Snook at Sebastian Inlet and the Indian River Lagoon

Snook at Sebastian Inlet may be kept only from February 1 through May 31 and from September 1 through December 14, one fish per person per day between 28 and 32 inches total length, under FWC rules for the Indian River Lagoon Region.

That region starts at Lytle Avenue/South Causeway in New Smyrna Beach and runs south to the Martin-Palm Beach county line, so Sebastian Inlet, the lagoon off Sebastian and the St. Sebastian River all sit inside it (FWC snook regulations). The closed seasons are December 15 to January 31 and June 1 to August 31. Snook may be taken only with hook and line, must stay whole until landed ashore, and cannot be sold. On a charter, the captain and crew may not keep their own bag limit.

A snook permit is required on top of a saltwater fishing license, including for anglers on the Sebastian Inlet jetties, and FWC sells it for $10 a year, with a $50 five-year permit for residents only (FWC licenses and permits). Sales are final: FWC gives no refund when snook are closed in the area an angler planned to fish. The free resident shoreline license covers the jetties and catwalks, which are structures fixed to shore, but not a boat. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the FWC website.

Sebastian Inlet District reports show snook at the jetties from late winter through the September opener, with plenty of slot fish kept in opening week and mostly undersized fish in February and March.

The Sebastian Inlet District posts its fishing report on Mondays, and its online archive lists weeks from December 30, 2024 through October 12, 2026. The report pages name the week but print no year, so they are cited by week here.

The late summer pattern repeats around the September 1 opener. In the week of August 31 report, the guide wrote that the water temperature had dropped to 78 from 82 the week before, which slowed the snook ahead of the fall season while they were still in spawn mode (Sebastian Inlet District). A week later the snook bite led the report: fish at the north jetty were taking pigfish and shrimp on the early outgoing tide, most were oversized, and plenty of slot fish went home (Sebastian Inlet District).

Winter and early spring fish are smaller. The week of February 24 report found a few small snook and redfish on live shrimp on the incoming tide back by the trees on the north side, and noted that the snook were too small to keep (Sebastian Inlet District). By the week of March 10, the early morning incoming tide at the south jetty gave a decent snook bite on live shrimp; most were undersized, though several 29 to 30 inch fish were caught (Sebastian Inlet District).

Sebastian Inlet is known for snook because the fish spawn at its jetties, grow up in the Indian River Lagoon behind it, and the Florida state record snook was caught near Sebastian.

The FWC species profile lists the state record at 45 lbs 12 oz, caught near Sebastian. The same profile gives the common snook a maximum of about 48 inches and 50 pounds, much larger than the other snook species. It also notes that snook orient themselves to face moving water and wait for prey to be carried down the current, the habit that puts them on the tide lines off the Sebastian Inlet jetty tips in the District reports.

The Sebastian Inlet District calls snook arguably the rock stars of game fish at Sebastian Inlet and notes that the fish is the mascot of the Indian River Lagoon license plate. Its fish series says snook spawn near reefs, wrecks and the jetties. Their eggs are the size of pinheads and hatch in less than 20 hours, and the larvae settle in the shallow water of the Indian River Lagoon.

The inlet itself is man made. Sebastian Inlet District history records settlers trying to cut an inlet here as early as 1872, the District forming on May 23, 1919, and the inlet being blasted open again in 1948 with surplus U.S. Navy demolitions; it has remained open ever since (Sebastian Inlet District history). Work in 1968 and 1969 added a 500-foot extension to the North Jetty, the rock structure where snook now stack up in late summer.

Young snook grow up in the mangroves of the Indian River Lagoon and the Sebastian River before moving out to the open lagoon at about six inches long.

The Sebastian Inlet District fish series reports that juvenile snook hide out in mangroves and in the nearby Sebastian River, in shallow spots where they feed on mosquitofish (Sebastian Inlet District). In one three-hour net set at Jack Island Preserve State Park, researchers caught 1,500 one-inch juvenile snook. The fish start eating other fish at about half an inch long and begin leaving the mangroves by six inches. The shoal side of Sebastian Inlet, with shallow water, mangrove prop roots and seagrass beds, is described as ideal juvenile snook habitat.

Two traits from the FWC profile explain why snook at Sebastian change through the year. Snook begin life as males, and between 18 and 22 inches some become females, so a female in the Sebastian Inlet slot began life as a male. Snook also cannot tolerate water temperatures below 60 F, a limit that fits the winter reports from Sebastian Inlet describing few and mostly small fish, and FWC lists temperature among the measures it uses to judge the Indian River Lagoon snook fishery.

Snook near Sebastian are fished from the Sebastian Inlet jetties inside Sebastian Inlet State Park, and from boats and the lagoon-side bank at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Sebastian Inlet State Park is at 9700 South Highway A1A, Melbourne Beach, charges $8 per vehicle and lists its hours as 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; the park phone is 321-984-4852 (Florida State Parks). Since November 12, 2025, the South Ranger Station has kept standard park hours of 8 a.m. to sunset, with after-hours entry only for registered campers or annual pass holders with an after-hours permit, while the North Ranger Station stays open 24 hours. That matters for snook anglers who fish the early tides at the south jetty.

Two park notices change a Sebastian Inlet snook trip in 2026. Construction on the Sebastian Inlet bridge along Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway was scheduled to begin in May 2026, with traffic congestion, noise and possible changes to the campground entrance, and Florida State Parks says beach access from the south side is unavailable during the work (Florida State Parks). On weekends and in peak periods the north side may reach capacity and close to new arrivals for a time, a detail that matters on the busy weekends after the September 1 opener.

Across the lagoon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits fishing in the open waters of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge and lists snook among its sportfish, with boat launches in Sebastian, at the Wabasso Causeway and at Sebastian Inlet State Park (USFWS). On the refuge's Bird's Impoundment Trail, bank fishing is allowed on the lagoon side, and the Service names blue crab, red drum, snook and tarpon among the most popular catches. State snook seasons and the 28 to 32 inch slot apply in refuge waters too.

Snook around Sebastian are managed by FWC region by region, with the Indian River Lagoon Region reviewed every year and its rules open to change after each review.

At its October 2023 meeting, FWC approved nine snook management regions, effective January 1, 2024, and gave the Southeast, Indian River Lagoon and Northeast regions an open season of February to May and September to December 14, a one-fish bag and a 28 to 32 inch slot (FWC, October 2023). In December 2023 FWC added that the new approach includes annual reviews and that snook regulations could be changed each year in response (FWC, December 2023).

The measures behind those reviews are spawning potential ratio, relative abundance, habitat, harmful algal blooms, fishing effort, temperature and stakeholder feedback (FWC). FWC says snook harvest has been regulated since the mid-1950s, that the species was considered severely depleted in 1985, and that stocks now exceed its goal of a 40 percent spawning potential ratio on both coasts. On October 14, 2026, the newest review FWC lists for the region is still the 2025 Indian River Lagoon Snook Annual Review, and the rules for the September 1 and February 1 openers at Sebastian Inlet are confirmed only by the regulations page itself.

Permit money pays for part of the science. FWC says snook permit fees fund hatchery stock enhancement trials, a tagging program using dart tags and acoustic transmitters, and monthly sampling in four estuaries including the southern and northern Indian River Lagoon (FWC snook permit benefits).