Fresh Grant-Valkaria Fishing Reports

Just as the title says, the bite is on again!!!! Snook and redfish have been hitting pretty good again at the inlet and the lagoon has been producing some decent numbers of redfish. It's still a little breezy most days but that's the time of year. This is also the time of year I like to go after those prison fish, them good ole tasty sheepshead. Snook season will be coming to a close pretty soon (Dec 15) so get a trip booked before the closure. We have lots of open slots right now until the end of the year. If you want to get a little hunting in, we are providing deer hunting trips as well, just message us for details.

Bowfishing is on fire right now for some big tilapia, we've had schools of 15 to 20 fish swimming by the boat consistently, all in the 3 to 5lb range. These are some great tasting tilapia. Wild tilapia taste way different than that farm raised junk and these fish have some big filets.

We are at the end of September and it has been one awesome month with our 2023 Fall Mullet Run. The snook and redfish have been on fire at Sebastian Inlet the last couple weeks. The mullet run is about 3/4 of the way through so we should still be getting some large schools coming down the beach and the lagoon through mid October. If this October is anything like last year, it will be nothing but snook slaying and filleting all month. Most of our inshore charters have been at the inlet lately for the simple reason, "that's where the fish are". We also had some excellent trips fishing along the mangrove shorelines, spoil islands, and the main channel for reds, snook, trout, and mangrove snapper as well. Coming into October we should still be looking at catching reds in the 20" to 30" range and snook of all sizes. Towards the end of October we should start to see those larger bull redfish showing up in the 35" to 50" range. Hopefully mother nature will be nice to us for awhile. We've had one rainy month with lots of scattered thunderstorms and a few windy days but it hasn't stopped the fishing. Sometimes the rainy days have some of the best action. October is usually on fire throughout the entire month for inshore fishing, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing some drag screaming action.

My most favorite time of the year has finally started, the Fall Mullet Run. September and October are my personal favorite months to fish inshore. The first wave of mullet are just starting to show up in the lagoon and around Sebastian Inlet. This means there will soon be some fantastic inshore/nearshore fishing for big snook, redfish, trout, tarpon, sharks, jacks, and flounder. Right now we're just seeing small/medium schools of mullet so within the next week or so we should be seeing those larger football field size schools on the beach. It is so awesome just to see those predator fish explode on these giant schools of mullet. From my previous experiences with the mullet run we usually get into the big over slot snook and medium size slot redfish. Almost the entire summer was excellent for calmer seas and light winds. To start off our snook season we had our first windy weekend with 6ft seas from the aftermath of hurricane Idalia. It should be calming down come Wednesday. For most of the fall and winter season we will be focused primarily on inshore fishing in the lagoon and the inlet. It's been kinda slow for business the last few weeks but that's usual for August with school back in session. We haven't been out on the water to much, but the days we have it's been very productive for snook, reds, and jacks. We've caught a number of smaller snook and medium redfish in the lagoon throwing both live and cut bait fishing along the mangrove shorelines. Inside the inlet we're using greenies and live shrimp catching lots of small mangrove snapper. Outside and around the jetty, threadfins, pilchards, pigfish, and croakers have been working well for the snook and reds. I'm very excited for this years fall season and hopefully we'll be able to put some big smiles on our customers faces as usual.

Don't miss out on your chance to bring home a tasty red snapper. We only get 2 days this year for our annual red snapper days on the east coast. We'll be running three 5 hour trips each day, weather permitting. Catch your limit of red snapper then fish for whatever else we can manage to put in the cooler. These red snapper are hard fighting and great to eat so don't miss out. July 14 and 15.

July is here and so is the heat. It's been brutal hot out the last couple weeks along with the consistent afternoon thunderstorms. Best plan for a trip this time of year is to get out early and get back early. As long as we're back to the ramp by 3pm we're pretty much safe from the storms. That ocean is very unforgiving at times when it wants to be. It can change from glass flat calm to absolute chaos within minutes when a storm rolls in. Our main focus has been offshore bottom fishing lately but we're still doing a little bit of everything. Depending on the weather we've been heading out to the reefs catching tons of lane snapper and mangrove snapper, limiting out on most trips. We've also had a few good days of catching toro snapper which is pretty rare and some fun fighting barracudas. The mahi bite has not been all that great this year. We've caught a few on freelines while bottom fishing but not really seeing the numbers like in previous years. The kingfish are around as well but that bite has also been a little slower than usual. As we move into July the kingfish bite should get a lot better nearshore and offshore. Cobia have been around hanging with the sharks but that's the obstacle we face, getting the cobia away from the sharks. This is the time of year when we start to get thermoclines offshore which is very cold water on the bottom which in turn pushes the fish closer to the surface. Instead of fishing on the bottom we switch to freelining live baits and cut bait without sinkers. As long as the ocean stays nice and calm we should be able to get some more fantastic days of fishing offshore this summer. Inshore/Nearshore fishing along the beach and the inlet has been pretty good as well. We've had some epic catches in the last few weeks catching massive snook, permit, and big tarpon. I can't think of anything better than watching a big 100 plus pound silver king ripping drag and jumping out of the water. The snook fishing has been tough as usual for this time of year. Not for the bite but just getting them to the boat and avoiding them getting eaten by the goliaths. The goliaths are thick at the inlet, I'm talking 10 to 20 monster 500 lbers hanging under the boat just waiting for you to hook up on a snook. As for river/flats fishing, the heat and the rain plays a big part in your trip. Being that it gets so hot throughout the day the water temps have been crazy warm come mid day. The water temps have been up in the 90's towards the afternoon. My suggestion is to get out as early as you can to have any success with flats fishing. This time of year is not a good time for river fishing if you're looking to bring home dinner. My suggestion, if you're looking to fill the cooler, book an offshore trip during the summer instead. We still have trips available for our annual Red Snapper days (July 14 & 15) so book up a trip while they're still available. We are hoping to run three 5 hour trips both days, weather permitting. Tight lines everyone and thank you to all my loyal customers out there for fishing with Whatever Turns U On Fishing Charters.