or sandfleas (Sebastian Inlet District).

Pompano also run into the lagoon. The District's series on Sebastian Inlet fish classes pompano with bluefish, jacks and cutlassfish as estuarine feeders that enter the Indian River Lagoon to feed rather than to grow up, and says anglers fish for them around spoil islands, sand bars, mud flats and seagrass flats in the lagoon area (Sebastian Inlet District). FWC describes the same habitat statewide: sandy beaches, oyster bars and seagrass beds, often in turbid water, down to 130 feet (FWC).

Live sandfleas, cut or dead shrimp and small goofy jigs are the three pompano baits the Sebastian Inlet District reports name most, matching a diet FWC says centers on sand fleas.

FWC states that Florida pompano feed on mollusks and crustaceans, especially sand fleas (FWC species profile). The District adds that young pompano lose their small cone-shaped teeth by the time they reach 8 inches and afterward crush prey with hard plates in their throats (Sebastian Inlet District). That diet explains why sandfleas lead the bait lists in the Sebastian Inlet reports.

Jigs earn a place too. In the week of June 2 the District reported that at the south jetty tip it had been all about pompano caught on small goofy jigs, still around because the water was cool enough and pretty clean (Sebastian Inlet District). The week of September 8 report described a friend of the guide catching a limit of pompano in the two-pound range on goofy jigs (Sebastian Inlet District), and the week of May 18 report credited goofy jigs and sandfleas for a good south jetty bite early in the weekend (Sebastian Inlet District).

Natural bait still produces the bigger fish. The week of April 27 report described a couple of big pompano caught on live sandfleas from the beachside on Saturday, with the water back up to a seasonal 77 degrees (Sebastian Inlet District). In the week of January 13, with the water at 62 degrees, anglers were catching whiting and pompano on the beach just south of the jetty (Sebastian Inlet District).

Florida pompano kept at Sebastian Inlet must measure at least 11 inches fork length, with a daily bag limit of 6 per harvester and a season open year-round.

FWC sets those limits for state and federal waters and restricts gear to hook and line, cast net and beach or haul seine only (FWC recreational regulations). Harvest with any multiple hook used together with live or dead natural bait is prohibited, and snatching is prohibited, so a two-hook sandflea rig in the Sebastian surf is not a legal way to keep pompano. The District links its weekly report to the FWC saltwater regulations and to FWC violation reporting (Sebastian Inlet District).

Permit share the Sebastian beaches and follow different rules. Outside the South Florida Special Permit Zone, FWC sets a slot of 11 to 22 inches fork length and a bag of 2 per harvester, with one fish over 22 inches allowed in the bag (FWC). To tell them apart, FWC notes that the permit's dorsal fin begins over the anal fin, while a Florida pompano's begins in front of it, and that permit grow much larger; Florida pompano reach up to 24 inches and 8 pounds (FWC species profile).

The FWC research program describes the Florida pompano as a member of the jack family that supports a highly important commercial and recreational fishery in Florida (FWC FWRI). The state record listed by FWC is 8 pounds 4 ounces, caught near Port St. Joe rather than at Sebastian Inlet (FWC species profile). Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the FWC website.

Florida State Parks lists beach access from the south side of Sebastian Inlet State Park as unavailable during the bridge construction scheduled from May 2026, and the south side is where most winter pompano reports come from.

Florida State Parks says construction was scheduled to begin in May 2026 on the Sebastian Inlet bridge along Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway, that visitors may see traffic and campground entrance changes, and that access to the beach from the south side is unavailable due to the construction (Sebastian Inlet State Park). The park also warns that the north side may reach capacity and temporarily close to incoming visitors on weekends and at peak times.

The park is open 24 hours a day, charges $8 per vehicle, sits at 9700 South Highway A1A and answers at 321-984-4852 (Florida State Parks). Since November 12, 2025 the South Ranger Station keeps standard hours of 8 a.m. to sunset, while the North Ranger Station stays open 24 hours, so after-hours anglers without a camping reservation or annual pass with an after-hours permit enter from the north. With the south beach closed and the north lot filling on weekends, a weekday dawn arrival on the north side is the practical plan for a pompano session this winter, and the Monday report from the Sebastian Inlet District is the place to check whether the water has cleaned up before driving out.