Snook Bite Builds as Treasure Coast Mullet Run Kicks Off
Water temperatures along Florida's Atlantic coast are holding solidly in the mid-80s, with NOAA CO-OPS stations reading 85.3°F off Lake Worth and 83.8°F at Mayport this week, keeping the coast in a late-summer pattern even as the calendar turns toward fall. Inshore, Snook Nook in Stuart reports snook fishing has been excellent over the past several weeks, with steady numbers and quality fish, including many in the 40-inch-plus range, coming from anglers working live croakers and threadfins around the St. Lucie Inlet and along the beach. When the bite slows in the inlet, the shop notes a dead threadfin fished on the bottom still draws strikes, albeit with some bycatch. Snook Nook is also flagging the first signs of the annual mullet run, with schools of larger mullet showing up inshore and along the beaches, though the finger-mullet pods anglers watch for closely haven't arrived in force yet. On the regulatory side, CCA Florida reports a federal court granted a preliminary injunction blocking the 2026 South Atlantic red snapper Exempted Fishing Permit pilot programs just hours before Florida's Atlantic red snapper season was set to open under them.
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Snook Nook expects the mullet run to build quickly over the next several weeks as more finger-mullet pods push down the beaches and inshore, which typically pulls snook and other predators tight to the bait — worth watching the inlet and beachfront closely as that trend develops. Sport Fishing Mag's fall-transition coverage echoes the same shift for Gulf snook: as days shorten, fish begin migrating toward winter holding areas and feed aggressively along the way, with swimbaits like the Mulletron or Diezel MinnowZ producing on active fish, a pattern Atlantic coast anglers can expect to see mirrored once water temperatures ease off their current mid-80s reading.
Sport Fishing Mag's broader fall-migration outlook also flags false albacore starting to show on the surface as cooling water pushes bait closer to shore, a species worth watching for as the seasonal push continues over the coming weeks.
With the moon at First Quarter, expect moderate tidal swings rather than the month's strongest pushes. Anglers planning around the coming weekend should treat thickening mullet schools as the clearest early sign the run is fully underway.
Context
Mid-September sits right at the seasonal hinge for Florida's Atlantic coast. Snook season reopened September 1 after the summer closure, and the fall mullet run is the annual trigger anglers wait for, typically building through late September into October as water temperatures ease from summer peaks. Readings in the mid-80s are still squarely in summer range for this stretch of coast, so the run Snook Nook is describing is arriving on a normal schedule rather than early or late. The false albacore push flagged for the wider Atlantic coast tends to follow a similar cooling-water cue, arriving in earnest as temperatures drop further into fall. Check state regulations before targeting or harvesting snook, since size and bag limits apply through the reopened season.
Synthesized from real-time NOAA buoy data, USGS stream gauges, and current reports across regional fishing blogs, captain updates, and angler forums. Check local regulations before keeping fish. Never trust a single source for a trip decision.
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