Fishing forecast by species
Redfish fishing forecast today
Redfish are the most forgiving fish on this list: they keep feeding through winter and tolerate a wide range of water. What moves their score is tide and wind. This page ranks spots by today's conditions for reds; it can't tell you where the fish are.
Best spots for redfish right now
Scored 24 of 24 spots · Oct 21, 5:08 PM ET- Big Bend · water 74°F · down 6°F this week88Prime
Tide: 2.4 ft range · 2 in daylight
- Big Bend · water 82°F · down 6°F this week88Prime
Tide: 2.3 ft range · 2 in daylight
- Georgia Coast · water 75°F · down 7°F this week85Prime
Tide: 5.7 ft range · 2 in daylight
- First Coast · water 73°F · down 7°F this week84Prime
Tide: 5 ft range · 2 in daylight
- Space Coast · water 79°F · down 4°F this week84Prime
Tide: 2.8 ft range · 2 in daylight
- Nature Coast · water 74°F · down 5°F this week83Prime
Wind: 7 mph NE, gusts 19
- Treasure Coast · water 81°F · down 4°F this week83Prime
Tide: 2.7 ft range · 2 in daylight
- Tampa Bay & Pinellas · water 80°F · down 5°F this week82Prime
- 9.JupiterGold Coast · water 84°F · down 2°F this week81Prime
Wind: 10 mph N, gusts 20
- Tampa Bay & Pinellas · water 80°F · down 5°F this week80Prime
Wind: 8 mph NE, gusts 20
- Sarasota Coast · water 80°F · down 5°F this week78Good
Sky: 1% rain chance
- Paradise Coast · water 85°F · down 4°F this week78Good
Sky: 0% rain chance
- 13.Key LargoThe Florida Keys · water 83°F · down 4°F this week78Good
Sky: 1% rain chance
- 14.Sabine PassTexas Gulf Coast · water 78°F · down 6°F this week77Good
Wind: 6 mph E, gusts 14
- 15.HomosassaNature Coast · water 74°F · down 5°F this week77Good
Show the other 9 spots
- Manasota Key76 Good
- Perdido Key75 Good
- Apalachicola74 Good
- Orange Beach73 Good
- Pascagoula73 Good
- Pensacola Beach73 Good
- Cape San Blas72 Good
- Slidell70 Good
- Flagler Beach66 Good
This ranks a spread of spots along the coast, not every town. Open any spot for its full seven-day outlook. Scores are conditions only: they can’t tell you where the fish are, and water temperature is a model reading, not a measurement at the dock.
What moves the redfish score
Tide pushes them onto the flats
Reds work the edges of oyster bars, grass flats and mangrove shorelines, and a rising tide puts them shallow. Tide movement is the biggest single piece of the score.
A wide temperature range
Redfish keep feeding through Florida winters, slower but still catchable, so the water-temperature curve here is wide and only very cold or very hot water pulls the score down. These ranges are rules of thumb, not published thresholds.
Wind matters for sight fishing
Strong wind chops up shallow water, hides the fish and makes a flat hard to fish. Wind counts for more here than for snook or tarpon.
Rules and seasons are separate from conditions and change by region and by order. Florida’s are on FWC’s redfish page ; other states set their own. Our own write-up: Redfish in Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay and Pine Island Sound.
Common questions
Do redfish bite in cold water?
Yes, more slowly. In cold water they stack into deeper holes, canals and residential basins, and a slow presentation near the bottom is the usual answer. That is why the temperature curve for redfish is wide.
Does this tell me the redfish limit or season?
No. It scores conditions only. In Florida, redfish are managed in regional zones with different vessel limits, and one region allows no harvest, so check FWC's red drum page for the zone you're fishing. Other states set their own rules.
What makes a spot rank high for redfish?
A strong tide swing, light-to-moderate wind and water in a comfortable range. Any one of those can be missing and the spot still ranks, but a hard blow or a flat tide pulls it down quickly.
Other fish
Salty Forecast is a free hyperlocal weather app for the coast. These are planning aids built from forecast data, tide predictions and a water-temperature model, not guarantees: fish don’t read forecasts.