Lighthouse Park, St. Augustine Fishing

Lighthouse Park is a neighborhood park with a boat ramp and a long fishing pier on Salt Run, the quiet tidal lagoon between the streets of Anastasia Island and Anastasia State Park. It is the simplest way to fish Salt Run without a boat.

• The city's Lighthouse Pier, posted as a fishing pier
• Redfish, seatrout, flounder and black drum
• Visitors from the St. Augustine Inlet, such as bluefish and jacks
• Public restrooms, picnic tables, grills and water fountains
• Limited parking, so arrive early

The park is on Ocean Vista Avenue on Anastasia Island, St. Augustine, on the west shore of Salt Run, with Anastasia State Park across the water.

• Parking: limited; the city counts about 12 trailer spaces by the ramp and 15 to 25 more near the entrance, with overflow trailer parking along Red Cox Drive
• The small lot on the west side of the St. Augustine Yacht Club, next door, is private
• Cost: the ramp is on St. Johns County's list of free ramps, and no fee is listed for the pier
• Opening hours: dawn to dusk
• The pier: a long, narrow wooden pier that starts from the beach by the dinghy racks, just north of the ramp
• The park reopened on September 21, 2026, after the city renovated its playground

Salt Run sits just inside the St. Augustine Inlet, so it mixes lagoon fish with ocean visitors.

• Spring (Mar-May): reds and trout nosing along the shallow edges, black drum, passing bluefish
• Summer (Jun-Aug): flounder on the sandy patches, snapper around the pier pilings, jacks and ladyfish slashing through bait
• Fall (Sep-Nov): the lagoon fills with finger mullet, and redfish and flounder follow; the best months of the year
• Winter (Dec-Feb): sheepshead and drum around pilings, seatrout on the warmer afternoons

Keep it light: a 6 1/2 to 7 foot spinning outfit with 10 lb braid and a 15 to 20 lb leader.

• Trout and reds: a live shrimp or a finger mullet under a popping cork, set 2 to 3 feet deep
• Black drum: a cracked blue crab piece or peeled shrimp on the bottom beside the pier
• Flounder: a mud minnow on a jig head, hopped slowly across sand
• Sheepshead: a fiddler crab on a short leader, straight down beside the pilings
• Blues and jacks: a small gold spoon cast along the channel when bait shows
• Bring a landing net with a long handle

Salt Run fills and drains through the St. Augustine Inlet, with two high and two low tides a day.

• The last of the flood brings clean inlet water, which trout and reds like
• The early ebb pulls shrimp and small fish off the shallows past the pier
• Low tide shows the shape of the bottom, so learn it then
• Glassy mornings are the time for topwater and popping corks
• A hard northeast wind chops up the lagoon and clouds the water

A calm lagoon beside a working boat ramp.

• Boats come and go all day: stay off the ramp and its floating dock, which are for boaters, and fishing there is not allowed
• Watch for wakes and boat traffic along Salt Run
• The pier's posted rules: no swimming, no diving or jumping off, and no bicycles or skateboards
• Afternoon thunderstorms in summer: pack up at the first flash
• Evenings bring mosquitoes and biting midges
• Level ground and a long, flat, railed pier make it easy going

The city and county list simple facilities for a neighborhood park and ramp, which is all a session on the pier needs.

• Public restrooms
• A boat ramp with a floating dock, for boaters
• Picnic tables, grills, a bench and water fountains
• Tennis courts and play equipment for the family
• Limited parking, shared with boat trailers
• No bait shop is listed at the park, so bring bait with you

• Come early: parking is tight and boaters fill it on weekends
• The final two hours of the flood usually bring the cleanest water to the pier
• Fall, when finger mullet pour into Salt Run, is the time for redfish and flounder
• Fish from the pier only: the city's rules keep anglers off the ramp dock and the beach
• Anastasia State Park's side of Salt Run, across the water, makes a good second stop

The City of St. Augustine runs Lighthouse Park, its pier and the boat ramp, and St. Johns County lists the park too.

• Open dawn to dusk; no overnight parking, alcohol, open fires or camping, and no commercial activity on the city dock, pier or beach
• Fishing is allowed from the pier only, not from the city dock or the beach
• Anyone fishing needs a Florida saltwater license unless exempt
• If you paddle out, obey any posted manatee and boat speed zones
• Look up the FWC's current size, bag and season limits (myfwc.com) before you keep a fish