Best destinations for fall fishing

Fall offers amazing fishing opportunities all over the country. The low crowds, fire colored leaves and hungry fish make for the best time of year to be on the water, just about anywhere. Some locations and bodies of water, however, offer particularly great opportunities for world-class fishing, unspoiled scenery and thrilling fall run species.

Below is our list of just some of the fisheries across the U.S that every angler should experience for at least one fall. 

The Water: The Madison River

The Location: Montana

The fish: Rainbow and Brown Trout

The Madison originates in Yellowstone National Park then runs north into Montana. This is a fly angler’s paradise. When you look up from the water, you will be greeted by the peaks of the Gallatin range. Summer usually sees high traffic and little solitude on the river, but when fall takes hold, the crowds ease and you have more riffles to yourself. 

September and October will still feature fly hatches that hungry trout will rise for, but the cooler weather also makes for great streamer fishing.

From late September through early November, yellow leaves line the banks of the river. Bugling bull elk can also be seen, and heard, from private ranches. When you land your brown trout, quickly hold it up against the backdrop of the snow capped Gallatin range and know that you are in a fishing paradise.

The Water: The Gulf of Mexico

The Location: New Orleans

The Fish: Bull Redfish

October brings cold fronts that begin cutting through the oppressive summer heat the South is known for. Water temperatures will start falling as well, bringing schools of bull redfish and sea trout into the inshore marshes. 

Chilled mornings on the salt marsh will give way to warm afternoons and reward you with sight fishing for tailing bull reds. 

This is your best chance at catching a personal best redfish as big bulls school up and head inshore looking for shrimp, crabs and schools of mullet. Along with reds, you will find black drum, sea trout and sheepshead, all moving into inshore channels and marshes, looking for warmer temps, schooling bait fish and crustaceans. 

After you release your trophy red back into the marsh, make sure and take a long look out toward the Gulf of Mexico.  There may be no fishing experience quite like the salt marshes of New Orleans.

The Water: Chesapeake Bay

The Location: Virginia/Maryland

The Fish: Striper

When the Atlantic cools off, it's time for stripers. Migrating schools, of what could be called the greatest game fish, start traveling south, looking for warmer water. Striper schools will pile into the Chesapeake Bay looking for balls of anchovies. 

Striper numbers are nto like they once were, but you will still find plenty of opportunity for these hard fighting fish. 

This world-class fishing is not for the faint of heart, however. Fishing from the beach in October is anything but a day at the beach. Wade fishing consists of being thigh deep in cool water and an occasional rogue breaker, soaking you to the bone. Boat anglers will also have to pay special attention to their Fishbrain Weather Forecasts as the deeper into the fall you go, the more unpredictable the Atlantic and Bay can be. 

The rewards are worth it, though. You will hardly feel the cold water spray your face when you finally set the hook on that 20 pound striper and fight it onto the shore.

The Water: Lake Michigan and Tributaries

The Location: Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois

The Fish: Chinook Salmon, Brown Trout and Walleye

The fall colors in Michigan are just like the fishing; fantastic. The Great Lake state may feature the most spectacular scenery on this list and the best diversity of fish to catch. In October, river tributaries of Lake Michigan will begin to fill with chinook and coho salmon, heading to spawning grounds. 

Giant brown trout replicate the salmon’s journey at around the same size. During the spawn these already great fighting fish can get even more aggressive.  

Lake Michigan will produce great walleye fishing this time of year. The prized eating fish will start aggressively feeding on baitfish. Unlike trout and salmon, though, walleye spawn in spring and are now feeding aggressively to put on weight before the barren winter months.

Lake trout fishing can also be spectacular inthe fall. Lakers will live in extreme depths all summer long, preferring the cool water. Fall will pull these fish into the shallows, however to spawn, just like browns and salmon, providing another great opportunity to catch one of these salmonids.

The Water: Lake Okeechobee

The Location: Florida

The Fish: Bass

Okeechobee is a world famous bass lake, but the sweltering Florida summers sometimes make bass dive deep, leaving you with mornings and evenings to fish. October brings relief to the inland heat, though and the cooling weather leaves you more time during the day to land a trophy sized bass.

Mid October generally signals the arrival of large bass into shallower water. The cool weather triggers the bass to start a feeding frenzy on small, spawning, baitfish. Baitfish will spawn in the shallows closer to the bank, which is heavily weeded on Okeechobee. This makes a weedless rig imperative if fishing from the bank. 

Soft plastics, spinners and live baits, like shad, are all popular go to’s this time of year. When you set that hook your personal best could easily be on the other end of your line.

The Water: The Outer Banks, Atlantic Ocean

The Location: North Carolina

The Fish: Redfish, Striper, Bluefish

South of the Chesapeake, the Outer Banks of North Carolina see the same striper migration as up north. The 200 mile chain of road connected islands are right in the path of the striper migration that makes the Chesapeake Bay such a great destination. 

When casting at a striper feeding frenzy, however, you may be lucky enough to pick off a bluefish amidst the school. For those targeting bluefish as they chase down and blitz schools of bait fish, make sure and target an incoming tide that the baitfish will run in on. Bluefish may not get as big as a fall run striper but their tenacity and fight are well worth hooking one. If targeting blues, make sure and use a heavy fluorocarbon, or braided leader to avoid the impressive set of teeth each blue has. 

Redfish will also be running toward inland waters similarly and, just like New Orleans, this is your chance to catch a true monster. The all time redfish world record comes off the shore of North Carolina near Avon weighing in at just under 95 pounds.

Fall is truly a treasure for every angler. Every body of water holds a special value in fall and the above list is just a small handful of beautiful places and exceptional opportunities to catch fish in autumn. We encourage every angler to experience the fall and everything it has to offer. Don’t wait until the winter of your fishing career. Explore these fall fisheries and all the others around you this year.