Fishing reports
15732 reports across all 50 states — current conditions and what's biting.
Delaware River rebounds as fall Crappie bite ignites
Delaware River conditions near the Riegelsville stretch turned a corner late in September, according to The Fisherman — NJ/DE Freshwater, a welcome shift after a rough summer stretch on the mainstem. Elsewhere in the region, Crappie fishing has fully flipped into fall mode: the same report notes anglers stringing quality Crappie out of the Nanticoke River on twister jigs fished under floats, with the pattern building through the back half of September.
Montana Rivers Reopen As Late-Summer Restrictions Ease
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks lifted the angling closure on Big Hole River Section 5 this week, from the Tony Schoonen fishing access site down to the confluence with the Beaverhead, after weekend rain boosted flows enough to meet the agency's reopening threshold. The Section 1 closure upstream stays in place for now. It's part of a broader pattern MT FWP has been reporting through late August and into September: as water temperatures came down, the agency also lifted hoot-owl restrictions on the Smith and Sun Rivers, plus stretches of the upper Clark Fork, the lower Bitterroot, and Silver Bow Creek in Region 2. For anglers who sat out the hottest weeks of summer waiting on afternoon fishing closures, that's the headline this week. Cooler nights and the fall transition are doing exactly what they're supposed to do, opening water back up rather than closing it down.
Snook shift into fall pattern as Gulf Coast tarpon season winds down
Gulf Coast water is still summer-warm, reading 84.2°F at one NOAA CO-OPS station and 87.6°F at another early this morning, and that heat is exactly what's driving the season's hand-off. Sport Fishing Mag's read on the fall transition holds here: as days shorten, Gulf snook begin pushing toward their winter holding areas, and swimbaits like a Z-Man Mulletron or Diezel MinnowZ worked over deeper water are the go-to as fish key on the shift. That tracks with what Naples Offshore Fishing Charters has logged out of Naples waters, where tarpon action carried strong through the warm months before fish start thinning out this time of year. One water-quality note worth flagging: Florida Sea Grant scientists recently detected a rare 'rust tide' alga bloom in Charlotte Harbor, a different organism than red tide but one worth checking local advisories for before working that stretch of coast.
Kenai and Interior Rivers Ease Into the Fall Transition
Late September marks the seasonal pivot for the Kenai region and interior Alaska river systems, as shortening daylight and cooling water push these drainages out of the high-flow, glacially turbid stretch of mid-summer and into a clearer, more settled fall pattern. Under this week's waxing gibbous moon, feeding windows tend to concentrate around dawn and dusk rather than spreading evenly through the day, a rhythm worth building trips around this time of year.
Fluke and Bluefish Hold Steady as Chesapeake Slides Into Fall
Water sat at 71.8°F off the Delmarva coast this morning, still warm enough to keep the late-summer bite running. Fluke fishing has stayed productive through the DE/MD/Chesapeake corridor — Eric Burnley reported a 13-pound flounder caught out of Lewes the week of September 14, and Smith's Bait Shop in Port Mahon is still boxing bluefish, croaker and flounder off structure. Wind has been the bigger story lately, per Burnley, canceling more open-water trips than the fish did.
Gulf of Alaska Cools Toward Fall Fishing Window
Water in the Gulf of Alaska continues its steady fall cooldown, with NOAA's Seward tide station (9455500) reading 49.3°F and the Juneau gauge (9452210) close behind at 48.2°F as of early Tuesday morning. The two readings sit close together, meaning conditions are running consistent across the region rather than diverging by pocket. A waxing gibbous moon this week means stronger-than-average tidal exchange, worth factoring into any trip timed around current.
Albie Fever Grips the Connecticut Shore as Fall Bite Turns
Long Island Sound's water is splitting east-to-west for the moment: NOAA CO-OPS station 8461490 off New London reads 66.6°F this morning while station 8467150 near Bridgeport holds at 71.1°F, a signal of the Sound's slow slide into fall. That cooling is drawing exactly the bite anglers are working. J&B Tackle in Connecticut reports false albacore "everywhere from Black Point to Fishers Island," with epoxy jigs and tins producing at Avery Point, Sarah's Ledge, Ocean Beach, Harkness, Seaside, Niantic Bay and Black Point. Striped bass are stacked on bait but haven't started blitzing, per the same shop, and bluefish are active from snappers to gators. Aboard the Tartan II, bottom fishing for black sea bass has stayed strong while fluke wind down with the season's close.
Columbia steelhead run hits historic low as fall shift begins
This year's Columbia and Snake river steelhead run is shaping up to be historically bad, per Hatch Magazine: fisheries managers have tallied just over 52,000 fish above Bonneville Dam since counts began July 1, making 2026 the smallest recorded migration on the system. That sets the backdrop for Columbia and Puget Sound river anglers this week. With no fresh buoy, gauge, or tide readings in this cycle, conditions read from the broader picture instead — a waxing gibbous moon overhead and freshwater systems moving into their fall transition.
Fall transition takes hold on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley
The fall transition is settling in across Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley this week: weed lines are thinning, baitfish are schooling tighter, and gamefish are shifting to follow them. Wired2Fish's fall-transition coverage this week tracks crappie pulling off summer cover and following bait toward feeding areas as water cools — the same shift these reservoirs go through this time of year. Moon is in a waxing gibbous phase heading toward full, which typically nudges low-light feeding windows toward evening and early morning.
Pike and crappie signal fall's arrival on Connecticut's inland waters
Connecticut's inland season has entered its early fall transition, with dying weed growth and schooling baitfish reshaping how fish feed. At Jerry's Bait and Tackle in Milford, shop staff report steady traffic for live shiners as after-school and weekend anglers keep working ponds and lakes for warmwater gamefish. The Fisherman — New England Freshwater notes quality regional action on the Merrimack River, where one angler's single day on lower, late-summer flows produced five Northern Pike and a handful of Crappie, a pattern typical of this stretch heading into fall.
Fall transition begins for Illinois River and Lake Michigan
Illinois anglers are heading into the fall transition, the seasonal shift when cooling water breaks up summer weed growth and pushes baitfish into tighter schools. Wired 2 Fish's current fall-pattern coverage notes crappie sliding off summer weed edges toward deeper creek and channel structure as the transition sets in, a shift that typically plays out on the Illinois River and its connected backwaters around this point in the calendar too.
Fall Transition Arrives at Smith Mountain Lake and Buggs Island
Smith Mountain Lake and Buggs Island are moving into the fall transition, the seasonal shift when cooling surface water kills off weed growth and pushes baitfish into tight, moving schools. Wired 2 Fish's rundown of the transition this week describes crappie keying on those baitfish balls once the shift takes hold, rather than holding on isolated summer cover, a pattern that plays out on Piedmont Virginia reservoirs much as it does across the rest of the freshwater South.
Fall transition settles over the Potomac and Shenandoah
Late September marks the start of the fall transition across Virginia's Potomac and Shenandoah freshwater systems, the seasonal shift when cooling nights begin breaking down summer thermal layers and reshuffling where fish hold. A waxing gibbous moon this week means stronger nighttime light and typically more consistent low-light feeding activity into early mornings and evenings.
Walleye stay the September story on Michigan's Great Lakes waters
Walleye remain the headline species across Michigan water this week, with the MI DNR Weekly Fishing Report noting the species now leads harvest totals in Great Lakes waters as the fall bite builds. No buoy or gauge readings are available for the Great Lakes and Grand River corridor this cycle, so conditions here lean on angler intel rather than instrument data. Yellow perch continue to draw attention as a companion Great Lakes target through late summer into fall, per the same DNR report, while inland reports point to the early stages of the fall transition taking hold as baitfish school up and predator fish respond. Crappie are shifting with that transition too, moving as water cools and forage relocates, a pattern consistent with what Midwest-region sources are describing heading into autumn. Steelhead interest is building as anglers look ahead to fall river runs, though the DNR's most recent weekly reports for the region have centered on walleye and perch activity rather than steelhead specifics this week.
Fall transition arrives for Wind River and North Platte waters
Freshwater fisheries across Wyoming's Wind River and North Platte drainages are settling into the fall transition this week, as cooling mornings begin the seasonal shift that reshapes how fish feed heading into winter. Weed beds that held summer cover are starting to thin, pushing baitfish toward the remaining green growth and deeper structure, a pattern that typically concentrates predatory fish rather than spreading them thin across a lake or reach.
Fall turnover window opens on Lake Mead and the lower Colorado
Late September marks the start of the fall turnover window on Lake Mead and the lower Colorado River, the stretch when cooling surface water begins mixing through the water column and baitfish schools shift off summer thermoclines toward main-lake points, humps, and channel edges. That seasonal move is what typically kicks off the strongest feeding windows of the year on this reservoir system, and the timing lines up right on schedule for late September.
Fall Transition Arrives for Lake Erie and Ohio River Anglers
Lake Erie and the Ohio River are entering the fall transition, the seasonal shift Fishing the Midwest describes as dying weed beds pushing baitfish toward cleaner, deeper water as temperatures cool. Wired 2 Fish's fall-fishing rundown frames the same shift: baitfish schooling tightly ahead of winter reorganizes where predators concentrate to feed. The waxing gibbous moon overhead this week adds a bit more light across the night, which tends to stretch low-light feeding activity out rather than compress it into a short dusk-to-dawn window.
Truckee River turns on as fall cooling arrives
Reno Fly Shop's latest on-the-water reports point to a classic late-summer-into-fall shift on the Truckee River: as water temperatures ease down, the morning bite has been picking up, with activity coming on crayfish and mayfly imitations worked early in the day on both the California and Nevada sides. The shop has been steering anglers upstream toward the CA side, where cooler water is keeping fish more active than stretches still carrying summer heat downstream.
Arkansas & White Rivers ease into the fall transition
Arkansas & White Rivers are moving into the fall transition, the seasonal window when cooling water reorganizes how baitfish group up and predators feed. Wired 2 Fish's rundown on autumn fishing notes that weeds begin dying back and baitfish start schooling heavily this time of year, prompting more aggressive feeding as fish bulk up ahead of winter — a pattern that plays out across freshwater river systems nationally, White River included.
Fall transition takes hold on Smokies tailwaters
Fall officially arrived this week across the Cumberland Plateau, and the Hiwassee and Caney Fork tailwaters are entering their annual transition period following the September equinox. Shorter days and cooling water are starting to reshape how these hydro-dependent fisheries fish, and the smart move on tailwaters like these is to plan trips around the generation schedule rather than around any single stretch of daylight or a single day's weather.
Fall Transition Turns On Pike and Crappie Across MA Freshwater
Fall transition freshwater fishing is picking up across Massachusetts. On the Merrimack River, Roger Aziz, Jr. reported landing five northern pike and several crappie in one outing this week, per The Fisherman — New England Freshwater, even with water levels running low across most ponds, lakes and rivers in the region. That combination — low water concentrating baitfish alongside cooling nights triggering the fall bite — is the pattern Central MA anglers should be watching for on their own local ponds and rivers right now.
Fall Transition Puts Pike and Crappie on the Move in MA Freshwater
Massachusetts freshwater is settling into the fall transition, and this week's activity reflects it. Per The Fisherman — New England Freshwater, an angler fishing the Merrimack River in Methuen reported landing five Northern Pike and a handful of Crappie in a single outing, a sign that predator and panfish activity is picking up as water cools across the state's rivers, ponds, and reservoirs, Quabbin and Wachusett included.
Fall colors show up on Rangeley-area trout
Mainely Fly Fishing reported a trout already carrying spawning colors on local water last week, the clearest sign yet that the Rangeley Lakes and Androscoggin headwaters system is moving into its fall pattern. The same blog logged a dusk hatch producing rises on Kennebago Lake back in early August.
Fall transition sets the pattern on the Wabash and southern Lake Michigan
Late September marks the start of the fall transition across the Wabash River and southern Lake Michigan, the seasonal shift that matters most to anglers this week. Cooling surface water triggers weed die-off in slower Wabash stretches, which pushes baitfish out of thinning cover and starts to concentrate them along deeper edges and current breaks. No buoy, gauge, or tide instrumentation is reporting for this region right now, so treat any specific temperature or flow claim from elsewhere with caution and lean on what you observe on the water.