Fishing reports
14676 reports across all 50 states — current conditions and what's biting.
Fall mullet run arrives as Texas weighs new redfish tag rules
Water along the Galveston-to-Corpus corridor is still running warm for mid-October. NOAA CO-OPS gauges logged 84.6°F at station 8771450, 82.8°F at station 8771341 and 83.5°F at station 8772471 as of October 10. Saltwater Sportsman's look at the annual mullet run notes millions of baitfish pushing out of Gulf bays and estuaries from September into November, the bait surge anglers watch for as the fall bite builds. On the regulations side, Texas Fish & Game Magazine reports Texas Parks and Wildlife is weighing rule changes touching redfish tagging, with existing seasonal harvest closures staying in place for now.
Delaware Bay stripers and tautog turn on as fall push builds
Water temperature at the Ship John Shoal station (NOAA CO-OPS 8537121) reads 66.7°F in Delaware Bay, still warm enough to keep stripers feeding hard through the back bays. Big Dave's Tackle in Cape May reports striped bass mixing with tautog taken off the Cape May Jetties on green crabs and sand fleas, with a scattered mixed bag turning up away from the structure in the greater bay. On the bay side in Wildwood, Hands Too Bait and Tackle says the fishing bounced back strong after the recent storm: quality weakfish are hitting on pink Zooms, bucktails and bloodworms, a few smaller bluefish in the 1- to 3-pound range are mixed in, and stripers have been feeding heavily along the back bay sod banks after dark. Pier 47 Marina and Fin-Atics echo the same pattern elsewhere in the system, with stripers working sod banks and creeks on spook lures, soft plastics and Mag-Darters. One Stop Bait and Tackle adds that tog have been chewing well on green crab and sand flea baits since the last blow passed.
Tautog and stripers heat up as Jersey Shore fall run builds
Water temperatures are holding at 65.7°F off Atlantic City and 66.4°F off Sandy Hook per NOAA CO-OPS, and the Jersey Shore's fall run is building to match. OTW Northern New Jersey calls it "better news on the striper front" as the fall run starts to percolate, and Fisherman's Den reports bass moving in and out of the inlet with the tides, with live eels taking fish off the jetties and surfcasters scoring mixed-size bass on eels and plugs. Further south, Pier 47 Marina reports stripers feeding most nights in the back bays, even in creeks holding only three feet of water, on spook lures, soft-plastic paddle tails and Mag Darters, while Fin-Atics says schoolies to 22 inches are hitting soft plastic jerk baits along the bridges at night, and reports mixed-in bluefish of 1 to 3 pounds working the surf on metals. Tautog have been the week's most consistent producer: Surf City Bait and Tackle and Jingles Bait and Tackle both report steady action around Barnegat Light on green crabs, and One Stop Bait and Tackle says bigger tog, with keepers to 4 pounds, have moved onto the Atlantic City jetty rocks on green crabs and sand fleas. Black sea bass limits are stacking up too, with Mary M IV's Capt. Sam Rescigno putting together a 20-fish haul on bait over jigs. Down in Cape May, Hands Too Bait and Tackle reports weakfish of quality size hitting pink Zooms and bucktails off the rocks in Wildwood, and Fishermans HQ LBI notes fluke still hanging around the bay and inlet even with the season currently closed.
Stripers working the Sandy Hook jetties as fall run builds
Water off Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook is holding at 64.2°F per the NOAA CO-OPS station here, a reading squarely in range for the fall striper push. Fisherman's Den-Northern New Jersey reports striped bass moving in and out of the inlet with the tide, with nice fish coming off the jetties and live eels doing the damage; surfcasters are also picking up mixed-size bass on eels and plugs. Green crabs have been producing keeper tautog from the same jetty structure. A few miles up, Golden Eagle Fishing-Northern New Jersey found bluefish "decent once you found the slammers," alongside a bottom-fishing mix of sea bass, tog and porgies. Closer to the Highlands, Capt Ron's Atlantic Highlands NJ is still grinding out short black sea bass on repeated drops, with the captain hoping the bass bite firms up soon after a run of blown-out Sundays.
Smallmouth, crappie keep the bite going as Delaware Valley cools
Delaware River smallmouth are still producing well north of Lambertville, Dave's Sport Shop in Doylestown reports, while the same shop notes a decent evening crappie bite settling in just before dark on Lake Nockamixon, where fish are holding suspended in 10 to 20 feet of water. Smith's Bait Shop in Leipsic is seeing a similar pattern across Garrisons Lake, Massey Mills, Silver Lake and Lums Pond, where crappie are gathering in the dam spillways and responding well to small jigs tipped with plastics or minnows. On Lake Wallenpaupack, Hyper Striper Sportfishing credits cooling water temperatures with switching the smallmouth bite on after a slower summer stretch. Closer to the coast, a handful of striped bass are still showing above the tide line on the Mullica River, per Allen's Dock, mixed in with other fish working their way upriver as the season turns.
Oregon Coast Settles Into Fall Cooldown Under This Week's New Moon
NOAA's coastal station 9435380 put Oregon's nearshore water at 52.9°F on Saturday, confirming the coast has settled into its typical fall cool-down. This week's new moon drives a stronger spring tide exchange, pushing current speeds up around river mouths and jetty structure where early-fall activity typically concentrates along this stretch.
Florida Keys anglers eye fall turn as summer heat finally breaks
Water temperatures held at 86.5°F and 88°F across two NOAA CO-OPS stations in the Florida Keys this evening, still firmly in late-summer range. ALL IN Key West reports the season's heat is finally starting to break after taking September off, with the captain back on the water and looking ahead to fall and winter trips.
Bottom bite holds on Chesapeake structure as bay cools
Chesapeake Bay water sits at 67.6°F as of this morning's NOAA CO-OPS reading at station 8570283, right in line with the fall cooldown. Regional DE/MD/Chesapeake reports from The Fisherman show the bottom bite carrying the week: boats working ocean structure came back with black sea bass, per Hook 'em and Cook 'em, while Old Inlet Bait and Tackle noted bluefish hitting metal lures on the incoming tide. Smith's Bait Shop reported boats on Delaware Bay were kept in port by rough seas over the same stretch, so most of the week's action came from the crews that found a weather window to get out to structure.
Panhandle Gulf holds summer warmth as fall transition builds
Gulf water along the Destin-Pensacola corridor is still carrying late-summer warmth into the second week of October, with NOAA CO-OPS readings of 78.8°F at station 8729108 and 77.5°F at both station 8729840 and station 8728690 as of October 10. That's warm enough to keep the summer pattern in play even as the calendar turns toward fall. A new moon this week is driving bigger tidal swings than normal, running extra water across the Panhandle's grass flats, bayous, and marsh edges, the kind of structure redfish typically stage around as the fall transition builds.
Snook lock into fall pattern as Sarasota Bay bite heats up
Water temps are holding right around 82 to 83°F across Tampa Bay and Sarasota per NOAA CO-OPS stations 8726520 and 8726724, and that warmth is keeping snook locked into an active fall pattern. Capt. Brandon Naeve at CB's Saltwater Outfitters says the fall snook season "is here," pointing to the warm water as the driver behind an aggressive bite running from Sarasota south toward Fort Myers. Capt. Kelly Kurtz, fishing Sarasota Bay out of CB's this past week, reports an active inshore bite that includes snook and redfish, landing a solid redfish on a recent trip. Per Capt. Rick Grassett's October forecast, snook are moving off the passes and staging around docks and bridges in the ICW, with live shrimp and pilchards producing around structure and smaller lures and flies working the shallow flats.
Flounder closure looms for LA Gulf Coast as new moon sharpens tides
Gulf waters off Louisiana are still running warm for mid-October, with NOAA CO-OPS readings of 77°F at Grand Isle (station 8761724) and 79.3°F off the Mississippi River Delta mouth (station 8760922) recorded Saturday evening. Louisiana Sportsman flags a seasonal checkpoint worth planning around: the recreational and commercial southern flounder season closes October 15 and stays shut through November 30, leaving only a few days left for anglers working the bayous and bay mouths before the harvest break.
Warm Water Keeps Redfish, Snook Active on Texas Gulf Coast
Water temperatures across Galveston-Corpus tide stations are holding in the low-to-mid 80s (82.2-84.7°F), unusually warm for mid-October and a sign the fall cool-down hasn't taken hold yet. That lingering warmth is keeping inshore fish active: per Salt Strong, anglers working soft plastic jerk lures after switching off topwater plugs turned a slow stretch into a quick redfish-and-snook slam this week. With a new moon tonight, expect stronger-than-average tidal exchange to sharpen the afternoon bite.
Cooling water sets up fall transition around SF Bay and Bodega
Water temperatures along the SF Bay and Bodega stretch are sitting in the mid-50s this week, with our two tide stations reading 54.9°F and 56.3°F as of late morning today (October 10). That's typical cooling for the shift into mid-fall, arriving alongside a new moon, which tends to sharpen tidal exchange and current speed through the Bay's channels and around Bodega Head. High tide builds through late morning into early afternoon at both stations, roughly 11:11 AM and 12:03 PM respectively, giving anglers a clean window to work the push before the afternoon ebb sets in.
Columbia and Puget Sound rivers settle into fall's cooling rhythm
Washington's Columbia and Puget Sound river systems are moving deeper into their fall transition this week. Shorter days and cooling water typically shift freshwater fish into steadier, cold-season feeding windows across the region's rivers and tributary mouths. WDFW's statewide creel and stocking program remains the primary tracker for site-level catch activity on Washington's rivers and lakes through October, as the department continues its seasonal angler interviews at access sites alongside lake and stream stocking runs. With the new moon settling in, low-light periods around dawn and dusk carry extra weight for anglers planning trips this week.
Fall Cooldown Sets Up Trout and Smallmouth on Maine Rivers
Early October sits at the heart of the fall transition on Maine's Kennebec and Penobscot systems, with surface temperatures sliding through the fifties and pushing fish into the more aggressive, predictable feeding patterns typical of this stretch of the calendar. Smallmouth bass key on this window hardest, schooling tighter and feeding heavily to bulk up before temperatures bottom out for winter, while brook trout and brown trout push into faster, well oxygenated water as nights cool. Lake trout holding in deeper basins begin working shallower as summer's thermal layering breaks down. This week's new moon adds a modest low-light edge to early and late sessions.
Rangeley region trout show early fall spawning colors
Trout across the Rangeley Lakes and Androscoggin headwaters are already showing spawning colors, per Mainely Fly Fishing, which also reported a strong dusk hatch on Kennebago Lake in the weeks leading into fall. With the region settling into its typical autumn transition and this week's new moon limiting moonlight, low-light windows at dawn and dusk are where the action concentrates right now.
Fall turnover sets the pace for Moosehead Lake and the upper Penobscot
Moosehead Lake and the upper Penobscot corridor are settling into fall turnover, the stretch when surface water cools enough to mix with the deeper layers that held fish apart from the shallows through summer. That mixing is typically the strongest trigger of the fall season for Lake Trout, which push out of deep summer thermoclines onto mid-depth structure and points as baitfish scatter. Brook Trout follow the same cooling cue into feeder-stream mouths and shoreline flats, while Smallmouth Bass tighten onto rock and gravel structure and feed hard before the eventual cold-water slowdown. This is one of the more reliable windows of the open-water season across central Maine's big lakes.
Fall Run Finds Its Rhythm in Narragansett Bay
NOAA CO-OPS readings put Narragansett Bay water temperature at 63°F this morning, still well within fall-run range. Saltwater Edge Blog (RI) reports the bay is settling down after this past weekend's nor'easter, with water clarity needing a few more days to fully clean up in some spots. Today's New Moon brings stronger tidal swings, with low tide across the bay's monitored stations falling in the early afternoon.
Fall striper push builds along the Jersey coast as Delaware Bay cools
NOAA's Delaware Bay tide station (8537121) read 66.6°F this afternoon, with the next low due at 4:51 PM local time. Up the coast, Blue Chip Sportfishing says striped bass season is in full swing, and Fishermans HQ in LBI reports a mixed bag of stripers, bluefish, and out-of-season fluke along the beaches, with tautog among the better targets right now. At Atlantic Highlands, Capt Ron's crew has been finding steady black sea bass action on the drop, working through plenty of shorts to reach keeper-size fish.
Fall run builds on the Jersey Shore as sea bass, tog turn on
Water temps are holding steady in the mid-60s at NOAA CO-OPS stations 8534720 and 8536110, and the fall run is starting to percolate along the Jersey Shore. OTW Northern New Jersey reports better news on the striper front this week as migrating fish push into local waters. Fishermans HQ LBI notes a mixed surf bag of kingfish, blowfish, bluefish, a few striped bass, and out-of-season fluke, with tautog standing out as one of the better targets right now. Offshore, Capt Ron's Atlantic Highlands boats have put anglers on a good sea bass bite all week, with keeper-sized fish filling the pool on recent trips.
Fall striper run builds in Raritan Bay as sea bass stay active
Water at NOAA's Sandy Hook station (station 8531680) is reading 63.5°F this morning, still in the range that typically keeps the Raritan Bay fall run moving. Capt Ron's out of Atlantic Highlands has logged a stretch of good bottom fishing this week, with Friday's trip producing a strong all-day sea bass bite and the Wednesday and Thursday trips adding steady drops despite plenty of short fish mixed in with keepers. Just up the shore, OTW's Northern New Jersey report flagged better striper news this week as the fall run starts to percolate along this stretch.
Delaware River and Pine Barrens turn the fall corner
Early October marks the turn into New Jersey's fall freshwater season on the Delaware River and across the Pine Barrens' cedar-stained ponds and streams. Cooling nights and shortening days are pushing surface temperatures down from summer highs, the shift anglers wait for after a slower late-summer bite. This week's new moon keeps nights darker and the river quieter after dark, a detail that favors low-light feeding windows on the slower pools and backwaters this stretch is known for.
Red drum keep rolling through Pamlico Sound and Cape Lookout waters
Red drum are carrying the fall bite across the Pamlico Sound–Cape Lookout corridor. Along the Pamlico and Neuse rivers, Donald of Custom Marine Fabrication tells Fisherman's Post (NC) that red drum are the main focus right now, with fish showing throughout the river and bait pushed up around New Bern. Further south at Topsail and Sneads Ferry, Nathan of East Coast Sports reports a run of slot-sized red drum mixed with some over-slot fish holding in the surf and around the piers. Toward Cape Lookout at Swansboro and Emerald Isle, Morgan of The Reel Outdoors notes scattered red drum on the beachfront alongside bluefish, sea mullet, and pompano, with Spanish mackerel and bluefish still working the surf. Water temperatures sit in the low 70s, 71.8°F at one Pamlico-area NOAA CO-OPS tide station and 72.9°F at the other, warm enough to keep bait and predators active through the sound.
Redfish, snook turning on as Gulf Coast bays hold summer warmth
Water temps across the three Galveston Bay-area CO-OPS stations are running 82.4-84.7°F this morning, warm enough that bay fish are still behaving like it's late summer rather than mid-October. Saltwater Sportsman reports the fall mullet run is now pushing millions of baitfish out of Gulf Coast bays and estuaries, the kind of bait movement that pulls predators up onto moving water. On the lure side, Salt Strong describes switching from hard plugs to soft plastic jerk lures to turn a dead stretch of water into a quick inshore slam with redfish and snook mixed in.