Fishing reports
15593 reports across all 50 states — current conditions and what's biting.
Pittsburgh tailwaters turn the corner into fall pattern
Late September marks the turn into fall pattern on the Allegheny River and its Pittsburgh-area tailwaters, as cooling water starts reshaping how fish hold and feed through the day. This week's full moon adds another variable worth planning around: expect feeding windows to concentrate into dawn, dusk, and overnight hours while midday activity tapers off, a pattern typical of this stretch of the season.
Fall cooldown favors browns on PA's limestone creeks
Fall is settling into Pennsylvania's limestone country, and Spring Creek and Penns Creek carry the advantage that defines them all year: steady groundwater inflow keeps these streams cooler and more consistent than freestone rivers as the calendar turns. Field & Stream's fall gear roundup this week flags a bottom-bouncing minnow rig on a barrel swivel as the go-to setup for working brown trout as water temperatures fall, a presentation that translates well to limestone water's slow, deep runs and skinny pools.
Full Moon And Cooling Water Mark Fall's Turn On The North Shore
Late September marks the seasonal turn on Minnesota's Lake Superior North Shore, with tonight's full moon adding extra pull to the low-light hours anglers count on this time of year. Open-water temperatures along the shoreline are settling into the range that pushes baitfish and predators toward river mouths and rocky points, the classic staging pattern for this stretch of coast heading into fall.
Presque Isle Bay enters early fall transition under a full moon
Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie's eastern basin are shifting into their early-fall pattern this week. Cooling water is pushing baitfish schools toward breaklines, harbor structure, and current seams, and tonight's full moon should sharpen the overnight and low-light feeding windows. Smallmouth bass are beginning to slide off summer flats toward deeper structure, and walleye are starting their seasonal move toward staging areas ahead of the fall bite building through October.
Lake Superior whitefish interest grows as UP fall pattern sets in
Wisconsin DNR's Lake Superior Fishing program is running an online angler questionnaire through April 30 on the lake whitefish fishery in the Chequamegon Bay region, following a March 30 public meeting in Ashland, per WI DNR Lake Superior Fishing. The agency notes the fishery, worked both by boat and through the ice, has grown substantially in recent seasons, and biologists are gathering angler input to help guide management on the basin. For anglers working the broader Lake Superior shoreline and the Upper Peninsula's trout streams, late September marks the shift from summer holding patterns into the fall program: cooling water triggers staging in tributary mouths and moves stream fish into deeper runs and pools ahead of the coldest weeks.
Full Moon Tide Swings Set the Pace Across the Islands
NOAA's Honolulu tide station (1612340) is reading 84°F this week, with Kahului on Maui a touch cooler at 80.4°F (station 1615680) — both squarely in the range typical for the islands heading into fall. Tonight's Full Moon is pulling a bigger-than-average exchange through both stations: each shows an evening low giving way to a strong early-morning high, the kind of tide swing that gets current moving through channels and passes harder than a neap cycle would.
Full moon signals the fall turn on Okeechobee and the St. Johns
Late September's full moon arrives as Lake Okeechobee and the St. Johns River ease out of the summer heat pattern and into Florida's early fall transition, the stretch when the state's two marquee freshwater fisheries typically turn more consistent as days shorten and water begins its slow seasonal cool. The full moon phase typically pushes feeding activity toward dawn, dusk, and overnight windows on both systems, worth building a trip around this week.
Full moon marks early-fall turn for Santee and Lake Murray
The full moon on September 27 lands right at the seasonal turn for Santee and Lake Murray, as cooling overnight air starts nudging both reservoirs out of summer's pattern. Crappie and baitfish typically begin sliding toward creek channels and standing timber this time of year as forage pulls off the flats, a shift that plays out across Southeastern reservoirs each fall.
Wisconsin sturgeon season winds down as fall transition sets in
Wisconsin's hook-and-line sturgeon season, open since Sept. 5, closes Sept. 30, per the WI DNR's Wisconsin Fishing News. Anglers with a valid license and lake sturgeon tag have a few days left to fish it on designated waters, and it's worth checking current regs before harvesting. On the technique side, Fishing the Midwest's fall-pattern advisory is the seasonal driver worth watching for the Wisconsin River and Lake Superior alike: as weeds die back through late September, baitfish and gamefish concentrate on whichever green vegetation remains, which is the usual trigger for structure and cover to matter more than open flats.
Fall transition arrives at the Grand River mouth as Lake Michigan cools
Lake Michigan is sliding into its fall transition at the Grand River mouth, the stretch when cooling surface water pushes baitfish shallow and draws salmon and steelhead toward river mouths. The WI DNR's Lake Michigan Fishing Report points to strong recent steelhead and salmon returns lakewide, with Chinook and coho harvests among the best in over a decade, a good sign for fish staging ahead of the fall run.
Fall transition arrives for Door County and Sheboygan waters
Late September marks the start of Lake Michigan's fall turnover along the Door County and Sheboygan shoreline, as surface water cools and baitfish begin shifting toward river mouths and nearshore structure. That shift typically draws brown trout and steelhead within range of shore and pier anglers as the season progresses. Regulations around smallmouth bass in Green Bay and northern Lake Michigan remain a live topic for the WI DNR, so anglers should confirm current rules before targeting or keeping bass in the region.
Taneycomo Trout Settle Into Familiar Fall Generation Rhythm
Lilleys Landing's early-September report on Lake Taneycomo describes the same rhythm that carried the shop through most of August: minimum generation through the morning, stepping up into multi-unit flows by mid-afternoon into evening. That pattern has kept trout fishing productive, and the shop also notes water temperatures easing toward their normal range for this time of year, with dam operators adding supplemental oxygen to the outflow as dissolved oxygen levels have dropped, a routine seasonal step on this tailwater.
Full moon sharpens Maine's fall turn on Moosehead and the Penobscot
Late September is the hinge point for Maine's northern lakes, and this week's full moon adds a stronger nightly pull on top of the seasonal shift already underway. Moosehead Lake and the upper Penobscot are moving out of summer holding patterns as surface water cools and baitfish push toward structure. Farther south in New England, per The Fisherman — New England Freshwater, water levels are running low across ponds, lakes and rivers this month, with anglers still finding fish tight to cover and forage — a pattern consistent with the broader regional draw-down heading into fall.
Eagle Mountain Lake bite turns toward fall
The bite on Eagle Mountain Lake near Fort Worth is turning over, per North Texas Catfish Guide, whose recent charter reports describe the tail end of a long summer holding pattern: warm, calm water, heavy weekend boat traffic, and a stubborn subtle bite that has clients working hard to feel the tap and set the hook in time. The same reports note plenty of undersized fish moving through right now, with anglers sorting through smaller catches to find better keepers, a pattern typical as water begins to cool and activity starts to build back up.
Full Moon Marks the Fall Turnover on Maine's Kennebec and Penobscot
Maine's Kennebec and Penobscot river systems are moving through the early-fall turnover window, the stretch each September when surface water begins to cool and freshwater gamefish shift out of deep summer holding patterns toward more active, hunting-mode positions. Tonight's Full Moon adds another lever to that shift, with the strongest activity likely to cluster around dawn and dusk and a secondary window near moonrise as baitfish activity picks up on the bright night.
Fall turnover sets the tone on the Susquehanna and Allegheny
Late September puts the Susquehanna and Allegheny systems into the fall turnover: shorter days and cooling water are the usual trigger for smallmouth bass, walleye, and brown trout to shift into heavier feeding patterns ahead of winter. General technique coverage this week backs that up — Wired 2 Fish highlights bass concentrating activity into the early and late hours as summer heat fades, Tactical Bassin notes fish keying on baitfish as shallow weeds start to die back, and Field & Stream's fall rig roundup favors bottom-bouncing minnow presentations for browns working slower water. Tonight's full moon is worth building trip timing around.
Full moon meets the fall turn on Olympic Peninsula steelhead water
Late September marks the seasonal handoff on Olympic Peninsula river systems, as summer conditions give way to the first pushes of the fall migration under this week's full moon. Hatch Magazine's dispatch on the 2026 Columbia and Snake steelhead count, the smallest ever recorded at Bonneville Dam, is worth watching for anyone tracking steelhead timing across Washington's river systems this fall, even though that watershed runs separately from the Peninsula's own coastal drainages.
Record-low steelhead run reshapes Eastern WA fall outlook
This year's Columbia and Snake river steelhead run is shaping up to be the smallest ever recorded, per Hatch Magazine, with counts at Bonneville Dam sitting just over 52,000 fish since tallies began July 1. That run reaches directly into the tributary water Eastern Washington anglers fish through fall. WDFW's statewide creel and catch reporting tracks exactly this kind of season-over-season shift, though no fresh Yakima or Spokane-area catch numbers have posted this cycle.
Rough Gulf of Maine surf keeps NH striper run moving
NOAA buoy 44007 logged a 57°F surface read with 9.2-foot seas and steady wind out of the Gulf of Maine overnight, rougher water than typical for a September full-moon week. Per The Fisherman's South Shore Massachusetts to Maine column, surf regulars have been driving north into New Hampshire and Maine, where striped bass are holding in good numbers rather than pushing south yet. One angler working the surf after dark took fish to 42 inches on a slowly crawled needlefish plug.
Fall transition sets up dawn bite windows on Travis, LBJ, Buchanan
Late September has the Highland Lakes chain sliding into its fall turnover window, the stretch when surface layers start mixing with cooler water below and baitfish activity picks up. Wired 2 Fish's rundown on seasonal timing points to early and late low-light hours as the dependable play through this transition, a pattern that holds across Travis, LBJ and Buchanan as well. With a full moon overhead this week, expect that low-light bite to extend into the pre-dawn and post-dusk windows rather than concentrating tightly at first and last light.
Fall Cooldown Opens the Feeding Window for Catawba & Roanoke
Late September marks the start of the fall transition across North Carolina's Catawba and Roanoke river systems, as summer's warm-water holding pattern gives way to cooling surface water that typically pulls baitfish, and the gamefish tracking them, into shallower cover. Tactical Bassin's early-fall coverage this week centers on locating Smallmouth Bass around baitfish, working chatterbaits and swimbaits to cover water before switching to smaller profiles once fish group up. Fishing the Midwest points multi-species anglers toward green, living weed edges as summer growth starts to die back, concentrating baitfish and Walleye in whatever cover remains.
Catskills and Adirondacks browns settle into a fall pattern
Late September marks the seasonal turn for Catskills and Adirondacks trout water: nights are cooling faster than days, pushing streams toward the fall pattern brown trout key on. Field & Stream's fall rig roundup this week backs a bottom-bouncing minnow rig on a barrel swivel as the standard for working big fall browns, keeping bait pinned in the strike zone as flows cool. A full moon overhead this week adds extra low-light feeding activity to work around at dawn and dusk.
Fall Turnover Pushes Walleye, Smallmouth Toward Structure on ND Rivers
Early fall's cooling water on the Red and Missouri systems is pushing baitfish, and the walleye and smallmouth that follow them, toward classic structure. Fishing the Midwest notes the old bottom-bouncer plain rig with a nightcrawler works as well in this cool-water shift as it does in summer, and Wired 2 Fish adds that bass turn most active during the low-light hours as water temperatures drop, a pattern anglers on Missouri River flats and Red River holes should lean into now.
Sacramento-Delta shifts into fall mode under a full moon
Late September marks the seasonal turn in the Sacramento-Delta, as freshwater fish respond to cooling water and shortening days heading into fall. The full moon overhead this week tends to concentrate feeding activity around the dawn and dusk hours, and anglers who time trips around those low-light windows typically see the most consistent action in Delta backwaters and channels this time of year.