Snook Bite Stays Hot as Treasure Coast Mullet Run Builds

What's biting

What's next

Winds stay light through the next couple of days at the offshore buoy (41009, near-calm around 2 mph) while the nearshore buoy (41008) is running a bit brisker with seas holding around 2.6 feet — a mild, fishable pattern for small-boat and inlet trips this week. Neither buoy is reporting water temperature right now, so we can't pin an exact number, but typical early-September Atlantic Florida surf temps sit comfortably in the low-to-mid 80s, which keeps most inshore species in their normal feeding windows.

The mullet run is the story to watch. Snook Nook (FL) reports larger mullet schools have started showing inshore around Stuart, with a few pods working down the beaches, but says the timing is running later than usual this year after a cooler winter — meaning the heavier push of finger mullet, and the snook, tarpon, and jack activity that follows it, likely builds over the next couple of weeks rather than peaking this weekend. Anglers fishing the St. Lucie Inlet and similar structure should keep working live croakers and threadfins as the shop describes, and expect the window to widen as more bait funnels through.

Offshore, Saltwater Sportsman's outlook for South Florida's second mahi season points to a mid-September start that holds through the fall, so boats making longer runs should start seeing schools show up in the coming days if that pattern holds true to form again this year — worth checking weather windows for a weekend trip once the nearshore chop lays down.

Red snapper anglers should hold off on plans for now. CCA Florida reports a federal court injunction halted the 2026 South Atlantic exempted-fishing-permit pilot season just before it opened, so the recreational red snapper opportunity anglers were expecting this fall is currently on hold pending further legal and management action — check CCA Florida's updates and state guidance before targeting the species.

Bottom line for the next few days: stable, light-wind conditions favor getting out, the snook bite should stay dependable as the mullet run gradually ramps up, and the best new opportunity to watch for is the mahi push offshore.

Context

September is a genuine transition month on Florida's Atlantic coast, and this report lines up with several of the season's usual markers. Snook season reopened September 1 after the customary summer closure, per Snook Nook (FL), and that reopening is right on the calendar regardless of conditions. The mullet run itself, though, sounds like it's arriving on the late side — Snook Nook specifically notes trends have been running later all year following a cooler winter, with larger mullet schools just now showing inshore and finger mullet still absent. In an average year the Treasure Coast run is often further along by early September, so anglers should expect the best of it to land a bit later into the month this time around.

Saltwater Sportsman's second mahi season is a recurring, well-documented pattern for South Florida — a mid-September start after the spring migration tapers off in summer — and nothing in the current data suggests this year is running ahead of or behind that typical window.

Red snapper is the outlier, and it's a regulatory story rather than a seasonal one: CCA Florida's reporting shows the 2026 South Atlantic exempted-fishing-permit season was blocked by a federal court injunction just before Florida's portion was set to open, following what had been a full year of state-led planning and public comment. That's an access disruption, not a fish-behavior signal.

One honest limitation: neither buoy in range is currently reporting water temperature, so this report can't make a direct year-over-year comparison on warmth — only the qualitative 'later than usual' read the shop itself is giving on the mullet run.