Fish
Fire
Hike
Bird
Jacksonville sprawls across the mouth of the St. Johns River, one of the few major rivers in the country that flows north. Where the St. Johns meets the Atlantic Ocean at Mayport, the salt and fresh water mix across a gradient that produces one of the most varied fisheries in the Southeast, you can fish the Gulf Stream offshore, the jetties and inshore creeks in the salt, and trophy largemouth bass in the freshwater stretches of the river, all from the same city.
The diversity is real. Jacksonville's fishing ranges from blue-water pelagics 40 miles out to five-pound bass in a lily-pad-lined creek that you'd never know existed until someone shows you the turn.
Offshore, The Reefs, Wrecks, and the Stream
Jacksonville's offshore fishery starts at the nearshore reefs and artificial structures, the city has deployed over 100 artificial reefs off its coastline, and extends to the Gulf Stream, which runs roughly 40 to 50 miles offshore.
The reef and wreck grounds hold red snapper (during federal season), gag grouper, scamp, amberjack, king mackerel, and barracuda. Notable sites like Elton Bottom, a natural reef and ledge system, and deep wrecks like Bill's Barge produce year-round bottom fishing. Greater amberjack pull like hell on heavy tackle and are the fish most likely to make you question your gym routine.
Gulf Stream trips target the blue-water species. Wahoo are a winter specialty, November through March, when they run the temperature breaks along the Stream edge. Blackfin tuna school along the color changes year-round. Sailfish move through in fall and winter, and mahi-mahi show under debris and weed lines from spring through summer. These are long-day trips, 8 to 12 hours, but the reward is fish you can't reach from shore.
Cobia migrate along the coast in spring (March through May), cruising the surface and holding near buoys, rays, and floating structure. Sight-casting to a cobia from the bow of a boat, throwing a jig or live eel at a 50-pound fish cruising just below the surface, is one of the most exciting moments in Northeast Florida fishing.
The Jetties, Mayport's Year-Round Fishery
The Mayport jetties are the most productive shore-fishing spot in Northeast Florida. Massive granite boulders extend into the Atlantic, creating current breaks and structure that hold fish in every season.
Sheepshead are the winter stars, December through March, they pack against the jetty rocks during spawning season, eating barnacles and fiddler crabs. They're one of the best-eating fish in the ocean, and the jetties produce them in numbers. A fiddler crab or piece of shrimp on a small hook, dropped tight against the rocks, is the rig.
Redfish and black drum work the jetty rocks year-round. Flounder lie in the sandy pockets between the boulders, especially during the fall migration. Tarpon cruise the jetty tips in summer, rolling on the surface, big fish, 80 to 150 pounds, that test every knot and connection in your setup.
Spanish mackerel run past in spring and fall, king mackerel hold on the deeper jetty sections, and jack crevalle swarm through in schools that turn the water white. The Mayport jetties fish every month of the year, the species rotation changes, but the productivity doesn't.
The Inshore Creeks, Redfish and Trout Country
Between the river and the ocean, Jacksonville's inshore waterways, the Nassau Sound, the Sisters Creek, Mill Cove, the Intracoastal, wind through salt marsh, oyster bars, and grass flats that hold redfish, spotted seatrout, and flounder.
Mill Cove is a prime example, a shallow, oyster-bar-studded area off the St. Johns near the Dames Point Bridge that holds concentrations of redfish and trout on the tide. Working soft plastics or live shrimp along the oyster edges on a falling tide is textbook Jacksonville inshore fishing.
Redfish are the inshore headline. They push into the marsh creeks and around the oyster bars on incoming tides, feeding in pods along the edges. On clear-water days in the Nassau Sound, you can sight-cast to them. The fall bull redfish run, September through November, brings big fish into the sounds and jetties, and the fishing is excellent.
Flounder stage along the channel edges and marsh drains during their fall migration (October and November), and the flounder run is a Northeast Florida tradition. Bouncing jigs or live finger mullet along the bottom produces reliable action.
The St. Johns River, Freshwater Bass
The St. Johns River is one of the best largemouth bass fisheries in Florida, and the upper and middle stretches are genuinely world-class. The river is broad, slow-moving, and lined with lily pads, hydrilla, and cypress trees, classic Florida bass habitat.
Bass fishing on the St. Johns peaks in the cooler months, February through April, when fish move shallow to spawn. Flipping jigs and soft plastics into heavy vegetation, throwing spinnerbaits along grass edges, and working topwater frogs over lily pads all produce fish. The river is known for quantity and quality, double-digit days are common, and fish over eight pounds are caught every season.
The shift from saltwater to freshwater on the same river, redfish and sheepshead in the lower river around Mayport, largemouth and bluegill a few miles upstream, is what makes Jacksonville's fishing uniquely versatile. Some guides offer combination trips that fish the salt in the morning and the fresh in the afternoon.
When to Go
- Spring (March–May): Cobia on the beach, largemouth bass spawning on the river, redfish in the creeks
- Summer (June–August): Tarpon at the jetties, offshore reef fishing, jack crevalle runs
- Fall (September–November): Bull redfish run, flounder migration, sailfish offshore, the best all-around season
- Winter (December–February): Sheepshead on the jetties, wahoo in the Gulf Stream, trophy bass on the river
