Fall bass bite building as Erie walleye stay red-hot

What's biting

What's next

Over the next 2-3 days, expect flows to hold elevated on the downstream gauge (01358000 at 8,170 cfs) while the upstream site (01357500) sits closer to seasonal normal at 1,910 cfs — that gap suggests recent rain or a release event moving through the system, and river anglers should watch for continued high, possibly discolored water before it settles.

The 71°F reading at 01357500 is squarely in the fall-transition window for Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes freshwater fisheries. If that trend continues cooling into the low 60s over the coming weeks, expect the pattern Tactical Bassin describes — bass sliding from shallow grass flats and dock structure toward baitfish schools in open water — to intensify. Anglers targeting bass right now should lean into the technique window: dock and flat fishing early, moving to reaction baits around suspended baitfish as afternoons warm.

On Lake Erie, Brookdog Fishing Co.'s most recent report (through 9/13) has walleye still cooperating consistently, with the captain increasingly jigging rather than trolling — a technique shift worth tracking as it often signals fish are relating tighter to structure as water cools. Smallmouth action was also described as picking up in that same report, which typically strengthens through late September in this region as bass stage before the deeper fall/winter pattern sets in.

Weekend planning: with no tide to work around in freshwater, the flow gauge is the key variable — if the downstream site holds above 8,000 cfs, favor slower, structure-tight presentations and expect reduced clarity; a drop back toward the upstream reading's more moderate flow would open up clearer-water techniques. Watch for NY DEC's Fishing Line to shift its seasonal messaging toward black bass and walleye programming as it has historically done moving into fall, which would corroborate whether this transition is arriving on schedule.

No saltwater or tidal component applies to this freshwater region, so timing here is governed by temperature trend and flow rather than tide stage.

Context

A 71°F reading in mid-September is consistent with a typical fall cool-down already underway in Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes waters, and it lines up with the seasonal arc NY DEC's Fishing Line has been tracking all year — from Free Fishing Days and black bass season openers in early summer, through warm-water panfish action in the heat of August, toward the cooler-water bass and walleye focus that historically dominates the agency's fall coverage. Nothing in the available reports suggests this transition is running early or late; it reads as an on-schedule shift.

The Lake Erie walleye program described by Brookdog Fishing Co. has been a consistent thread across their reports since mid-August, with the captain noting the bite has stayed strong through crowded launches and variable weather all season — this is more a continuation of a strong summer-into-fall pattern than a new development. The move toward jigging over trolling, mentioned in the most recent report, is a subtler signal that fish behavior is starting to shift with the season.

We don't have direct historical baseline data (prior-year flow or temp readings) in this feed to say definitively whether the current 1,910 cfs and 8,170 cfs readings are above or below normal for mid-September, so that comparison should be treated as an open question rather than a claim — anglers with local knowledge of these two gauges are better positioned to judge relative to a typical year.