Fishing reports
15732 reports across all 50 states — current conditions and what's biting.
Sacramento-Delta Settles Into Its Early Fall Transition
Late September puts the Sacramento-Delta into its early fall transition, the seasonal turn when cooling surface temperatures and shorter days push baitfish out of the shallow flats and reshuffle where fish stage through the system's channels, cuts and dead-end sloughs. This is typically the stretch when anglers start working the deeper edges where current concentrates baitfish once the afternoon sun loses its grip on the shallows, rather than fishing the skinny water that produced through summer.
Colorado tailwaters turn technical as low, clear flows hold into fall
Colorado's West Slope tailwaters are running low and clear heading into late September, with Crystal Fly Shop describing fish keyed on small offerings — Rainbow Warriors, Sparklewing RS2s and lingering Tricos on the Roaring Fork, where voluntary closure status has swung on and off through late summer. The Frying Pan remains cold and gin-clear, with a mixed hatch of Green Drakes, PMDs, BWOs and midges keeping fish selective, per the same shop. The Colorado River below Glenwood Springs is still murky and under a voluntary closure after recent monsoon rain, while the Crystal River's upper water stays open and fishing well even as its lower stretch remains restricted. Colorado Trout Hunters notes their migratory Brown Trout push on the Dream Stream has wound down for the season, with fish moving back toward the reservoir.
Fall transition settles over Toledo Bend and the Sabine border
Toledo Bend and the Sabine River border are sliding into the fall transition this week, the seasonal shift Wired2Fish's Fall Fishing 101 series pegs to shortening days and cooling nights: weeds begin dying back, oxygen drops in the shallowest cover, and baitfish start balling up for the season ahead. Fishing the Midwest's Bob Jensen and Mike Frisch describe the same window pushing fish toward whatever live, green weed growth remains, since it holds oxygen and bait longer than the rest of the flat.
Driftless streamer season kicks in as fall settles over WI trout water
MidCurrent's fly-tying roundup this week featured Root River Rod Co's go-to Driftless streamer, a pine-squirrel jig built to bounce rocky bottom in tight, technical water without hanging up. It's a well-timed pick: late September marks the start of the fall transition on Wisconsin's Driftless Area trout streams, the seasonal window when spring-fed water shifts from summer patterns toward streamer-forward fishing.
Fall Transition Arrives at Mosquito and Pymatuning
Late September marks the start of the fall transition on Ohio's larger inland reservoirs, and Mosquito and Pymatuning sit right in that window now. Cooling surface water is pushing baitfish into tighter schools and thinning out the remaining weed growth, the pattern that typically gets gamefish feeding harder as they bulk up for winter. This is the stretch where main-lake points, creek channels, and the last stands of green weeds start outproducing summer's deeper offshore structure, and the shift tends to accelerate through early October as nights cool further.
Iron Range lakes turn toward fall as weed lines start to thin
Boundary Waters and Iron Range waters are entering the fall transition this week, the point in the season when weeds start dying back and baitfish push toward whatever green cover survives. Fishing the Midwest flags this shift as the trigger that pulls predator fish out of open water and into tightening cover, a pattern that plays out across Midwest lakes through late September and October.
Fall cooldown begins shaping Tahoe and Truckee fishing
Late September marks the start of the fall cooldown on Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River, as shortening days and cooling nights begin pulling surface water down through the column. That shift typically triggers the fall transition across Sierra Nevada freshwater fisheries: baitfish push toward the shallows and predator activity picks up during low-light hours at dawn and dusk.
Fall turnover sets the stage at Texoma and Eufaula
Late September marks the seasonal turn on Oklahoma's big reservoirs. As surface waters cool, baitfish begin pushing off summer haunts and schooling tighter, and predator activity typically builds through the transition. Both Texoma's open main-lake flats and Eufaula's timbered creek arms enter this window at roughly the same pace each year, with the shift accelerating through October as nights cool further.
Fall cooldown reshapes South Dakota's Missouri River and Black Hills waters
South Dakota's Missouri River reservoir system and the cold-water streams of the Black Hills are settling into the fall transition this week, with the waxing gibbous moon favoring low-light feeding windows around dawn and dusk. Cooling surface temperatures are pushing baitfish into tighter, more predictable groups, and as Fishing the Midwest's Bob Jensen and Mike Frisch describe for the broader upper Midwest this time of year, dying weed growth concentrates both forage and gamefish around whatever green vegetation remains — a pattern that tracks closely with what's unfolding on South Dakota's own waters right now.
Arizona's Colorado and Salt Rivers Ease Into Fall Transition
Late September marks the turn toward fall on Arizona's Colorado and Salt River systems. Days are shortening and overnight lows are dropping, which typically starts pulling water temperatures down off their late-summer highs. That kind of cooling usually shifts feeding activity toward the low-light hours, with dawn and dusk becoming the more productive windows as afternoons stay warm through midday.
Fall transition settles onto Alabama's Tennessee and Coosa Rivers
The Tennessee and Coosa River systems are sliding into the early fall transition this week, the seasonal window when cooling water pushes baitfish into tighter schools and moves predator activity away from deep summer holding water toward flats and creek mouths where that forage concentrates. Weed growth typical of late-summer flats begins dying back through this stretch of the calendar, further concentrating baitfish and the fish that follow them.
Lake Champlain smallmouth ease into the fall feed
Lake Champlain is settling into its early-fall rhythm, the stretch when smallmouth bass start keying harder on baitfish as weed growth in the shallows begins its seasonal die-back. Wired2Fish's fall-transition breakdown lays out the mechanism well: as forage schools tighten up and shallow cover thins, bass shift off scattered summer holding spots and start following bait. That shift is just beginning to take hold across northern smallmouth fisheries at this latitude, Champlain included, though anglers should check current Vermont fishing regulations before keeping fish this time of year.
New River and Ohio ease into the fall transition
Late September has West Virginia's New River and Ohio River freshwater fisheries entering the early fall transition, the stretch when cooling water starts pulling baitfish into tighter schools and resetting how gamefish feed. The waxing gibbous moon this week favors early-morning and dusk windows, when low light and cooling surface conditions typically draw the most consistent activity on river systems this time of year.
Fall transition takes hold at Guntersville and Wheeler
Lake Guntersville and Wheeler are sliding into the fall transition this week as cooler nights and shorter days push baitfish into tighter schools, per Tactical Bassin's fall-transition coverage. Wired2Fish's Fall Fishing 101 piece notes that as weeds begin dying off and oxygen drops in the shallows, gamefish shift toward the healthiest remaining cover to feed before winter sets in.
Flathead and Bitterroot waters shift toward fall's low-light bite
Water across the Flathead Lake and Bitterroot system is entering the early-fall transition, the point in the season when cooling surface temperatures start pushing feeding activity toward the margins of the day. Field & Stream's latest gear roundup notes that brown trout shift into peak activity right around dusk and dawn as the season turns, a timing pattern worth building a trip around on this stretch of water. This week's waxing gibbous moon keeps a good amount of light in the sky overnight, which tends to spread that low-light window a little wider rather than concentrating it right at sunset.
Snake River steelhead run arrives at historic lows
This year's Columbia and Snake river steelhead run is on pace to be the smallest ever recorded, per Hatch Magazine, with fisheries managers counting just over 52,000 fish past Bonneville Dam since tallies began July 1. For anglers working Idaho's Snake and Salmon systems, that number matters more than any single day's weather — it means fewer fish moving upstream into these waters this season, and it's the dominant factor shaping what to expect on the water right now.
Fall transition takes hold on Iowa's rivers
Iowa's freshwater rivers are sliding into the fall transition this week, the seasonal shift Fishing the Midwest describes as the point when dying weeds and dropping oxygen push baitfish out of thinning cover and onto whatever deeper, still-green structure remains. Wired 2 Fish's autumn primer notes gamefish key hard on that baitfish movement right now, feeding heavily to pack on reserves before winter sets in. That combination, cooling water and concentrated forage, is the story on the Iowa and Des Moines Rivers heading into the weekend.
Fall Feeding Shift Takes Hold Across Vermont's Rivers and Lakes
Vermont's freshwater fisheries are settling into the fall transition, with cooling water pushing baitfish into tighter schools and predators keying in behind them. Per The Fisherman — New England Freshwater, anglers working other Northeast rivers this week found northern pike and crappie active as water levels ran low, a pattern that lines up with what the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain typically see as the season turns. With a waxing gibbous moon building toward full, low-light windows are shaping up as the best bet through the coming days.
Cooling Water Signals Fall Trout Window on Cumberland Tailwater
The Cumberland River tailwater and Lake Cumberland are entering the fall transition, the stretch of the year when cooling surface water and shorter days pull trout out of their deep summer holds and push baitfish toward the shallows. This tailwater fishery is known for holding both stocked rainbow trout and brown trout, and the seasonal shift typically improves feeding activity as water temperatures come off their summer highs. On the lake proper, the same cooling trend breaks down the summer thermocline, scattering baitfish and drawing predator fish up in the water column.
Early Fall Transition Arrives on the Tennessee River Chain
Chickamauga and Watts Bar are moving into the early fall transition this week. Regional outdoors coverage, including Wired2Fish's seasonal fall-fishing breakdown and Tactical Bassin's recent fall-pattern posts, points to weed die-off and tightening baitfish schools as the trigger that resets feeding windows heading into October. That shift tends to concentrate gamefish activity around baitfish rather than scattering it across open water, which is the main thing worth planning trips around on this stretch of the river chain right now.
Fall weed transition sets the pattern to watch at Mille Lacs
Minnesota lakes are entering the fall weed transition this week. Fishing the Midwest reports that as shallow vegetation dies back across the state's lakes, baitfish and the gamefish that follow them push toward weed beds still holding green, living growth, since oxygen drops fastest where the dying weeds sit. That's the pattern worth tracking heading into the final days of September: where the healthy green edges are is where the activity concentrates, and it typically rewards anglers who work those edges methodically rather than running a milk run of spots.
Winnipesaukee's Fall Transition Kicks Off as Baitfish School Up
Lake Winnipesaukee is settling into its fall transition, the seasonal shift when weed growth fades and baitfish pull tight into schools, pushing predator fish into an active feeding pattern. Nearby New England freshwater fisheries are already showing it: per The Fisherman's New England Freshwater column, an angler working the Merrimack River this week landed five Northern Pike along with a handful of Crappie as baitfish balled up for the season, a sign of the same cool-down now moving across Winnipesaukee's coves and points.
Sam Rayburn guide says the best fishing is still to come
East Texas is holding onto summer heat this week, and a guide who works Sam Rayburn Reservoir well into the colder months tells B.A.S.S. News that late September is typically the slow lead-in before the region's real payoff stretch. Per that report, more big East Texas fish come off the water between October and December than at any other time of year, with the guide already looking past the current heat toward that window. No validated water temperature or flow readings are available for Toledo Bend or Sam Rayburn this week, so treat conditions as transitional rather than confirmed.
Fall transition takes hold on the Upper Mississippi pools
The Mississippi River pools between Clinton and Dubuque are settling into their fall transition this week, the seasonal window when cooling water pushes baitfish into tight schools and sends gamefish toward the healthiest remaining weed edges, per Fishing the Midwest's early-fall coverage of the wider Upper Midwest. Under a waxing gibbous moon, low-light periods around dawn and dusk are worth prioritizing as that shift accelerates.