Artificial Lure here with your St. Augustine area fishing report for Wednesday, November 19, 2025. The stretch of salt marsh and beach from the Matanzas River to the pier is waking up to excellent late fall fishing, with sunny skies and crisp mornings drawing anglers to the water.
Sunrise today was right around 6:54 AM, with sunset expected by 5:28 PM. We’ve got clear, mild conditions on deck, and it's been a string of dry, bright days—ideal for stalking the flats, throwing topwater early, or drifting the deeper holes by midday. According to WJXT News4JAX, patchy fog does hang low at dawn, but it’ll burn off quickly, and highs are pushing into the upper 70s inland, low 70s at the beaches. It’s textbook late-season weather for this part of the Florida coast.
On the tide charts, St. Augustine Beach saw high tide just after sunrise, peaking at around 6:35 AM, dipping to a low right after noon. According to tides4fishing.com, this 6.35-foot high gives us moving water until a 12:43 PM low that’ll drain the creek banks and bring bait pouring off the grass. That’s prime time for redfish and trout to corral mullet into tight pockets. Solunar activity is rated high, so expect a solid bite through the morning and good windows late in the afternoon.
Recent catches throughout the Intracoastal and inlet have been strong. According to Captain Tommy Derringer with Florida Insider Fishing Report, the marsh edges and oyster bars outside Salt Run and back in Moses Creek are holding solid slot redfish, plenty of schoolie trout, and a surprising number of flounder considering the time of year. Most folks are catching reds in the 20-26" range, with a few oversized brutes caught and released. Trout limits have been common, mostly 15-18", with some fat gator trout coming on live offerings at first light. Flounder from 14–18” are showing up on sandy drop-offs, and the odd black drum and bluefish round out coolers.
The bite’s been best on live shrimp and finger mullet—just remember, finger mullet are still sliding south in decent numbers, and reds are keyed in on them wherever the current pushes bait tight to the shorelines—especially on the outgoing tide. For lures, paddle-tail soft plastics in silver mullet or new penny colors on a quarter-ounce jighead are deadly, especially bounced near grass points or oyster bars. Topwaters like Spook Juniors in bone or chartreuse fished at dawn draw big blow-ups, and gold spoons are always a steady choice for both reds and the occasional trout.
If you like artificials, now’s the time for Twitchbaits like the Mirrodine and subsurface jerkbaits. These match the hatch when mullet are schooling and work wonders on trout and snook near bridge pilings and creek mouths. Don’t sleep on the popping cork and shrimp combo for numbers, especially for newer anglers.
For hot spots, Pellicer Flats is a perennial producer this time of year, with solid redfish action over grass beds on the rising tide. The Vilano Bridge edges and deeper holes along the Matanzas River have been peppered with bait and hungry trout. If you’re beachside, try the rock piles by the St. Augustine Inlet or the cuts just south of the pier, where whiting, pompano, and the stray red are in the surf.
That’s your St. Augustine local report for November 19. Thank you for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for more up-to-date reports and tactics from your trusted local source.
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