St. Augustine fishing report for the week of September 17, 2026. The fall pattern is in full swing on the First Coast. Flounder are gathering at both inlets, bull reds are on the bars, and the mullet run has the beach alive at first light from Vilano south to Crescent Beach. It is a week where you can catch a limit of flounder and still be home for lunch.
What’s Hitting
What’s hot this week is flounder. Fish are stacking up on the sandy edges of the St. Augustine Inlet rocks, along the Vilano side, and at Matanzas Inlet as they begin their fall push toward the ocean, with keepers coming steadily and some 5-pound-plus fish mixed in. Bull redfish are on the inlet bars and the channel edges on the falling tide, and slot reds are in the Intracoastal creeks and around the oyster bars. The mullet run has tarpon, big jacks, and Spanish mackerel working the beaches, and the first blues of the fall are in the surf. Trout are on the creek mouths and the grass edges early, and black drum are on the bridge pilings.
Where to Find Them
Flounder are on the sandy bottom against the inlet rocks, along the Vilano jetty, at the Matanzas Inlet edges, and around the docks and creek mouths on the Intracoastal on the outgoing tide. Bull reds are on the bars at the mouth of St. Augustine Inlet and in the channel on the falling tide. Along the beach, the tarpon and jacks are wherever the mullet pods are thickest, so cover ground from Vilano south to Crescent Beach and watch for birds. Slot reds and trout are in the creeks off the Intracoastal and around the oyster bars of the Guana and Tolomato rivers.
Tides & Conditions
Moderate tides this week between the moons, with the morning outgoing setting up the inlet bite. Water is in the low 80s and clearing after the summer rains. Mornings have been calm with a light west wind, with the northeast breeze building later in the day. The surf has been fishable most mornings.
Tackle & Tactics
For flounder, a live mud minnow or finger mullet on a Carolina rig, or a Gulp on a quarter-ounce jig head, dragged slowly along the bottom at the rocks and edges on a 7-foot medium spinning rod with 15-pound braid. Bull reds want a cut mullet or a blue crab half on a 7/0 circle hook with a fish-finder rig. Along the beach, a live finger mullet under a float or a large paddle tail for tarpon and jacks. In the creeks, a popping cork with a shrimp or a soft plastic covers trout and slot reds.
Local Intel This Week
The Vilano Beach ramp is the closest launch to St. Augustine Inlet, with the Lighthouse Park ramp on Salt Run, the Frank Butler Park ramp for the Matanzas River, and the Palm Valley ramp for the northern Intracoastal. Shore anglers are catching flounder and reds from the Vilano jetty, the Matanzas Inlet bridge and shoreline, and the St. Augustine pier. Fish are concentrating at the inlets on the outgoing tide and along the beach around the mullet pods. Flounder have a size limit and a fall closed season on the Atlantic coast; check current FWC regulations and seasons before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Flounder at the inlet face into the current and sit right where the sand meets the rock. Drag your bait slowly down-current along that seam, and when you feel weight, count to three before you set. The fish holds the bait crosswise first and turns it before it swallows.
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