October might be the hardest month of the year to make a fishing decision. Not because the fishing is bad, but because there are simply too many good options. On any given morning, you could chase stripers, look for albies, drop for tog, run offshore or grab a surf rod and walk the beach.
For most of the year, the decision is a little easier. Certain fisheries peak at certain times, and you can usually narrow your choices down based on the season. October throws that simplicity out the window because so many fisheries overlap at once.
Striped bass obviously command much of the attention. By October, the fall migration is gaining momentum, bait is moving and reports start coming from more and more stretches of coastline. One good report of bass blowing up on peanut bunker is enough to completely change the next morning’s plans.
Then there are false albacore. Albies have a way of making you forget about almost everything else when they are around. You can have a perfectly good bass plan laid out the night before, hear that albies were thick somewhere nearby, and suddenly the small metals and light spinning rods are getting loaded into the boat instead.
Bluefish only add another option. They might mix with bass, crash bait inside an inlet or suddenly appear along a piece of open beach. Some of the best bluefish action of the year can occur during the fall, yet they can almost become an afterthought simply because so much else is happening.
And then blackfish season enters the conversation. Once October arrives, tog begin drawing plenty of attention around rocks, wrecks, jetties and other structure. Early in the season, you can often find them shallow enough to enjoy on lighter tackle, which makes it especially difficult to pass up a calm morning with a bucket of crabs and a few jigs.
Offshore fishing might still be hanging on as well. Depending on conditions, tuna opportunities can remain available, and one good weather window might be enough to convince you to point the bow offshore rather than stay close to home. Those opportunities become harder to ignore when you know the offshore season will eventually come to an end.
Even deciding between the boat and the surf becomes difficult. A calm morning might have you wanting to run the boat, while a good wind and reports of bait along the beach could make the surf look like the better choice. Sometimes I spend more time thinking about where I should fish than actually preparing to fish.
That is the blessing and curse of October. You cannot do everything, even though the month constantly makes you feel like you should try. Pick bass and you’ll wonder how the tog bite was. Go blackfishing and somebody will inevitably send you a picture of albies blowing up a few miles away.
Over the years, I have started realizing that chasing every report is usually a losing battle. Yesterday’s bite might not happen again today, and running from one report to another can leave you spending more time traveling than fishing. Sometimes the better decision is simply sticking with the plan you made.
That does not mean ignoring what is happening around you. October rewards versatility, and having a few different rods ready can turn an unexpected opportunity into a great trip. But there is a difference between adapting to what you find and abandoning your plans every time the phone buzzes with another fishing report.
I think that is part of what makes this month special. There is always the feeling that something else is happening just over the horizon. Another beach has bass, another inlet has albies, another wreck has tog, and another boat supposedly found tuna.
The reality is that we are never going to catch all of them. There are only so many weekends, weather windows and daylight hours packed into October. At some point, you have to pick a fishery, grab a rod and accept that you might be missing something somewhere else.
That is not necessarily a bad thing. Having too many good choices is a problem most fishermen would gladly take, especially knowing what the colder months ahead will eventually bring. October gives us a short stretch when almost every direction seems like the right direction.
So this month, fish the surf, take the boat, chase the birds, drop a crab or make that offshore run when the weather allows. Just don’t spend too much time worrying about the bite you might be missing.
October goes by quickly enough without wasting it trying to be everywhere at once.
