St. Augustine Beach Fishing

December 24th, 2025

     I had been looking forward to this week for months, since my family and I rented a house on the beach by St. Augustine, at Crescent Beach. While I don't have much experience fishing the beach, I was excited for the opportunity, especially considering the Pompano runs normally in the area in the winter. Now, I knew I needed to do a lot of research on the area and to build upon my understanding of surf fishing techniques and apply them. When we first arrived to the house, I went out to beach to scout out the sandbar and breakers, envisioning where I would cast my bait. As soon as possible, I headed over to Genung's, a popular bait and tackle shop in Crescent Beach. There, I picked up my Pompano Rigs - essentially double dropper loops with circle hooks and brightly colored beads - as well as a few 3 oz. pyramid sinkers, a sand spike, fishbites, fresh dead shrimp, and of course a two piece 11 foot surf fishing rod. I had never owned such a large pole, which is often necessary to be able to effectively fish the surf because of its capacity for far casts and keeping the line above the surf. Talking to the woman running the shop, I was informed that the Pompano run had not been quite what was expected this winter. That being said, whatever was out there would bite the shrimp and fishbites. I thanked her for the help and headed back to the house. By the time I was finished helping everyone unpack and had my rod set up, the sun was setting. That being said, I was extremely eager to head out there to the beach, doing what I had dreamed of doing for years. I grabbed a Corona, blasted my speaker, and hurried out to the beach with my baited rod and spike to get my line wet. It was very peaceful being out there, examining the water and getting a feel for the beach while watching the light fade and the weather get cooler. The beach was wide and empty, and with the backdrop of the sunset and the dunes, it was surreal. Even though I wasn't catching anything, I built up even more anticipation for the next few days. Jakes came out there with me, and at one point I reeled in to check my bait only to see a crab fall off the hook as I brought it in. I saw it, an interestingly patterned Speckled Swimming Crab. It scurried off soon after, and while it wasn't a fish we were looking for, it was a good sign of life and a cool reminder of the unexpectedness of fishing and what lies under the water. It got darker and I decided to pack it up, planning to get up early to fish the next morning.

    

December 25th, 2025

    Christmas morning, I woke up at 8 and took a shower to get ready to fish the incoming tide. I was the first one in the family on the beach, quickly getting set up and once again bringing beers and the speaker out there with me. I waded to the sandbar, casting out as far as I could into the trough. This took me a few tries especially the day before and today. It's not easy casting out such a big rod, and it can get annoying when the fresh shrimp you have consistently comes off due to the whiplash. I did, however, get a lot better at casting it as the week went on. I baited my hooks with both a strip of fishbites and half a shrimp, in case fish decided to go for one over the other. While the shrimp came off the hook relatively frequently, the fishbites stayed on solidly for a long time, partially due to the film in the middle of it. In fact, it sometimes became frustrating when trying to take pieces of old fishbites off of the hook.

   Not too long after starting fishing, after about my second cast of the day, getting it set in the sand spike, I turned around to throw a football around with Jakes and my cousin Benji. However, I after walking about 5 steps, I heard a crash. I looked back and saw the rod and sand spike toppled over on the sand, with the rod being pulled slowly into the water. I ran over to the rod, picked it up, and reeled it in. I wasn't sure whether I had anything or whether the spike had just not been set properly (which I guess it wasn't regardless of whether a fish was the reason it toppled), but I was hopeful. Soon enough, I saw the distinct fin pop out of the surf as I was bringing it closer to the shore. "It's a shark!" I called out. My aunt and younger cousins were also at the beach by now, and they looked in disbelief. My aunt thought I was joking before she saw me pull the shark onto the beach. After doing some research and consulting some friendly icthyologists at FWC, it was determined that this was a Sandbar Shark, a new species for me. I have caught sharks from shore before, but to catch one off the beach, and having it be my first fish off the beach, was incredible. I'd always known that sharks were common and some of the coolest catches one could have on the beach, and so doing it myself was pretty special. I picked it up and dehooked it with pliers that Jakes had quickly run up to the house to get for me. He picked it up too and I let my younger cousins touch it before I released it. It was a really fun and cool catch, especially with my family around me to see it. It's always funny to hear people's reactions to the idea that sharks are actually found right off the beach pretty commonly. As soon as I released it, Jakes and I gave each other some big high fives, cheers, and arm bumps; it was already a big success and a great way to start the trip.

    Unfortunately, we didn't catch any more fish that day. That being said, it was fun just to be out on the beach and tending the rod, especially with the perfect weather above us and the epic catch behind us. I went inside at around high tide, when action was expectedly a lot slower, and spent the rest of the day hanging out with the family. However, this was just the start to the fishing trip.

  

  

  

December 26th, 2025

    Once again, I woke up early to get ready to fish. This time, however, I had more time. I caught the shark the day before at around 9:15, in the middle of the rising tide. This time, however, the tides were in the same spot almost an hour later in the day (tides move in cycles about 12.5 hours apart, according to the 24 hour and 50 minute lunar day), so where the tide was at 9:15 the day before would be at the same spot at roughly 10:15 the next day. I got out there, excited to fish, another sunny clear day. I brought the chairs out too, watching the rod tip, sipping beer, and playing football. I saw the waves push and pull the line, but didn't see anything that resembled a bit until once when I saw the rod seem to double over more than naturally. However, I reeled that up and didn't have anything.

    I kept fishing throughout the changing tide, to no avail. At one point, I rebaited and waded out to cast my line, but since it was high tide, the waves were really hitting me before I could get as far as I wanted. I even turned back to the shore, looking at my uncle with a shrug as if to say "it isn't worth it, it's high tide anyways." But I figured I'd already made it that far out into the water, wading as far as so that the water reached up to my chest, and it was better to have a line in to watch than nothing at all, so I kept going and casted out into the trough. I left it there, watching the line and playing some more football. A little bit later, my aunt was running with a kite, and since I saw it was going to get caught in my line, I ran over to the rod. Luckily I was able to get it out of the tangle, but I reeled in my line to reset. After a whole day of reeling in nothing, I was extremely relieved to see a fish come up on the end of the line. I recognized it immediately. Silver all over with a tall dorsal fin, it was a Whiting, or Gulf Kingfish. It's a classic Florida surf fish, and I was glad to have reeled one in. I remember years ago walking on the beach in south Florida and seeing two Whiting swim by in a very shallow trough on the beach, thinking about how happy I'd be to have a rod. Now I finally caught some off the beach. We took pictures and released it, again followed by high fives with Jakes. That's two, and two new species. That was again all we caught that day, but it was a cool fish to break the skunk.

           

December 28th, 2025

    I took the 27th off from hardcore fishing, since I spent the day seeing the historical sights in St. Augustine. I'd visited the town before, but not in years, and after taking a class on Florida history I had a greater appreciation for what I was seeing this time. When I got back to the house, I did cast my line out at low tide, but I spent most of my time focused on Bocce ball. The 28th, however, was a fishing day.

    I woke up early once again, this time aiming for a different spot I had heard about. I went back to Genungs to pick up some live shrimp and ended up also getting a new inshore rod/reel combo for only $35 and a sputnik sinker for fishing the beach. I also got popping corks I would use by the rocks. Talking to the man at the shop, I reported my catches, and he corroborated that it wasn't me - Pompano had just been really unusually disappointing this year at St. Augustine. Whiting and sharks were really the only fish out there now. It was unfortunate to hear that about the Pomps, but I was glad to know that I hadn't been doing much wrong and that I'd caught what there was to catch out there. I arrived at Rattlesnake Island and walked past the rocks to get to the channel to the east of it. I had the inshore rod, which would be my main rod, but I put two pieces of a shrimp on the two hooks of the pompano rig I had for surf fishing on the 11 foot rod, and dropped that down to the base of the rocks. I felt nibbles, but set the rod down so I could set up the new rod. After tying on the popping cork with a hook under about 2 feet of line from it, I went to check on the 11 footer. I reeled it in, and sure enough, a small Black Sea Bass was on one of the hooks. Not a new species, but it was good to at least be on the board this early in the trip. I was fishing solo today, manning two rods both with relatively intensive fishing techniques, so I was pretty active out there this morning. That being said, it was nice to be fishing alone on the water out there. The morning started out very foggy and cloudy, but got warmer still with a great breeze and clear skies later on as I fished.

    I talked with someone who asked me if I'd caught anything, to which I replied that I hadn't caught much; I had only been fishing for about 10-15 minutes by then. He said he caught Bluefish by the point there the day before by the point. I kept on fishing the rocks by the channel next to the houses, but I could not seem to get another bite on the popping cork. I packed up my stuff and went further down the rocks to the point, more on open water. From there, I was able to look across the Matanzas River at the Matanzas inlet, which served as a beautiful backdrop. Considering the history of a momentous massacre there, it was an interesting spot to be fishing. I also saw dolphins and even some small Sea Turtles swimming by while I was fishing there. There were a few times that, if I left my popping cork sitting in the current like a bobber, it would go under. Likely, these were needlefish; most of the time the cork would barely drop below the surface and would instead be pulled across the surface of the water. However, the first time I let it drift, the bobber really sunk. I wasn't able to pick up my rod and set the hook in time because I had set the rod down to work on the 11 footer. Regardless, I kept on putting shrimps on the hook in hopes of better bites. Only needlefish took it, which leads me to believe that the first bite was just a strong Needlefish bite - it was surely strong though.

    Nothing much was happening on the popping cork, so I went back to dropping my surf fishing rig down by the rocks. Eventually, in between instances of fish stealing my bait, I felt a strong tug and reeled in a bit to maintain pressure and ensure the fish was hooked. It kept fighting so I figured it was on. I saw a white flash in the water and brought it over the surface, instantly recognizing it as a Black Drum, a new species for me. I carefully lifted it over the rocks so I could take pictures with it. There it was, a juvenile Black Drum with its trademark black stripes - they lose those stripes when they get older, attaining a grey/silver color when they grow to be bigger. It's a relative of the Redfish, or Red Drum, named so because of the deep thumping sounds they make. They're also in the Croaker family, which is named that way because of the way they all make these similar sounds. I dehooked it and admired the new species I had sought for a while before tossing it back. I spent the next hour or so enjoying the blue sky and water and the natural beauty of the inlet in front of me. The weather was perfect and the fishing was calming, even if I didn't catch anything else. I enjoyed my new species that made the trip successful, and figured it was time to head back to enjoy the beach at around 12:30.

    I had already caught a sufficient amount of fish, but I'm not one to stop fishing when I can continue. It was the middle of the rising tide, and I put some fishbites and shrimp onto my hooks before wading out and casting them into the troughs. There was a father of a family to the left of us that had a 4 rod spread, which my brother reported to me had hauled in a smaller shark and some whiting. If I had come more prepared with more space, money, and fellow fisherman, I'd have run the same kind of spread. Regardless, I had my rod out there as my hat in the ring. This time I fished with a sputnik sinker to see whether there would be a palpable difference. The surf never seemed too strong so that I needed one, but it would be good to know that my bait was staying in place. I noticed that my rod definitely swayed less when I had the sputnik sinker, and I was able to maintain constant pressure on the line with the sinker anchored into the sand. That being said, I still could not tell when a fish was on the line. In the time since I arrived on the beach, the guy to the left caught 2 or 3 whiting. He was outfishing me. He had four rods to my one and likely lots more experience, but I still didn't like it. However, towards the end, when it was high tide and even the guy to my left had packed up his rods due to the lack of expected action, I reeled in my line to check on my bait only to see a bigger Whiting than my first on the hook. Once again, I was very happy and relieved to have brought something in. Clearly I need to get better at seeing whether a fish is on my rod; it's difficult to see with a heavy 11 foot rod with waves of the surf constantly tugging on it and bending the rod, but I'm sure that noticing the subtle differences when a fish is on is something that will come to me with experience. We took pictures again and released the Whiting, ending the trip on a successful note.