Fishing reports
15732 reports across all 50 states — current conditions and what's biting.
Fall Transition Settles Over Pittsburgh's Allegheny Tailwaters
The Allegheny and Pittsburgh-area tailwaters are moving into the fall transition this week, the seasonal stretch when shorter days and cooling flows push baitfish into tighter schools and shift feeding windows earlier in the day. With the moon waxing toward full, brighter overnight skies typically pull more of that activity into the low-light dawn and dusk hours rather than after dark.
Penns Creek and Spring Creek settle into fall limestone rhythm
Spring Creek and Penns Creek are moving into their classic early-fall rhythm this week. As groundwater-fed reaches hold steadier and cooler than the freestone water around them, expect the terrestrial bite to keep fading while the season's first heavier mayfly and caddis activity starts filling in the low-light hours. A Waxing Gibbous moon this week means brighter nights, which typically pushes more feeding activity into the dawn and dusk windows rather than full daylight.
Warm water holds Catawba crappie on summer patterns
USGS gauges on the Catawba River basin are holding at 84°F (site 0214267602) and 85°F (site 0214264790) as of early this morning, unusually warm for late September and a sign this stretch is still running on summer thermal patterns rather than easing into fall. Wired 2 Fish's fall-transition breakdown this week notes that crappie typically stay deep and schooled tight to baitfish until a real cold front knocks water temperatures down and weeds start dying back — and with both gauges still sitting in the mid-80s, that shift hasn't kicked off here yet.
Historic-low steelhead run has Deschutes anglers adjusting
Headwater gauges feeding the Deschutes system are running cold and lean this week: 42°F at 10.1 cfs on one monitored tributary, 39°F at 6.1 cfs on a second, and 38°F at 18.6 cfs on a third, with the mainstem gauge offline. Hatch Magazine reports this year's Columbia and Snake river steelhead run is shaping up to be the smallest ever recorded, with just over 52,000 fish counted above Bonneville Dam since tallying began July 1, making 2026 the worst migration on record for the system that feeds these waters.
Crappie season shifts as high water grips the Mississippi & Pearl Rivers
The USGS gauge on the Mississippi River is reading well above typical late-September stage, a sign of sustained high water pushing through the mainstem and its Pearl River tributaries. That kind of current reshapes where fish position, and it lines up with the seasonal shift Wired 2 Fish is tracking further south this week: as water starts to cool, crappie move off summer haunts and stage on channel bends and drop-offs where baitfish concentrate for the fall transition.
Platte and Missouri systems ease into the fall transition
USGS gauges across the Platte River system are reading in the mid-60s this week: the main-stem gauge near 65°F on flow of about 3,260 cfs, with tributary readings of 66°F and 64°F on lower, steadier flows near 790 and 1,320 cfs. That's the classic early-fall signature for this stretch of Nebraska water — cooling but not yet cold. As Fishing the Midwest notes for the region generally, this is the point in the season when weeds start dying back and baitfish begin schooling up, pulling gamefish out of summer haunts and into transition zones.
Fall transition triggers crappie bite in south Louisiana rivers
South Louisiana anglers are watching for the fall transition to flip the crappie bite, and it's already showing up on smaller river systems. Wired2Fish reports that Billy Adams, who fishes the Tickfaw River near Madisonville, found crappie moving as afternoon heat lingered into September despite a cooling trend elsewhere in the region. The pattern is typical for this stretch of the calendar in Louisiana: daytime highs stay summer-like even as nights start to cool, and fish respond to structure and current breaks before the water itself catches up.
Fall transition arrives on Roosevelt Lake and the Salt River chain
The fall transition officially began today, the seasonal cue anglers on Roosevelt Lake and the Salt River chain watch for as summer's pattern breaks down. Cooling nights pull weed growth back and push baitfish into tighter schools, and predator fish start keying on those schools instead of holding on scattered summer structure. Wired 2 Fish's fall-transition coverage this week ties the shift to weed die-off and schooling baitfish nationwide, and Arizona's warmwater reservoirs follow the same basic mechanics. Crappie typically reposition alongside baitfish through this stretch, per the same source's fall-crappie piece, favoring cover edges and depth changes over open water as the shift progresses.
Fall Turnover Sets the Pattern for Finger Lakes Crappie
Cayuga, Seneca, and Skaneateles are sliding into the fall transition, the stretch when cooling water and dying weed growth reshuffle where fish set up for the rest of the season. Wired 2 Fish's fall-transition breakdown, timed to this same week, lays out the mechanism clearly: as shallow weeds die back, baitfish abandon them and school up over deeper structure and open water, and crappie key in tight behind them. That's the pattern to fish on the Finger Lakes right now, not the shallow weedline program that worked through summer.
Snook and Redfish Keep the Sarasota Bite Alive Into Fall
Water temperatures are still solidly warm across Tampa Bay this week, reading 87.6°F at St. Petersburg and 85.6°F at Clearwater Beach on NOAA CO-OPS gauges, and the inshore bite is holding strong through the seasonal transition. Capt. Kelly Kurtz of CB's Saltwater Outfitters reports an active inshore bite for snook and redfish in Sarasota Bay this week. Capt. Chuck Cress, fishing out of the same Sarasota shop, corroborates it: working a popping cork with live shrimp on a rising morning tide produced several redfish, with snook mixed in along the way. Capt. Rick Grassett's September forecast, also via CB's Saltwater Outfitters, notes snook still holding in the surf and around passes as the month winds down, with live shrimp and pilchards working docks and bridges. Grassett adds that adult tarpon are thinning out of the coastal Gulf, staging near bridges and deep grass flats ahead of their fall migration.
Striper bite holds along Santa Cruz coast as Bay water cools
NOAA CO-OPS stations in San Francisco Bay and Bodega Bay are both reading in the low-to-mid 50s this afternoon (54.3°F and 53.6°F), a clear signal the region is settling into its fall temperature range. Per Western Outdoor News — Saltwater, shoreline anglers working the beaches near Santa Cruz are still connecting with striped bass by following diving birds and bait balls, with a recent stretch producing both stripers and a monster seabass from the surf. The same outlet notes stripers and blues swarming further south through the SoCal Bight, a sign the broader coastal migration is active up and down California this week.
Fall transition builds on the Oregon Coast as tides swing bigger
NOAA CO-OPS station 9435380 near the open coast is reading 54.7°F this afternoon, while station 9439040 at the Columbia mouth shows a notably warmer 65.5°F, a reminder that the river-influenced water runs well above the open coastal temperature this week. Both stations are building toward a high: 9435380 peaks near 10:57am Pacific and 9439040 near 11:52am, with 9435380 easing back to a low around 4:18pm. Anglers on IFish.net Fishing Reports describe steady boat traffic at the mouth of the Columbia near Buoy 10 and around Garibaldi and Nehalem this week, including several lost-gear reports that point to crews working that water hard.
Tautog Move Into Delaware Bay as Fluke Season Winds Down
Delaware Bay's water held at 74.5°F this afternoon, with the next high tide due around 7:42 p.m. Tautog have moved into the bay in force, per The Fisherman — Southern NJ's Higbee's Bait and Tackle report, working sand fleas, green crabs and fiddlers around structure for fish up to 4 pounds. The same report has bluefish and weakfish mixed into the bite. Big Dave's Tackle, also reporting from the bay, adds a growing weakfish bite on soft plastics near the lighthouses after dark.
North Shore steelhead staging begins as water cools into fall
Lake Superior's North Shore is settling into its early-fall pattern, with nearshore water continuing to cool and baitfish pushing toward North Shore river mouths — the setup that typically starts staging steelhead ahead of the fall run. Elsewhere on the Wisconsin side of the big lake, the WI DNR is keeping its Chequamegon Bay whitefish angler questionnaire open through the end of April as it continues managing that fishery's rapid growth.
Presque Isle anglers eye the fall steelhead push as Erie cools
Lake Erie and the Presque Isle shoreline are settling into the classic late-September transition, with cooling water and shortening days shifting baitfish activity and predator focus toward structure and current breaks. This is the window when steelhead begin staging near Erie's tributary mouths ahead of the fall run, a pattern that typically builds through October as nights cool further. The Waxing Gibbous moon this week favors low-light bites at dawn and dusk.
UP Anglers Watch Fall Transition As Lake Superior Whitefish Interest Grows
Upper Peninsula trout streams and Lake Superior are settling into the fall transition, with cooling water pushing fish activity toward the morning and evening windows as September closes out. On the Wisconsin side of Lake Superior, the DNR's work on the Chequamegon Bay lake whitefish fishery, a fishery that has grown quickly in recent years both through the ice and from a boat according to the WI DNR Lake Superior Fishing program, underscores how much cold-water interest the lake draws heading into fall. For UP anglers, this is the stretch of the calendar when attention typically shifts from summer stream patterns toward the early stages of the seasonal cooldown.
Redfish and false albacore stir as Charleston Harbor holds summer-warm
Charleston Harbor water sat at 84°F at 1:18 p.m. Wednesday per NOAA station 8665530, with the next high tide due at 5:44 p.m. local. That's still summer-warm water heading into the first full week of fall, keeping the inshore bite in a transitional mood rather than a hard switch. Salt Strong's current lure rundown centers on redfish, and snook where present, as the fall pattern takes shape, favoring soft-plastic paddletails and topwater worked over structure as bait starts moving. Sport Fishing Mag's fall migration coverage flags false albacore beginning to show on the surface as water cools toward the coast, worth watching as Charleston's numbers start to slide off summer highs.
Building tides and steady warmth signal Hawaii's fall bite window
Honolulu Harbor is running warm at 84°F this morning (NOAA CO-OPS station 1612340), while Kahului Harbor reads a touch cooler at 81°F (station 1615680). Station 1615680 shows a high tide predicted for 12:49 PM HST today, giving the midday hours a clear tidal push worth planning around. Both readings sit well within typical late-September norms for the islands, and the moon is waxing gibbous, building toward next week's full moon.
Warm Water Lingers as Fall Transition Begins Off Cape Lookout
Water temperatures remain firmly in late-summer territory across Pamlico Sound and Cape Lookout, with NOAA CO-OPS station 8652587 reading 79.2°F and station 8654467 reading 80.2°F as of midday. That warmth is keeping nearshore action lively: Ocean Isle Fishing Center reports good action anywhere from the beach out to 40 feet with bait balls worth watching, Chasin' Tails in Morehead/Atlantic Beach notes steady trolling success along the beachfront, and East Coast Sports in Topsail/Sneads Ferry describes solid surf and pier action on casting jigs. Hatteras Jack notes anglers finding sight-casting opportunities from the Rodanthe-area beaches alongside a strong bottom bite, and Island Tackle and Hardware in Carolina Beach reports the typical late-summer surf mix holding up.
Shoreline stripers turn up near Santa Cruz as fall transition begins
Central Coast water is holding in the low-to-mid 60s this week, with our two coastal stations reading 61.5°F and 62.6°F. Western Outdoor News — Saltwater reports a notable shoreline striped bass catch near Santa Cruz, where a local angler working the surf behind diving birds and bait connected on a solid striper alongside a big seabass. The same report also logs scattered yellowtail activity reaching north toward Point Conception as bonito action spreads through the Bight.
Fall run takes hold as stripers return to Narragansett Bay
Water held in the upper 60s this week — 66.9°F at Newport and 68.4°F at Conimicut Light per NOAA CO-OPS — as the fall run keeps building across Narragansett Bay. Striped bass are stirring back to life along the beaches and breachways, with surfcasters at Quonnie Bait and Tackle finding fish after dark on live eels, swimming plugs and soft plastics, mixed with bluefish and false albacore during daytime surface feeds. Saltwater Edge reports false albacore working the oceanfront in solid numbers, with the strongest action around the islands and Newport Harbor, though the bite has turned finicky at times. Fluke are still producing: Frances Fleet keeps limiting out on full-day trips, and Snug Harbor Marina weighed in a 12.2-pound fish over the weekend even as overall numbers thin, with the biggest fluke typically the last to leave.
Mobile Bay redfish and snook dial into the fall transition
Water across Mobile Bay and the Gulf is still running summer-warm, with NOAA CO-OPS stations reading 86°F and 87.6°F as of this morning, even as the fall transition gets underway across the region. Sport Fishing Mag reports that Gulf snook are starting to feel the shorter days and are moving toward their winter holding areas, feeding aggressively along the way on swimbaits like Z-Man's Mulletron and Diezel MinnowZ. Salt Strong's rundown of go-to fall inshore lures lists redfish right alongside snook as a top target for this stretch of the calendar, a useful cue for anglers working flats and grass edges this week. Anecdotal reports out of the Pensacola Fishing Forum describe solid action in protected backwaters this week, though as single-source forum chatter it's worth treating as color rather than confirmed intel.
Fall run builds as stripers hit lighted docks, albies fire off LBI
NOAA CO-OPS puts water at 69.8°F off Atlantic City (station 8534720) and 73.4°F off Cape May (station 8536110) this morning, still summer-warm for the third week of September. That warmth is keeping Fluke around right up against the close: The Fisherman — New Jersey edition notes the state's summer flounder season shuts down September 25, and Capt Ron's Atlantic Highlands NJ is still picking keepers on the deeper drifts with roughly nine trips left before the season ends. Fall's arrival is showing up loudest in the surf and back bays. The Fisherman — Southern NJ reports Striped Bass to 31 inches hammering peanut bunker and mullet around lighted docks and sod banks after dark, while The Fisherman — Central NJ logged the LBI Surf Fishing Classic's first striper weigh-in of the fall out of Beach Haven. Bluefish are thick behind them: The Fisherman — NJ/DE Surf has chopper-class blues working mullet and bunker chunks in the Brigantine surf and tailor blues pushing into Strathmere and Sea Isle City, and The Fisherman — Northern NJ notes the bite switching from artificials to bait with good numbers of slammers. False Albacore are the standout this week — Fishermans HQ LBI (NJ) is finding good numbers on jigs and live peanut bunker, and OTW Northern New Jersey confirms albies have joined the reef bite up north.
Striped bass linger in Maine waters as fall migration slows
Water temperatures across the Gulf of Maine are sliding from 59.5°F in Portland to 54.7°F up in Eastport, a spread that's keeping striped bass content to hold rather than push south. Per The Fisherman — South Shore MA to ME, surf anglers have been driving north into New Hampshire and Maine to find piles of stripers still around, with fish to 42 inches taken overnight on slowly worked needlefish plugs. The same report notes local beaches farther south quieted down after the moon tides let go, which is part of why the crowd has shifted north. With the moon waxing toward full, tide swings should keep building through the week.