Early Fall Recap
October is usually a great month for fishing, as local waters cool down and bait starts to leave back bay areas.
Some observations.....
1. Montauk to Rhode Island Fall fishing has been good for some, and frustrating for others. The bright spot has been the albie action in that general area, some of the best in years.
A friend and I were talking. He mentioned the pattern of the last 3 years to have been very inconsistent until late in October. I would agree with that. There are still some nice fish for those who follow the tides and current patterns, but it's a lot of work that people are not used to doing. You can't just expect to go to Montauk any more and consistently run into acres of fish blitzing like in the past.
People who claim how healthy the fishery is would be well-advised to turn the pages back 15 years and compare the catches then, to now....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?8039-Why-are-there-no-fish-in-Montauk-right-now
2. There has been a tremendous amount of bait in the back bays and rivers..... some claiming more than they have seen in years...... I would tend to agree with that.
Columbus Day is the usual time when the bait patterns along the ocean front become more consistent....However, make no mistake about it....
that bait is moving now...as I type these words...
whether the water seems fishable or not.....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...shing-patterns
3. The weather seems to be on everyone's mind....just a reminder, as some here have said....
that when bait is migrating it will move whether there is a storm system or not....it just moves differently....There is still a pattern to it....particularly with the
Sept and Oct full moons......
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...on-as-well-%29
4. In sum....... what some may not realize, and has been said here by others...
is that in good weather and bad, bait and fish will be on the move....if you can identify patterns and pick windows where it's not too bad, you can find some very nice fish right now.
Wishing all readers and their families best of luck for the Fall....