It’s straightforward 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. Irrespective of the place you fish within the Northeast, you’re undoubtedly near one of many locations the place the good migration of baitfish and bass brushes by on their specific lane south. I spoke with anglers from 10 of those areas between Maine and New Jersey to see simply how the autumn run evolves and adjustments 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 10
Key Baitfish: Atlantic mackerel
Whereas stripers most undoubtedly 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 protected guess for the autumn run beginning gun.
It builds to a crescendo by early October, with among the greatest fishing and largest fish coming early within the tenth month. However Maine’s fall run appears particularly vulnerable to climate, Curran says. An enormous storm in September may 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 shifting.
The principle baitfish of Maine’s run varies from season to season, however as a rule, Curran believes mackerel are the driving pressure behind the most effective 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 improve their feeding exercise, most of that feeding occurs beneath the floor because the bass seemingly transfer south in smaller teams. Topwater lures are nonetheless one of the efficient displays, says Curran, as they cowl water shortly to seek out energetic fish. After darkish, minnow plugs and enormous gentle plastics are prime decisions.
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 turn into a lot fewer, although a number of straggling schoolies maintain the season alive nearly till November.
Pit Cease 2: BOSTON
Peak Migration: September 5 to twenty
Key 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 few years, the start of the autumn run feels a bit like an exodus. The fish start trickling out in late August, in line with kayak fisherman, Eric Harrison, and by mid-September, that trickle turns into a flood.
The principle factor that adjustments because the fish get into their migration mode, Harrison says, is their willingness to eat. In summer time, discovering the fish will be comparatively straightforward, 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 nearly at all times keen to chew.
Whereas summer time fishing round Boston is usually a quality-over-quantity endeavor, Harrison believes that switches after mid-September, when bigger numbers of slot-size and smaller fish turn into the norm. He adjusts his ways accordingly, switching to smaller soft-plastic stickbaits, although there are at all times some large 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, akin to alongside present edges and in eddies, and retains an everyday test on them, realizing that sooner or later through the fall, a college of migratory stripers will discover them and feast. These bites can final from a number of days to some 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 assorted, 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 development 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 shifting by into November.
Pit Cease 3: CAPE COD CANAL
Peak Migration: September 12 to 26
Key Baitfish: TBD
With the Canal being recognized lately for its raucous daytime blitzes, usually in the course of sizzling summer time days, many fishermen count on the autumn run to crank these feeding frenzies up one other notch, however that’s not often the case. Whereas fall brings some floor exercise to the Canal, a lot of the bass heading west by the Huge Ditch make their strikes after darkish.
Anglers start noticing the bass exiting by the Canal as early as mid-August some years. Faculties of stripers start staging in Cape Cod Bay in early to mid-August, driving the robust tides introduced on by the complete and new moon phases.
These early runners are often a trickle in comparison with what’s to come back in September. Relying on the timing of the moon, the “Huge Push” as native anglers name it, may occur anytime between the primary and final week of September. It’s often a “blink and also you’ll miss it” ordeal, with the fish lingering across the Canal wherever from a number of days to lower than 24 hours. However for the anglers who’re there, the fishing will be intense, with fish from 15 to 40 kilos biting all through a whole tide cycle.
Whereas it’s often robust tides that get the fish shifting, 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 record of baitfish that gasoline the autumn run. Yr to 12 months, peanut bunker are probably 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 dangle their hopes on sea herring. The presence of those silvery baitfish may prolong good Canal fishing to Veterans Day.
For probably 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 shifting by the ditch decelerate to a trickle, and by Halloween week, most have scaled down their sort out 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 solution to catch fall stripers within the Canal, working the nighttime tides with jigs and reside eels is usually a way more rewarding tactic. Get your providing all the way down to the underside, which is the place a lot of the bass might be, as they experience the west tide from Cape Cod Bay to Buzzards Bay on their manner out of Massachusetts.
Pit Cease 4: NEWPORT RHODE ISLAND
Peak Migration: September 19 to October 3
Key Baitfish: Peanut Bunker
The autumn run of striped bass round Newport begins shifting into gear across the third or fourth week of August, in line 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 turn into an everyday prevalence.
Manansala says the most effective 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 dangle 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 will 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 targeted 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 sort out. Nonetheless, because the baitfish begin shifting 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 reside bait can yield some giant bass which might 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 10
Key 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 on the lookout for big stripers round Block Island, stays nearer to dwelling come fall, not desirous to miss large stripers and albies as they enter the sound.
Based on 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 shifting south and west from Rhode Island and Massachusetts hit the pause on their migration to mow down the colleges of young-of-year baitfish. There are three essential displays Diorio depends on within the fall: eels, bunker, and the Doc.
In contrast to Block Island in the summertime, the place Diorio drifts eels on three-way rigs over deeper construction, off Japanese Connecticut within the fall, he casts eels tight to shore—so shut, he says, that surf fishermen can 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 may ship the large bass packing early, however regular circumstances and an inflow of sea herring may maintain the chew alive effectively into November.
Pit Cease 6: EASTERN LONG ISLAND
Peak Migration: October 3 to 17
Key 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 shifting, 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 suggests the stripers feeding on them are wanting up, able to pounce on swimming plugs and topwater lures, often 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, almost translucent fish spark among the most visually spectacular blitzes of the season. Stripers, often schoolie-sized, kind tight colleges, some giant sufficient to cowl the infield at Yankee stadium, and mow down the anchovies. The bass will also be terribly choosy at the moment.
Anchovy-fed stripers are a bit extra accommodating after darkish, Cantelmo says, when a darter swung by the sweeping currents at Montauk often will get a chew.
By late October, large numbers of massive bunker start spilling out of Peconic Bay, and when giant, migrating stripers discover them, the fishing will 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 function in spurring on late-season motion for big 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 shifting 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 7
Key Baitfish: Sand Eels
Alongside the sand seashores from Montauk to Lengthy Seashore, fishermen dangle 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.
In contrast to 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 wanting 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 14
Key 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 powerful 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 colleges 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 big fish. In 2020, Radlof had two 50-plus-pounders come aboard his boat within the fall. It was harking back to large fish on bunker blitzes that used to occur within the springtime. Stay bunker, large metal-lip swimmers, and topwater lures are all glorious decisions throughout this a part of the season.
Sand eels current one other fishing alternative as a result of migrating stripers hunt down buildings with large colleges of those slender baitfish. Steel jigs and soft-plastic paddletails are the most well-liked displays for catching sand-eel-eating bass from the boats.
Radlof is optimistic concerning the coming fall run of striped bass based mostly 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 a number of miles offshore to search for tuna.
For some stripers, specifically the Hudson spawning inventory, this marks the top of the highway on their fall migration, Radlof feedback, with some fish shifting 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 5
Key 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 plentiful sandy construction due to the unreplenished shoreline of Island Seashore State Park. The sand eels, arriving from offshore, dig into the sand bars and shoals starting in October. As Thanksgiving approaches, large colleges of southbound bass hit the brakes to feast on the plentiful, slender baitfish.
At the moment, Kerico notes that you simply don’t need to be and not using a Tsunami Sand Eel, which is the most effective vendor in his store within the fall. Different favorites embrace 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 chances 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 record of productive displays.
Kerico says that fishermen often 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 a number of days of the brand new 12 months.
Pit Cease 10: ATLANTIC COUNTY, NJ
Peak Migration: November 21 to Dec 5
Key Baitfish: Sand Eels, Peanut Bunker
Storms, or reasonably an absence thereof, are important to a powerful 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 will 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 a giant storm in late September or early October, when the peanut bunker are pouring out of the bays, will suck the baitfish offshore, and go away south Jersey surfcasters ready till nearly 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 shifting 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 latest seasons.
There’s one reality concerning the fall run of striped bass that holds true irrespective of the place you fish alongside the migration—the fishermen often hand over earlier than the fish. A scarcity of fishing studies 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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