Where to Fish for Striped Bass During the Fall Run

It’s simple to romanticize the autumn run of striped bass. Altering leaves, crisp climate, empty seashore cities, and the striper season saving its greatest fishing for final. Regardless of the place you fish within the Northeast, you’re undoubtedly near one of many locations the place the nice migration of baitfish and bass brushes by on their specific lane south. I spoke with anglers from 10 of those places between Maine and New Jersey to see simply how the autumn run evolves and modifications because it strikes down the coast, and to assist plan some fall migrating of my very own.

Pit Cease 1: SOUTHERN MAINE

Peak Migration: September 26 to October 10Key Baitfish: Atlantic mackerel

Whereas stripers most positively enterprise additional north, it’s southern Maine that marks the beginning line for the bass’ southbound marathon. It’s across the time that Maine surfcaster Katie Curran realizes she must placed on a jacket within the late afternoons when she begins seeing baitfish stacking up across the shorelines and rivers from Yarmouth to York. The precise timing varies from 12 months to 12 months, however the finish of August and starting of September is a secure guess for the autumn run beginning gun.

It builds to a crescendo by early October, with a few of the greatest fishing and largest fish coming early within the tenth month. However Maine’s fall run appears particularly prone to climate, Curran says. An enormous storm in September might ship the stripers packing even when the bait sticks round. Maybe with to date to go on their swim south, the stripers use the tough climate because the cue to get transferring.

The primary baitfish of Maine’s run varies from season to season, however as a rule, Curran believes mackerel are the driving power behind the perfect bass fishing. The macks transfer tight to shore to feed on small baitfish dropping out of the rivers and harbors, and the bass are sizzling on their tails.

Additional south, giant floor blitzes are synonymous with fall run fishing, however Curran notes that the Maine’s motion is extra subdued. Whereas the bass clearly enhance their feeding exercise, most of that feeding occurs beneath the floor because the bass seemingly transfer south in smaller teams. Topwater lures are nonetheless some of the efficient shows, says Curran, as they cowl water rapidly to search out energetic fish. After darkish, minnow plugs and huge delicate plastics are high selections.

Curran kicks off her fall run fishing round Portland, however because the fishing dries up there, she follows the fish south to the New Hampshire border into mid-October. After that, bigger bass develop into a lot fewer, although just a few straggling schoolies maintain the season alive virtually till November.

Pit Cease 2: BOSTON

Peak Migration: September 5 to 20Key Baitfish: Younger-of-Yr River Herring and Peanut Bunker

With the waters round Boston being the summer time playground for large colleges of enormous stripers the previous couple of years, the start of the autumn run feels a bit like an exodus. The fish start trickling out in late August, in accordance with kayak fisherman, Eric Harrison, and by mid-September, that trickle turns into a flood.

The primary factor that modifications because the fish get into their migration mode, Harrison says, is their willingness to eat. In summer time, discovering the fish may be comparatively simple, particularly with electronics like side-scanning sonar, however the hot button is being there when these fish determine to feed. Come fall, discovering the fish is harder, however whenever you discover them, they’re virtually at all times keen to chew.

Whereas summer time fishing round Boston is mostly a quality-over-quantity endeavor, Harrison believes that switches after mid-September, when bigger numbers of slot-size and smaller fish develop into the norm. He adjusts his techniques accordingly, switching to smaller soft-plastic stickbaits, although there are at all times some huge fish hanging round within the fall.

Younger-of-year baitfish, usually river herring, make up the kindling for Boston Harbor’s fiery fall-run fishing. Harrison appears for areas the place these baitfish stack up, resembling alongside present edges and in eddies, and retains an everyday verify on them, realizing that in some unspecified time in the future through the fall, a faculty of migratory stripers will discover them and feast. These bites can final from just a few days to a few weeks, relying on the climate. An enormous fall storm, Harrison says, appears to disrupt the feeding sample that the bass have locked into, which causes them to maneuver on.

Within the outer harbor as much as Gloucester, the menu is extra diverse, with peanut bunker, sea herring, spearing, and mackerel all ending up within the crosshairs of migrating stripers.

Although the largest fish are primarily passed by early October, Harrison bucks the pattern of fishermen quitting earlier than the fish and retains kayak fishing proper by the brand new 12 months. Whereas many fish maintain over round Boston, Harrison sees migratory fish transferring by into November.

Pit Cease 3: CAPE COD CANAL

Peak Migration: September 12 to 26Key Baitfish: TBD

With the Canal being recognized lately for its raucous daytime blitzes, usually in the course of sizzling summer time days, many fishermen anticipate the autumn run to crank these feeding frenzies up one other notch, however that’s not normally the case. Whereas fall brings some floor exercise to the Canal, a lot of the bass heading west by the Massive Ditch make their strikes after darkish.

Anglers start noticing the bass exiting by the Canal as early as mid-August some years. Colleges of stripers start staging in Cape Cod Bay in early to mid-August, using the robust tides introduced on by the complete and new moon phases.

These early runners are normally a trickle in comparison with what’s to return in September. Relying on the timing of the moon, the “Massive Push” as native anglers name it, might occur anytime between the primary and final week of September. It’s normally a “blink and also you’ll miss it” ordeal, with the fish lingering across the Canal anyplace from just a few days to lower than 24 hours. However for the anglers who’re there, the fishing may be intense, with fish from 15 to 40 kilos biting all through a whole tide cycle.

Whereas it’s normally robust tides that get the fish transferring, a tropical storm system also can present the spark that ignites the Canal’s explosive fall fishing. In 2017, the remnants of Hurricane Jose passing offshore of Cape Cod drove hundreds of mackerel, and hundreds of stripers, into the Canal for a 48-hour feeding frenzy that appeared to run across the clock.

Mackerel are sometimes the bait that stripers are after within the Canal, however come September, there’s a lengthy listing of baitfish that gas the autumn run. Yr to 12 months, peanut bunker are essentially the most dependable bait from September into October, with grownup bunker showing sporadically from Labor Day to Halloween. Butterfish, squid, halfbeaks, and whiting all make appearances within the Canal within the fall. By late October, anglers holding out for one final push of fish cling their hopes on sea herring. The presence of those silvery baitfish might prolong good Canal fishing to Veterans Day.

For essentially the most half, nevertheless, the Canal quiets after Columbus Day. Fishermen working the “breaking tides” across the full and new moon will see the stream of enormous stripers transferring by the ditch decelerate to a trickle, and by Halloween week, most have scaled down their deal with to benefit from the wave of pot-bellied schoolies that reliably transfer by the Ditch on the finish of the season.

Whereas fishing at dawn with a mixture of topwaters, swimming plugs, and soft-plastic swimbaits is a dependable method to catch fall stripers within the Canal, working the nighttime tides with jigs and stay eels generally is a much more rewarding tactic. Get your providing right down to the underside, which is the place a lot of the bass shall be, as they journey the west tide from Cape Cod Bay to Buzzards Bay on their method out of Massachusetts.

Pit Cease 4: NEWPORT RHODE ISLAND

Peak Migration: September 19 to October 3Key Baitfish: Peanut Bunker

The autumn run of striped bass round Newport begins shifting into gear across the third or fourth week of August, in accordance with Joey Manansala of Woozy Fishing. As soon as the peanut bunker begin to drop out of Narragansett Bay, the resident bass take discover and blitzing fish develop into an everyday prevalence.

Manansala says the perfect of the striper run round Newport coincides with the albie run. In 2020, he caught his first albie on September 4 and his final on October 15. Bass cling round later than albies, with fish lingering into November a few years, however the motion turns into much less dependable within the second half of October.

Starting in August and lasting into September, Manasala sees what native anglers name “bass rafts.” These are tight colleges of stripers, swimming with their mouths open as they siphon tiny rainbait off the floor. Such breathtaking blitzes may be extraordinarily irritating to fish as a result of the stripers usually refuse something thrown of their path, even tiny flies, says Manansala.

When the stripers are centered on peanut bunker, nevertheless, they’re much simpler to idiot with lures.

Up till the bass begin blitzing, Manasala notes that any of the buildings round Newport have resident fish that may be reliably caught on fly or gentle deal with. Nevertheless, because the baitfish begin transferring out of the bay, migratory fish arrive, and the autumn feeding frenzy begins, these resident fish disappear from their buildings, seemingly hanging across the baitfish colleges.

Surfcasters within the space additionally get pleasure from enjoyable daytime fishing with blitzing bass on peanut bunker, however fishing after darkish with needlefish, darters, and stay bait can yield some giant bass which can be nearer to the shoreline, consuming the mullet and peanut bunker that swim near Newport’s rocky shoreline.

Pit Cease 5: EASTERN CONNECTICUT

Peak Migration: September 26 to October 10Key Baitfish: Peanut Bunker

It’s not lengthy after Labor Day that Captain Joe Diorio sees schoolies begin to group and transfer west from Rhode Island into Connecticut waters. Diorio, who spends the summer time searching for big stripers round Block Island, stays nearer to residence come fall, not desirous to miss huge stripers and albies as they enter the sound.

In line with Diorio, any time from the primary week of September to the third week of October has the potential for unforgettable fishing for large stripers, however early October is reliably prime time. At that time, he notes that the Connecticut River is brimming with peanut bunker. Bass transferring south and west from Rhode Island and Massachusetts hit the pause on their migration to mow down the faculties of young-of-year baitfish. There are three important shows Diorio depends on within the fall: eels, bunker, and the Doc.

Not like Block Island in the summertime, the place Diorio drifts eels on three-way rigs over deeper construction, off Jap Connecticut within the fall, he casts eels tight to shore—so shut, he says, that surf fishermen could be shocked by what number of fish they’re wading previous.

When he’s not guiding purchasers, Diorio usually fishes from the shore himself. There, he likes a glidebait such because the one made by Fatty Lures, bottle plugs and darters, and lengthy, soft-plastic stickbaits just like the Gravity Sort out GT Eel.

The extra steady the climate, the longer good fishing lasts, Diorio says. A tough, prolonged north wind in mid-October might ship the massive bass packing early, however regular circumstances and an inflow of sea herring might maintain the chew alive effectively into November.

Pit Cease 6: EASTERN LONG ISLAND

Peak Migration: October 3 to 17Key Baitfish: Mullet, Bay Anchovies

The arrival of mullet kicks off the autumn run on the East Finish of Lengthy Island, says Captain Craig Cantelmo of Van Staal Reels. The primary chilly fronts in late August or early September get the mullet transferring, and the resident stripers college as much as observe the moveable feast.

Few baitfish are as surf-fishermen-friendly as mullet. They college near the floor and tight to shore, which implies the stripers feeding on them are trying up, able to pounce on swimming plugs and topwater lures, normally effectively inside surfcasting vary.

The prime mullet zone goes from Horton’s Level on the North Fork and wraps round previous Montauk Level. The fishing lasts by the top of September, offered a nor’easter doesn’t ship the bait packing early.

With mullet gone, bay anchovies take over because the baitfish du jour. These small, practically translucent fish spark a few of the most visually spectacular blitzes of the season. Stripers, normally schoolie-sized, type tight colleges, some giant sufficient to cowl the infield at Yankee stadium, and mow down the anchovies. The bass will also be terribly choosy presently.

Anchovy-fed stripers are a bit extra accommodating after darkish, Cantelmo says, when a darter swung by the sweeping currents at Montauk normally will get a chew.

By late October, large numbers of huge bunker start spilling out of Peconic Bay, and when giant, migrating stripers discover them, the fishing may be excellent. However the motion is hit and miss, notes Cantelmo, who stated some years discover him watching large numbers of menhaden stream by with none stripers on them.

The harbinger of the top of the autumn run on japanese Lengthy Island is the herring. Whereas they as soon as performed a bigger position in spurring on late-season motion for giant fish, Cantelmo believes that diehards working the waters of Montauk by Thanksgiving can nonetheless be rewarded for his or her efforts.

Cantelmo makes use of the arrival of seals and gannets to clue him in that herring are transferring by. Journeys are sometimes restricted by how lengthy anglers can stand up to the chilly, however the sight of a pot-bellied bass on the finish of your line will heat even the coldest evening.

Pit Cease 7: LONG ISLAND – SOUTH SHORE

Peak Migration: October 24 to November 7Key Baitfish: Sand Eels

Alongside the sand seashores from Montauk to Lengthy Seaside, fishermen cling their hopes on the sand eel every fall. With out too many storms to churn up the nearshore waters, sand eels will dig in, offering dependable motion for each boat and shore fishermen alongside the South Shore of Lengthy Island.

Not like the mullet run, throughout which bass are watching the floor for his or her meals, when the sand eels are on the town, the bass are trying down, notes Cantelmo. From the seashore, Ava jigs with inexperienced tube tails, or sand eel imitators, dragged by the sand are a tough-to-beat presentation that fools a number of spectacular stripers every fall.

From the boats, fishermen use the identical lure, yo-yoing it alongside the underside, ensuring to hit it and ship up a puff of sand, identical to an escaping baitfish.

Some years, sand eels maintain stripers alongside the Lengthy Island South Shore into December, however most years, the motion begins tapering off by Thanksgiving.

Pit Cease 8: MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ

Peak Migration: October 24 to November 14Key Baitfish: Grownup Bunker, Sand Eels

Round Raritan Bay and Monmouth County, New Jersey, Captain Rob Radlof of Waterman Charters says good fall fishing begins even earlier than the migratory stripers arrive. A robust resident inhabitants of bass will get energetic in September when the mullet begin operating, with fish feeding on these baitfish within the Raritan Bay, alongside the ocean, and within the East River. This creates enjoyable fishing with topwaters earlier than the faculties from up north arrive someday earlier than the top of October.

A decade in the past, Radlof says, the autumn run of striped bass consisted primarily of smaller fish, however over the previous 5 years, colleges of grownup menhaden lingering round New Jersey have created unimaginable fishing for giant fish. In 2020, Radlof had two 50-plus-pounders come aboard his boat within the fall. It was paying homage to huge fish on bunker blitzes that used to occur within the springtime. Dwell bunker, huge metal-lip swimmers, and topwater lures are all glorious selections throughout this a part of the season.

Sand eels current one other fishing alternative as a result of migrating stripers hunt down buildings with huge colleges of those slender baitfish. Steel jigs and soft-plastic paddletails are the most well-liked shows for catching sand-eel-eating bass from the boats.

Radlof is optimistic in regards to the coming fall run of striped bass primarily based on all of the baitfish he’s seen this summer time. He’s hoping for the kind of fall that brings good striper fishing at first gentle, adopted by a brief run just a few miles offshore to search for tuna.

For some stripers, particularly the Hudson spawning inventory, this marks the top of the highway on their fall migration, Radlof feedback, with some fish transferring into the river, the place he thinks they over-winter in deeper holes. This implies anglers can discover stripers proper as much as the shut of the backwater striper season on December 31.

Pit Cease 9: SEASIDE PARK, NJ

Peak Migration: November 21 to December 5Key Baitfish: Sand Eels

It’s all about sand eels when the stripers method the midway level of their journey by the Backyard State, says Ray Kerico of Grumpy’s Sort out in Seaside Park. That stretch of the Jersey coast has ample sandy construction because of the unreplenished shoreline of Island Seaside State Park. The sand eels, arriving from offshore, dig into the sand bars and shoals starting in October. As Thanksgiving approaches, huge colleges of southbound bass hit the brakes to feast on the ample, slender baitfish.

At the moment, Kerico notes that you just don’t wish to be with out a Tsunami Sand Eel, which is the perfect vendor in his store within the fall. Different favorites embody the Invoice Hurley Sand Eel, Tremendous Striper Tremendous “N” Fish, and the Ava jig with a tube tail. For needlefish and diamond jigs, Kerico recommends coupling them with a teaser to extend the percentages of fooling sand-eel-obsessed stripers.

The bass will keep on the sand eels into December, however in years when sea herring swing near the coast, good fishing extends effectively into the twelfth month. Topwater lures and steel lip-swimmers be part of the listing of productive shows.

Kerico says that fishermen normally wave the white flag earlier than the fish, however some diehards, together with the venerable Shell E. Caris, stalk the sand round Seaside Park into January, usually notching their first stripers of the season inside just a few days of the brand new 12 months.

Pit Cease 10: ATLANTIC COUNTY, NJ

Peak Migration: November 21 to Dec 5Key Baitfish: Sand Eels, Peanut Bunker

Storms, or moderately an absence thereof, are important to a robust fall run of striped bass in southern New Jersey, says surfcasting information Steve George. With none storms to disrupt the peanut bunker migration, fish hug the seashores of southern Ocean and Atlantic counties, bringing bass and blues tight to shore. Steve notes that the fishing may be unbelievable in these years, with bass blitzing on the 4- to 6-inch baitfish and taking a wide range of metal-lipped plugs and topwaters. However an enormous storm in late September or early October, when the peanut bunker are pouring out of the bays, will suck the baitfish offshore, and depart south Jersey surfcasters ready till virtually Thanksgiving for the autumn run to start.

Within the latter half of November, sand eels migrate west from the offshore lumps to the seashores, making a re-fueling cease for southbound stripers transferring by at the moment. George says that lots of the bigger fish have moved by by then, many past the three-mile restrict, however that the late-season fish have been rising in measurement in current seasons.

There’s one fact in regards to the fall run of striped bass that holds true irrespective of the place you fish alongside the migration—the fishermen normally quit earlier than the fish. A scarcity of fishing experiences later within the season is sort of at all times the results of fewer fishermen, not fewer fish. The autumn run, and the striper season, solely ends whenever you cease fishing.

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