Spotted Seatrout at Sebastian and the Indian River Lagoon

Anglers at Sebastian may keep two spotted seatrout per person per day, each 15 to 19 inches total length, from January 1 through October 31, and none at all from November 1 through December 31.

Those are the rules FWC lists for its Indian River Lagoon seatrout region, which reaches from southern Volusia County to the Martin-Palm Beach county line and so takes in Sebastian Inlet, the lagoon off Sebastian and the St. Sebastian River (FWC spotted seatrout regulations). No seatrout longer than 19 inches may be kept in the region. Legal gear is hook and line or a cast net; snatching is banned, as is any multiple hook used with live or dead natural bait. Fish stay whole until landed ashore, and a for-hire captain and crew may not keep a bag limit.

The timing matters this month. On October 14, 2026, the Indian River Lagoon closure is 18 days away, and from November 1 every seatrout caught at Sebastian Inlet or on the flats off Sebastian goes back until January 1. A trout caught just south of the Martin-Palm Beach line falls under the Southeast rules instead. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the FWC website.

On April 1, 2026, new FWC rules split Florida into nine seatrout regions and set the Indian River Lagoon rules now in force off Sebastian: a November and December closure and no allowance for a fish over 19 inches.

FWC approved the change at its February 2026 meeting, announced it on February 4, 2026, and set April 1, 2026 as the effective date (FWC release). For the Indian River Lagoon region, recreational harvest is open January 1 to October 31 with two fish of 15 to 19 inches and no over-slot fish. Commercial harvest in the same waters is open only May 1 to September 30, with 15 to 24 inch fish.

Older Sebastian Inlet reports describe the previous rule. The week of January 26 report told readers that one of the two fish could be over the 19-inch maximum, and the guide noted that ten trout he caught on one day were all over 19 inches, so only one could be kept (Sebastian Inlet District). Under the rules in force since April 1, 2026, none of those ten could go home from Sebastian, a point to remember when reading archived reports.

Seatrout management has a long record in Florida. FWC says the first rules date to 1883, when the fish could not be used for oil, fertilizer or compost; that stocks were below the 20 percent management target by the late 1980s; and that regional management began in 1996 (FWC). The 2026 approach judges each region on spawning potential ratio, relative abundance, habitat, harmful algal blooms, fishing effort and stakeholder feedback. FWC hosted a Seatrout Symposium in August 2025 that covered results of the 2024 stock assessment (FWC symposium). As of October 14, 2026, the newest Indian River Lagoon review FWC lists is still the 2025 edition.

Sebastian Inlet District reports place seatrout at the north jetty and along the south side wall in winter and early spring, usually on live shrimp, with the biggest fish released.

The Sebastian Inlet District posts its report every Monday, and its archive holds weeks from December 30, 2024 to October 12, 2026. Most report pages give the week but not the year, so they are cited by week.

The December 30 page, which calls itself the final report of 2024, found boaters drifting the mangroves getting a few flounder, small snook and spotted sea trout (Sebastian Inlet District). In the week of January 26, seatrout bit on live shrimp on either tide once located, and ran 17 to 22 inches (Sebastian Inlet District).

On the south side, the week of March 2 report said high tide along the wall and the beach pocket area was producing small snook, some nice seatrout and a couple of keeper flounder, with live shrimp and finger mullet the key baits (Sebastian Inlet District). The week of March 3 report featured a 26-inch spotted seatrout from the south jetty, taken on live shrimp on the incoming tide and released (Sebastian Inlet District). A fish that size is over the 19-inch limit and must go back under the current Indian River Lagoon rules.

Spotted seatrout off Sebastian live over the seagrass and sand bottoms of the Indian River Lagoon, spawn inshore from March through November, and drop into deeper, still water in cold months.

The FWC species profile describes a dark gray or green back fading to a silvery belly, black spots that run onto the dorsal fins and tail, and a pair of large canine teeth at the tip of the upper jaw. The fish reach about 39 inches and 17 pounds but are common to 14 inches, just under the 15-inch minimum in the Indian River Lagoon. The state record, 17 lb 7 oz, was caught near Ft. Pierce, south of Sebastian on the same lagoon.

The profile also explains the bait in the Sebastian reports: FWC suggests free-lining live shrimp or small pinfish or pigfish near the bottom to draw trout out of grass-bed holes, and notes that a float lets the bait drift over the grass beds. FWC calls the fish very delicate and says unwanted or illegal fish should go back in the water promptly, which applies to every Indian River Lagoon trout under 15 or over 19 inches and to every trout caught at Sebastian in November and December.

Because the fish depend on seagrass, the condition of the beds near the inlet matters. The Sebastian Inlet District has monitored seagrass in the inlet flood shoals since a 2007 channel realignment, past the five years its permit required, and District Commissioner Beth Mitchell said the beds near the inlet held their own rather well after the 2011 algal blooms that hit much of the Indian River Lagoon (Sebastian Inlet District).

Beyond the Sebastian Inlet jetties, seatrout are fished from boats on the open lagoon at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, reached from launches in Sebastian, at the Wabasso Causeway and at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

Sea trout appear on the refuge's short list of sportfish in its open lagoon waters, next to redfish, snook, flounder, mangrove snapper and jack crevalle, and anglers on foot may fish from the banks or wade off two impoundment trails, Bird's and Pete's (USFWS Pelican Island). The refuge bans pets and drones, and feeding, capturing or harassing wildlife is prohibited there.

The refuge trailheads sit on the Historic Jungle Trail in Indian River County, 3.3 miles south of Sebastian Inlet and 3.7 miles north of Wabasso Beach Road (CR 510); the Centennial Trail address is 11455 Jungle Trail, Vero Beach (USFWS visitor page). The same page gives public use area hours as 7:30 a.m. to sunset daily in one place and sunrise to sunset in another, so under the stricter of the two a trout session from the Jungle Trail banks starts no earlier than 7:30 a.m. Whatever the access point, the FWC Indian River Lagoon seatrout limits apply in refuge waters as everywhere else off Sebastian.