Florida fishing reports
562 reports for Florida — what's biting, water temps, and where to focus.
Snapper spawn keeps Key West bite blazing through July
Yellowtail and mutton snappers remain stacked up around Key West as the summer spawn continues, per ALL IN Key West, which reports huge yellowtails and tons and tons of mutton snappers actively feeding in large numbers through May and June, with strong availability carrying into July. The captain's outfit tied a May full moon window to peak mutton snapper spawning, with yellowtails practically jumping in the boat. Gulf side trips have also produced groupers, cobia, barracuda, and kingfish per ALL IN Key West, while live bait fishing has been red hot for king mackerel, tuna, and sailfish working the reef edges. Sailfish showed up earlier than usual this year too, with strong Gulfstream currents pushing good bottom fishing close to shore as of early March. No fresh buoy or gauge readings came through for this update, so plan around typical early July Keys conditions and check the local marine forecast before running offshore.
Trout bite roars hot in Sarasota Bay as summer tarpon window holds
Spotted Seatrout are aggressively biting in Sarasota Bay right now, with Capt. Brandon Naeve of CB's Saltwater Outfitters reporting the peak summer bite is on across inshore grass flats, mangrove shorelines, and local passes. Redfish are cooperating too — Capt. Chuck Cress found reds working an upper Sarasota Bay oyster bar this past week amid heavy mullet and bait activity, with a bluefish mixed in. Tarpon remain a solid target into July per Capt. Rick Grassett's monthly forecast, with fish still holding in travel lanes for spin anglers drifting live bait under floats, and fly anglers doing best staking out bar edges, though numbers typically start thinning as the month wears on. Shark activity — Bull, Blacktip, and Lemon sharks — continues building through Sarasota Bay and nearshore Gulf waters into fall. Coastal Angler Magazine's July outlook also flags snook and trout stacking up in passes and along area beaches. Waning Crescent moon overhead; check tides before heading out.
Deep structure and shade patterns hold on Okeechobee and the St. Johns
Summer heat has settled fully over Lake Okeechobee and the St. Johns River, and this cycle's intel leans on general seasonal pattern rather than fresh on-the-water reports, since no state agency, charter, or shop report specific to these two fisheries came through this pull. Field & Stream's current crappie guide is a useful seasonal marker: as water warms through summer, crappie push off the shallows into deeper structure and respond better to slow, vertical presentations than to shallow casting. Largemouth bass typically follow the same heat-driven pattern this time of year, holding tight to shade, timber, and matted vegetation through midday, with dawn and dusk windows staying the most productive for topwater and moving baits. On the access side, MidCurrent notes a settlement that keeps a proposed Everglades rock mine's scope in check for now, a reminder that South Florida's freshwater systems stay tangled in ongoing land and water-management fights worth tracking heading into the back half of summer.
Mixed bag off Pensacola as snapper season keeps rolling
Nearshore action picked up around Pensacola this week, with one angler on the Pensacola Fishing Forum landing a personal-best Spanish mackerel on July 6, a good sign for the summer run along the beaches and pass mouths. Offshore was tougher: another forum post described a run roughly 35 miles out to "the edge" (near what locals call Rusty's Ridge) that marked heavy bait on the sonar but produced mostly small vermillion snapper ("mingos") after a full day of effort. No fresh NOAA buoy or USGS gauge readings synced for this cycle, so treat water temps and sea state as unconfirmed until the next check. Typical for early July in the Panhandle, Gulf red snapper remains the headline target over natural bottom and wrecks, alongside amberjack on structure. Check current state and federal regulations before harvesting, since snapper seasons and bag limits shift year to year.
Tarpon push holds strong as permit sight-fishing lights up Naples
Tarpon are still very much in play along the Naples stretch of the Gulf Coast, with the migration described as "fully underway" and fish being intercepted and jumped through the morning hours, per Naples Offshore Fishing Charters. Once the tarpon bite cools by midday, boats have been sliding into afternoon permit work, sight-fishing large fish consistently, the same charter reports. Mixed into the pattern are kingfish on plugs and flies plus cobia and amberjack showing up as bonus fish offshore. Inshore, summer heat has pushed snook and trout into the passes and along the beaches, a pattern Coastal Angler Magazine flags as typical July action for Florida linesiders. Water conditions data wasn't available for this cycle, so treat any temperature or tide numbers you see elsewhere as a supplement, not a substitute, for on-the-water scouting. Overall, this reads as a solid, on-schedule summer setup for the Gulf Coast, with variety being the theme more than any single dominant bite.
Snook Stack Up in Stuart Inlet as Summer Trout Turn On
Snook are stacking up again around Stuart's St. Lucie Inlet now that a dredging project that had slowed early-summer action has paused, according to Snook Nook's July report — anglers running side-scan are marking large schools near the detached jetty and Hole in the Wall, with live croakers and pilchards drawing the most bites. Remember snook season stays closed for harvest through August (reopens September 1), so it's catch-and-release only on the Treasure Coast right now. Meanwhile Coastal Angler Magazine calls July prime time for speckled trout, with fish stacking in the passes and along the beaches alongside the summer snook push. Offshore, anglers are finding mahi action too, including a reported 39-inch bull off Daytona and a 15-pound dolphin out of Sebastian Inlet. Red snapper season status remains unsettled — a federal court just blocked the South Atlantic EFP pilot program hours before Florida's season was set to open, per CCA Florida, so check current regs before targeting reds.
Mutton and yellowtail snapper bite stays red-hot in the Keys
Mutton snapper are chewing "like crazy" around the recent full-moon spawn, and yellowtail snapper are "practically jumping in the boat," according to ALL IN Key West, which says the May-June bite has been as good as any it has seen in 16 years fishing out of Key West, with July availability just opening up. The same operation is also putting clients on grouper, cobia, barracuda and kingfish on Gulf-side trips, and reports sailfish activity starting earlier than usual this year on live bait in strong Gulfstream current. On the regulatory side, CCA Florida flags that a federal court has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the 2026 South Atlantic red snapper Exempted Fishing Permit pilot program for Florida and neighboring states, landing just hours before Florida's Atlantic red snapper season was due to open — worth checking before targeting that species. We don't have live buoy or gauge readings for the Keys right now, so confirm exact water temps and tide timing locally before running offshore.
Sarasota Bay Trout Bite Turns Aggressive as Summer Peaks
Spotted Seatrout are firing on all cylinders in Sarasota Bay, with Capt. Brandon Naeve of CB's Saltwater Outfitters reporting an aggressive peak-summer bite on inshore grass flats, mangrove shorelines, and local passes — action that produced a nice trout for a young angler and his dad this past week. Tarpon remain a solid target too: per Capt. Rick Grassett's July forecast from the same Sarasota shop, live baits drifted under floats along travel lanes, or sight-cast to fish stacked on bar edges, are drawing strikes, with July fish typically more aggressive than earlier in the season. Redfish are mixing in around oyster bars in upper Sarasota Bay, per Capt. Chuck Cress, alongside mullet schools and the occasional bluefish. Shark activity — blacktips, bull sharks, and occasional migratory species — stays elevated in the bay and nearshore Gulf through the season, per Capt. Naeve. Statewide, Coastal Angler Magazine flags snook and trout as a strong July combo in the passes and along the beaches.
Summer heat has Okeechobee bass and St. Johns bluegill firing early
The St. Johns River gauge near USGS site 02232000 logged a modest 259 cfs flow early this morning, a steady, unhurried stage typical for a Florida river in mid-summer with no big rain pulses moving through. With water on the low side, largemouth bass across Okeechobee and St. Johns waters are settling into a classic hot-weather pattern: Tactical Bassin's July roundup points anglers toward power-fishing the shallows early and jig fishing as the sun climbs, with a Neko rig as a follow-up when reaction bites slow. Bluegill remain a dependable target too, with Field & Stream's guide noting bream stack up on weed lines over mud bottoms this time of year, feeding on the same summer insect activity driving the bass bite. Crappie, by contrast, tend to slide deeper and go quieter once surface temps climb into summer ranges, so expect a tougher, more patient bite there. Early and late are the windows worth planning around.
Yellowtail and mutton snapper keep Keys anglers busy through summer
Snapper fishing remains red hot across the Florida Keys heading into mid-July, with ALL IN Key West reporting yellowtail snapper "practically jumping in the boat" alongside strong numbers of mutton snapper, plus a solid mixed bag of grouper, cobia, barracuda, and kingfish on recent Gulf-side trips. The captain says fishing has been as good as any stretch in 16 years running trips out of Key West, coming off a nonstop May and June with July openings now available. Live bait has also been producing king mackerel, tuna, and sailfish along the reef edges, per the same operator. 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 season was set to open, so anglers planning to target red snapper offshore should check current state and federal rules before harvesting. No live buoy or gauge readings were available for this report; conditions below reflect angler intel only.
Amberjack and mingos turn on off Pensacola as billfish season heats up
A July 4th trip out of Pensacola found the Gulf lying flat calm — "a pond," per one report on the Pensacola Fishing Forum — with a slow start that turned around once anglers scaled down to slow-pitch jigs and found amberjack and vermilion snapper ("mingos") stacked over bridge rubble. A follow-up post from the same forum two days later logged a personal-best Spanish mackerel, another sign the summer mixed bag is filling in along Panhandle nearshore structure. Offshore, the big-game scene is drawing attention too: Coastal Angler Magazine reports Fleur de Lis topped the 2026 Florida Panhandle Billfish Series out of the Emerald Coast circuit, confirming billfish opportunities off Destin and Pensacola are active this month. No fresh buoy or gauge readings came through for this update, so treat water temperature and swell as typical summer-Gulf conditions until the next check-in. Bridge rubble and reef structure remain the go-to for bottom species right now.
Tarpon push still rolling as Gulf Coast anglers dial in Permit, AJs
Naples Offshore Fishing Charters reports the spring Tarpon migration has been in full swing along Florida's Gulf Coast, with captains jumping and landing quality fish through the mornings before switching over to sight-fishing large Permit in the afternoons. Kingfish, cobia, and amberjack have been mixed in as steady bonus species on those same trips. Up in the Panhandle, a Pensacola Fishing Forum angler's July 4th trip found the amberjack bite still alive over bridge rubble, scaling down to slow-pitch jigs to also pick up vermillion snapper (mingos) once the AJs got wise to the first offering - a pattern that lines up with the amberjack and offshore-structure action Naples-area captains have also been working this season. Regulatory backdrop matters too: CCA Florida has flagged ongoing concern from Gulf-state senators over illegal foreign harvest pressuring red snapper stocks, a reminder to check current federal and state rules before keeping fish. Overall it's shaping up as a solid, on-schedule summer stretch for FL's Gulf side with good variety across the water column.