Updated: Thursday, September 3, 2026 · Next update: Thursday, September 10, 2026
This Stuart fishing report covers early September, the stretch Stuart anglers circle on the calendar. Snook harvest season reopens on the Atlantic coast September 1, finger mullet pour down the beach and through the St. Lucie Inlet, and everything with a mouth follows them. Snook are the lead target, with tarpon and big jacks close behind. Plan around the outgoing tide at the inlet and the first two hours after sunrise, and keep one eye on the tropics.
What’s Hitting
In early September it is snook first, then tarpon, then everything else. Linesiders stack on the inlet jetties, the bridge shadow lines and the beach troughs from the House of Refuge north to Jensen. Tarpon from 40 to 100 pounds roll on mullet schools outside the inlet at dawn, and big jack crevalle blow up bait so hard along Sailfish Point that you can hear it from the boat.
Mangrove snapper are still thick on the bridges, and a few early flounder show on the sand edges. The Crossroads, where the St. Lucie River meets the Indian River Lagoon, comes alive with surface-feeding fish on mullet in the mornings.
Where to Find Them
Start at first light on the outside of the north jetty and watch for mullet being pushed. Snook hold on the down-current side of the rocks and along the Sailfish Point seawall on the outgoing tide.
Inside, the Roosevelt Bridge and Ernest Lyons Bridge shadow lines hold fish at night. Tarpon cruise the beach in 8 to 15 feet from the inlet north to Jensen Beach, and the St. Lucie Power Plant outflow holds jacks and snook on the afternoon flood.
Tides & Conditions
Water temperatures run in the mid-80s, warm enough that the action concentrates in the first two hours after sunrise and the last hour of light. Outgoing tides are the money tide at the inlet in early September because they flush bait out to the waiting fish.
Watch the radar for afternoon storms. Early September is peak tropical season, and a distant system can put swell on the beach in a hurry.
Tackle & Tactics
- Snook and jacks: match the bait. A live finger mullet on a 5/0 circle hook with 40-pound fluorocarbon leader is all you need.
- Tarpon: step up to 60-pound leader and a 7/0, and keep a heavier outfit rigged so you are not fighting a 90-pounder on a snook rod.
- Artificials: swimming plugs and paddle-tail soft plastics in white or silver draw strikes when the mullet are so thick a natural bait gets lost in the crowd.
- Night bridges: flair hawks and big bucktails.
Local Intel This Week
Boaters can launch at the Sandsprit Park ramp on Manatee Pocket for a short run to the inlet, or use the Stuart Causeway ramp and the Jensen Beach Causeway ramps for the river, the bridges and the Crossroads. Wade anglers can work the beach at Bathtub Reef and the House of Refuge. Concentrate on the inlet mouth and the first mile of beach north of it.
Snook season is open, and a snook permit is required in addition to a fishing license. Check current FWC and federal regulations and seasons before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
When the mullet run is on, do not cast into the middle of the school. Work the edges and the back of the bait pod, where the predators sit waiting for a straggler. A bait that looks separated from the crowd gets eaten three times as often as one buried in it.
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