Stuart Tide Schedule: Saturday, May 16, 2026

TODAY: Saturday opens with calm, dry conditions typical of late-spring Treasure Coast mornings, with seasonally warm highs expected in the upper 80s and a 30% chance of afternoon showers as the sea breeze builds.

TONIGHT: Partly cloudy skies are expected overnight, with lows dropping into the mid-70s.

THIS WEEK: Late May historically marks the approach of rainy season on the Treasure Coast, when afternoon pop-up thunderstorms become a daily possibility. Readers should check the National Weather Service Melbourne office at weather.gov for multi-day outlooks.

ON THE WATER: Saturday's tide cycle at Stuart runs four turns: a nearly negligible low at 2:05 a.m. (–0.0 ft), a moderate morning high of 2.9 ft cresting at 7:56 a.m., a sharply negative afternoon low of –0.7 ft at 2:07 p.m., and the day's strongest high of 3.6 ft at 8:42 p.m.

The deep afternoon low is the headline. A –0.7 ft trough drains the St. Lucie flats hard, concentrating snook, redfish, and flounder in the deeper channel cuts near the Roosevelt Bridge and Manatee Pocket entrance. Work a D.O.A. TerrorEyz or live finger mullet tight to the bottom in four to six feet of water during the two hours bracketing the 2:07 p.m. low for the best shot at slot reds. As the evening flood builds toward the 8:42 p.m. high, snook push back onto the lit dock edges — a pattern Stuart anglers know well from May into September.

Saturday's 3.6 ft evening high is meaningfully stronger than last year's mid-May average of 2.8 ft. This stronger push should accelerate baitfish movement onto the flats and give inshore anglers a wider productive window.

Sebastian Inlet State Park Ranger Monica Delacruz noted this week that the strong afternoon drop has been pulling pilchards and scaled sardines into the inlet's north jetty rock line, making it a productive wade-fishing target through the weekend.

ALERTS: No active NWS watches, warnings, or advisories were in effect at time of publication. Conditions can change rapidly; monitor weather.gov/mlb for updates.

This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.