Fishing reports
15787 reports across all 50 states — current conditions and what's biting.
Tarpon and snook set up for the Keys' fall transition
Water temperatures are holding at 87°F off Key West and 86.7°F off Marathon, typical late-September Keys warmth that's kept the bite steady into the fall transition. Bud n' Mary's reported strong bridge tarpon action through its recent stretch of reports, and Sport Fishing Mag notes Gulf snook are feeding up hard as they push toward winter holding areas, calling it one of the best windows of the year for the species. Salt Strong's fall lure rundown puts redfish among the inshore targets worth working now, favoring soft plastics that adjust to skittish fish in skinny water. Field & Stream reported a September 17 White House executive order aimed at loosening federal fishing-tackle restrictions for saltwater anglers, a regulatory shift worth watching this fall.
Gulf's Fall Transition Reaches Mississippi Sound's Warm Water
Mississippi Sound's tide gauges are reading warm this morning, 86.9°F at one station and 87.1°F at the other, still holding onto full summer heat as September closes out. That warmth matters for the bite ahead: Sport Fishing Mag's fall coverage this week notes Gulf snook beginning to shift toward their winter holding areas as days shorten, a transition that typically works its way into Sound waters as temperatures ease. Redfish remain the more dependable target through the shift. Per Salt Strong's rundown of go-to fall lures, a rotating lure box built around soft plastics is what's putting bigger inshore fish, redfish and snook among them, in the boat right now.
Warm water lingers on the Outer Banks ahead of the fall push
Water off the Outer Banks is still running summer-warm, 82.2°F at NOAA CO-OPS station 8658163 and 81.1°F at station 8656483 early this morning, holding this stretch in a late-season pattern instead of the cooler water that usually kicks off the fall run. The equinox has passed and the water hasn't caught up to the calendar yet.
GA bass and crappie key on baitfish as fall transition begins
Georgia's fall transition is the story driving this week's freshwater bite on the Chattahoochee and Savannah systems. Georgia Wildlife Blog's September 18 report notes fall arrives next week, which lines up with the seasonal shift anglers should already be planning around. Tactical Bassin's coverage of the early fall bass transition points to schooling largemouth keying on baitfish, holding both around shallow cover and out over open water as bait pushes toward the surface. Wired 2 Fish's fall crappie coverage describes a similar baitfish-driven shift, with crappie moving between depths as water begins to cool, a pattern that applies directly to Georgia's river and reservoir systems this time of year.
Redfish and snook turn on as Mobile Bay holds late-summer warmth
Water temperatures are holding summer-warm across lower Mobile Bay and the Gulf approaches, with NOAA's Dauphin Island station (8735180) reading 88°F and the inner-bay station (8736897) close behind at 87.8°F as of early Monday morning. That warmth is keeping the fall transition on a slow burn rather than a hard turn. Sport Fishing Mag notes Gulf snook anglers are seeing the seasonal shift kick in as days shorten, with fish feeding up before pushing toward their winter holding areas. Salt Strong's fall lure rundown lists redfish and snook among the inshore targets worth working right now, pointing anglers toward swimbaits and paddletails as water starts to cool. Neither source names a specific stretch of coast, so treat this as the regional pattern rather than a hot local bite — but with water still near 88°F, that transition has plenty of runway left before it forces fish out of their summer haunts.
Albie push fills Long Island Sound as big fluke exit the inlets
False albacore are pushing west through Long Island Sound and filling in off Montauk, per On The Water — New York / Long Island's reports from September 10 and September 17. Water readings back that pattern up: our Montauk station (NOAA CO-OPS 8510560) sits at 69.3°F this morning, while the western Sound station at Kings Point (8516945) and The Battery (8518750) both read 72°F, the kind of late-summer-into-fall gradient that stacks baitfish and hardtails together along the beaches. Big fluke are also on the move, exiting the South Shore inlets and working out of the Western Sound as they clear the backwaters for the season, according to the same On The Water coverage.
False albacore record adds heat to Cape Cod Bay's fall shift
Cape Cod Bay water sat at 66.7°F this morning per NOAA CO-OPS station 8449130, still mild enough to hold summer species as the fall transition gets underway. On The Water reported a 19.9-pound false albacore broke a 36-year-old Massachusetts record this month, confirming albies are pushing through New England waters in real numbers. Just south in Rhode Island, Saltwater Edge describes the fall run as having "kicked off in a big way," with albies and bonito thick along the oceanfront and the tautog bite picking up — though striped bass have stayed lackluster there for most anglers, a pattern likely mirroring what Cape Cod Bay sees until water temperatures drop further.
Fall Run Kicks Into Gear as Blues and Albies Blitz the Jersey Surf
Water's running 71.8°F to 74.7°F across our tracked Jersey Shore stations, and bluefish are leading the fall push. The Fisherman — Northern NJ reports the Golden Eagle's bite "switched around big time" this week, with slammers mixing in alongside bonito and albies as the boat shifted from artificials to bait. Surf-side, The Fisherman — Central NJ has Surf City Bait and Tackle connecting with multiple bluefish on metal, "a sure sign that the fall bite is heating up," while The Fisherman — NJ/DE Surf has cocktail-to-chopper blues at One Stop Bait and Tackle in Atlantic City hammering cut bait, mullet and metal off the jetties. False albacore are showing too: OTW Northern New Jersey has albies running the beaches alongside the bluefish, and Fishermans HQ LBI (NJ) put anglers on bonita and albacore over live peanut bunker. Striped bass are just waking up — The Fisherman — Southern NJ has Pier 47 Marina seeing stripers to 31 inches feeding heavily after dark around lighted docks and sod banks on the higher tides, while The Fisherman — Central NJ logged the LBI Surf Fishing Classic's first striper weigh-in of the season via Jingles Bait and Tackle. Fluke season closes September 25, and Capt Ron's Atlantic Highlands NJ is finishing strong, with The Fisherman — Southern NJ reporting some of the thickest fish of the season coming out of the backwaters at Boulevard Bait and Tackle in the final week.
Maine's holdover stripers take their time heading south
Gulf of Maine water temperatures span 54°F to 59.9°F across our three tide stations this morning, cooling into the fall transition. Per The Fisherman's South Shore Massachusetts to Maine report, striped bass that pushed north out of Massachusetts surf zones are holding in New Hampshire and Maine waters, showing no urgency to continue their seasonal move south.
Warm Eastern Shore water holds as fall run builds to the north
Water off Chincoteague held at 77°F this morning per NOAA CO-OPS station 8631044, still solidly warm for late September. High tide hits around 5:32 AM with the next low near 11:35 AM, setting up a strong morning outgoing push. Local bite reports are quiet this week, but the broader Atlantic run is stirring farther up the coast: Saltwater Edge in Rhode Island calls the striped bass bite lackluster for now, with an uptick expected behind cooler nights and northerly winds, while The Fisherman's New England forecast notes the striper bite "sneaking back to life" as false albacore action spreads through central Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Okeechobee and St. Johns Ease Into the Fall Transition
Florida's freshwater fisheries are turning into the fall transition this week, the seasonal shift that resets how largemouth bass and crappie feed through the rest of September. Wired 2 Fish's coverage of the crappie transition and Tactical Bassin's early-fall bass breakdowns both point to the same pattern moving through freshwater systems right now: baitfish schooling up as surface temperatures ease, with feeding fish keying on those bait pods instead of holding on summer structure.
Fall Transition Bass and Crappie Bite Building at Lanier and Allatoona
Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division flagged the turn this week: fall arrives next week, with September 26 marking National Hunting and Fishing Day, per Georgia Wildlife Blog — Fishing. That seasonal cue lines up with what national bass and crappie outlets are reporting right now. Tactical Bassin describes largemouth schooling tight to baitfish as summer patterns break down, moving between shallow cover and open-water baitfish balls, with jerkbaits and bladed swim jigs producing through the transition. Wired 2 Fish's fall-crappie coverage this week tracks the same shift, with crappie sliding off deep summer haunts and following baitfish toward creek arms and secondary points as water cools. Fishing the Midwest corroborates the pattern from a multi-species angle, noting bladed swim jigs working baitfish-holding flats as an effective search bait through the transition. Highland reservoirs like Lanier and Allatoona are textbook water for this exact shift each September.
Fall Transition Kicks In as Bass, Crappie Reposition on Hartwell
The Georgia Wildlife Blog's September 18 report puts a date on it: fall starts next week. On Lake Hartwell and Russell, that shift means largemouth bass are starting to leave summer offshore structure and key on baitfish schools pushing into creek mouths and around main-lake points. Tactical Bassin describes exactly that pattern this week, with bass keying on schooling baitfish in open water and jerkbaits and topwater producing as the early fall transition sets in. Fishing the Midwest's read on the same shift points anglers toward remaining green, living weed growth, which holds baitfish and gamefish longer than vegetation that's already dying back as water cools. On the panfish side, Wired 2 Fish's fall-transition breakdown for crappie applies directly to a Savannah-chain reservoir like Hartwell: as summer schools break apart, crappie follow baitfish rather than sitting on one depth, which usually means working suspended fish over creek channels and secondary points instead of staying locked to deep structure.
Georgia Coast Holds Onto Summer Warmth Ahead of the Fall Turn
Water off the Georgia coast is still running summer-warm heading into fall, with the NOAA CO-OPS station 8670870 logging 84.2°F overnight into September 22. The Georgia Wildlife Blog's Fishing Report has spent the last several weeks (August 28 through September 18) on general seasonal notes rather than specific bite reports, but its September 18 post flagged that fall officially begins next week, and its earlier August 14 update said the team would start rotating coverage by region (North, Central, Southeast, Southwest) going forward, so more location-specific reporting for the Georgia coast should start showing up soon. Meanwhile, Georgia Sea Grant highlighted a University of Georgia graduate research project this month examining how warming waters in the Turtle-Brunswick River Estuary are affecting striped bass, a reminder that the same warm water anglers are feeling is also on researchers' minds.
Snook Feed Up As Fall Transition Reaches the Florida Keys
NOAA CO-OPS stations 8724580 and 8723970 read 87.4°F and 87.6°F this week, confirming the Florida Keys are still running full summer-warm water even as the calendar turns toward fall. That warmth lines up with what Sport Fishing Mag is describing for the wider Gulf snook fishery right now: as days shorten, snook begin feeding up ahead of their move toward winter holding areas, and the outlet calls the fall transition one of the year's best fishing opportunities for that species, with swimbaits like the Mulletron and Diezel MinnowZ drawing strikes on aggressive fish. Bud n' Mary's Islamorada Fishing Marina's seasonal report keeps tarpon in the mix too, pointing to bridge structure as the go-to target for that fishery. ALL IN Key West's most recent posted report called the fishing as good as they've seen in 16 years running trips out of Key West, a reminder the Keys' broader complex stays productive well outside any single target species. The moon is in a Waxing Gibbous phase, which typically sharpens current around bridges and channels.
Upper Texas Coast Snook Push North as Water Stays Summer-Warm
Gulf water along the upper Texas coast is still running summer-warm heading into the equinox, with NOAA CO-OPS readings of 90.5°F at station 8771450, 89.4°F at station 8771341, and 88.5°F at station 8772471 this afternoon. That kind of heat holding into late September keeps the bite pattern tied to the seasonal shift rather than a cold-front trigger. Sport Fishing Mag notes Gulf snook are feeding up as summer winds down and starting to push toward winter holding areas, with swimbaits like the Mulletron or Diezel MinnowZ working on aggressive fish. Texas Fish & Game Magazine adds a useful reminder for this stretch of coast: upper-coast snook aren't confined to the Lower Laguna Madre stronghold, and fish show up farther north than many anglers assume, worth factoring in when picking structure to work.
Mississippi Sound holds late-summer warmth into the equinox
NOAA CO-OPS stations 8747437 and 8741533 both read water temperatures in the high 80s this evening, 88.7°F and 88.3°F respectively, confirming Mississippi Sound is still running full summer heat as the calendar turns toward the fall equinox. The two gauges are in close agreement, so the Sound is warm wall to wall right now rather than showing early cooling in any one corner. MS DMR's public notices this week were administrative rather than angling-related: a Coastal Program review for a Gulfport wetland fill, a Hancock County culvert replacement, and Tuesday's Marine Resources Commission meeting in D'Iberville, none of which change conditions on the water.
Snook and redfish fire up docks and bridges around Sarasota Bay
Tampa Bay and Sarasota waters are running warm this week, averaging near 87-88°F across the CO-OPS stations at St. Petersburg and Clearwater Beach, and captains report the inshore bite is in full swing. Capt. Kelly Kurtz, fishing out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, describes an active bite in Sarasota Bay for snook, redfish, and spotted seatrout. Capt. Chuck Cress worked a rising morning tide and connected with several redfish on a popping cork tipped with live shrimp, along with snook caught and released. Both captains are finding fish stacked around docks, bridges, and shallow grass flats as the late-summer pattern holds.
Topwater Musky Bite Ignites as Northwoods Fall Transition Arrives
The fall transition has arrived in Wisconsin's Northwoods musky country, and Rollie & Helen's Musky Shop in Oneida and Vilas Counties is calling it the shift anglers wait all year for. Recreational boat traffic is thinning, mornings carry a real chill, and shrinking daylight is condensing feeding windows into shorter, more intense bursts. The shop reports those tighter windows are turning on an aggressive topwater bite right now, ahead of the seasonal pivot to deep edges, steep drop-offs, and rocky points. Baitfish are on the move too, with cooling water pushing forage, and the muskies that follow it, out of summer weed beds and toward staging structure. For kayak anglers working those weed edges at water level, the shop's gear notes point toward a lean, deck-space-conscious setup as the better call than a full crankbait spread this time of year. Overall, this week's shop reporting reads as some of the most active musky testimony of the season so far.
Outer Banks bottom bite holds as warm water lingers into fall
Water temps along the Outer Banks are still running summer-warm for late September, with NOAA CO-OPS stations reading 82.9°F and 81.3°F this afternoon. That warmth is keeping the seasonal transition on a slow track. Eric, of Hatteras Jack, reports solid bottom fishing from the Rodanthe-area beaches this week, with anglers also finding sight-casting opportunities along the surf. The bite is holding tight to structure and current lines rather than open water, typical for this stretch before the fall cool-down really takes hold.
Fall transition switches on bass and crappie in GA's river basins
Water temperatures across the Chattahoochee and Savannah basin gauges are running warm for late September, from 75°F to 82°F this week (USGS gauges 021963601, 02195520 and 02172300), sitting right at the front edge of the fall transition. Tactical Bassin's early-fall coverage this week has largemouth pushing off shallow cover onto baitfish schools in open water, while Fishing the Midwest points anglers toward the last stretches of green, living weeds, noting that dying vegetation pushes baitfish, and the bass tracking them, to relocate. Wired 2 Fish's fall-transition breakdown on crappie describes the same pull: fish following baitfish schools as water cools. The Georgia Wildlife Blog's September 18 fishing report calls fall's arrival for next week and is pushing anglers to get out now.
Gulf snook push toward winter holding grounds as fall transition begins
Water at NOAA CO-OPS station 8729840 near Pensacola read 88°F this afternoon, with stations 8729108 and 8728690 close behind at 86.4°F and 86.9°F, keeping the Panhandle's late-summer warmth in place. Sport Fishing Mag reports Gulf snook anglers are entering one of the year's best stretches as fish begin their seasonal push toward winter holding areas, with swimbaits like the Mulletron and Diezel MinnowZ producing as the shift gets underway. Salt Strong is steering anglers toward a fall lure rotation for redfish, trout, snook and flounder on inshore structure, noting that knowing when to swap presentations matters as much as having the right bait rigged. Further south, Florida Sea Grant flagged a rare detection of rust tide alga in Charlotte Harbor this month, a species seldom seen in Southwest Florida waters; it hasn't shown up in Panhandle waters, but it's worth watching regional water-clarity updates this week.
South Padre snook lean into the fall transition
Water off South Padre Island sat at 87.6°F at NOAA CO-OPS station 8775237 and 88.7°F at station 8779770 this afternoon, still running summer-warm as the calendar turns toward fall. That heat lines up with Texas Fish & Game Magazine's read on the Lower Laguna Madre as the center of Texas snook fishing, and Sport Fishing Mag notes Gulf snook are starting to feel the shorter days and push toward their winter holding areas, a window that favors swimbaits like the Mulletron or Diezel MinnowZ on aggressive fish. Salt Strong's fall lure rundown adds redfish to the list of inshore targets worth prioritizing alongside snook right now.
Striped Bass Show Near Santa Cruz As NorCal Coastal Water Stays Cool
Water at the Bay entrance station is reading 55°F this afternoon, a few degrees warmer than the outer Bodega-area station at 53°F, per NOAA CO-OPS instruments checked within the hour — a typical upwelling split for this stretch of coast heading into fall. Just south in Santa Cruz, Western Outdoor News — Saltwater's latest report highlights a shoreline Striped Bass among the week's notable catches, working tight to the beach.