October offers some interesting inshore, near offshore, offshore and canyon opportunities as the fishing calendar begins to wind down. For our purposes here, I’ll break down the pelagic options into three distinct zones, the inshore range of 5 to 20 fathoms (30 to 120 feet), 20 to 30 fathoms (120 to 180 feet, aka near offshore), and 31 fathoms (186 feet) to the 100-fathom edge (600 feet) which we’d categorize as offshore. Canyon or blue water fishing is technically 100 fathoms out to 1,000 (6,000 feet) which I’ll cover in the offshore section.
5 To 20 Fathoms
Some might question including the 5-fathom waters in describing big game sportfishing opportunities, but based on what’s been happening in relatively inshore depths of 30 feet or so over the past 5 years I’d say this is totally valid concept. The resurgence and presence of massive bunker schools along the beaches from New Jersey, across the south shore of Long Island and up to into New England coastal waters has brought along an interesting collection of predators that include medium and giant bluefin, various large sharks, southern exotics like cobia, plus an assortment of larger marine mammals. In fact, social media was ablaze with scenes of hungry 400- to 500-pound bluefin tuna jumping out of the water inside Shinnecock Inlet during the first week of September 2024!
And what were these thunnus doing in a spot where most folks were either fluke fishing, casting epoxy jigs for albies, or livelining bunker and spots for stripers? Herding bait of course! Reliable reports at the scene remarked that it appeared these giant bluefin were chasing terrified schools of false albacore, green bonito and bay blues during the melee. But this is not an isolated incident to find these gamesters in relatively shallow inshore waters. I was just wrapping up a wreck charter in less than 100 feet of water in late September of last year, just 3 nautical miles off the beach halfway between Montauk and Shinnecock Inlet when we tossed a small bucket of old frozen peanut bunker and scuzzy squid baits as we were cleaning the boat before heading home in an area where we’d earlier observed at least 30 squid draggers. Those baits we offloaded hadn’t floated 15 feet from the boat when a pair of 400-pound plus giant bluefin rolled up into the bait cloud to gulp down the freebies.
Bluefin and swarms of large sharks have been invading waters as shallow as 20 to 30 feet along most Jersey, Long Island and New England beaches for the past five seasons and new fisheries have popped up to leverage these opportunities. It starts in mid-April when the bunker schools begin to migrate into our area and concludes in mid-December, after the striper season ends. I know a few Long Island area skippers who successfully fought, landed and released giant tuna when they were trolling mojos and bunker spoons in 30 feet of water last year around Thanksgiving. Including a couple on horse ballyhoo on heavy bent butt outfits in the mix when dragging mojos or bunker spoons at slow 3- to 4-knot speeds on the bottom is the usual modus operandi, but I have seen these big tuna hit the mojos and spoons, which causes a ruckus in the cockpit, putting undue stress on gear that was not meant for the task.
If you are into light tackle sport fishing, swarms of green bonito and little tunny (false albacore) will keep your rods bending throughout October in these inshore waters and depending on where you call home port, Spanish mackerel and chub mackerel will also respond to a rapid cast and retrieve method using epoxy jigs, Deadly Dicks, Crippled Herrings among other similar imposters. Big sharks also prowl these waters in October and using any of the aforementioned local football tuna baits should net you positive results. I have personally caught (and released) some of the biggest makos and threshers of my life during the month of October. With the weather turning colder, the north winds blowing and the days getting shorter, shark fishing becomes a go-to staple requiring less than an hour’s run from most of regional ports; don’t pass over these fertile waters on your way offshore, since some of the best fishing might be closer to home than you imagine.
20 To 30 Fathoms
Water depths of 20 to 30 fathoms is what many anglers term “near offshore”, although this is a relative term depending on what inlet or area you call home port. Where I fish south of eastern Long Island’s Shinnecock Inlet and east towards Montauk, 20 fathoms is as close as 7 nautical miles from my inlet and 30 fathoms is a mere 23 nautical miles southeast. This is well within the comfort range of my 228 EdgeWater CC and Mercury 250 ProXS V8 outboard. This near offshore area is where I do most of my business with our seasonal pelagics, from sharking to trolling, jigging, chunking and popping for tuna, or even sightcasting around flotsam and sea buoys for dorado.
October’s first week will usually bid farewell to this area’s population of dorado, especially as the north winds begin to dominate the fall weather pattern and the sea surface temps drop below the magic 70-degree mark. Yellowfin tuna begin to head south as well, following whatever remnants of pinch-off, warm core eddy filaments that are beginning to dissipate and meander southwest to merge back into the Gulf Stream current’s western margin. Bluefin will stick around well into November and even December, so find the bait and you will find the tuna.
One of the best floating food supplies for these voracious fish are the draggers, who are either scalloping in 30-fathom waters, or dragging for ling, whiting, squid or whatever. Big sharks will also follow these commercial boats and will compete with the tuna for a free meal, especially when the draggers are back-hauling their nets, or tossing over discards in a steady stream when underway and sorting out their catch. I dub this type of fishing “dragger hopping” and it can be totally electric at times, with fish hitting almost anything that you can toss into the water during the free-for-all scrum. Chunking while at anchor or drifting near a 30-fathom wreck or draggers near whales/porpoise feeding or bird life can be the ticket to some nonstop tuna frenzies. The majority of your catch this time of year will be big bluefin, with an occasional yellowfin thrown into the mix depending on water temps.
For sharkers who want to catch a big one, outsized makos, threshers, duskies and blue sharks are typically the norm this time of year, especially if you set up in the middle of a dragger fleet or in the vicinity of a 20- to 30-fathom wreck. As I mentioned earlier, this time for the year sometimes leads to the most memorable shark trips, with visions of high-flying makos and tail-walking threshers giving you many pleasant dreams over the winter months. For near offshore anglers that want a temporary break from the sharking and tuna routine, bottom fishing in this area during the month of October will afford a pleasant surprise, as most inshore species like black sea bass, ocean porgies, weakfish, bluefish and fluke are migrating offshore to their wintering grounds along the continental shelf in huge numbers, followed incessantly by those that would make a meal of them.
We’ve had days where we’ve chunked or trolled for tuna, did a can of chum for some steady shark action and then dropped in on a wreck on the way home for triple play rod-bending action. Some of my best tuna trips last year were in early and mid-October, chunking near the 30- to 32-fathom wrecks and hooking up one fish after another, positioned in a fleet of 100 or more boats. If the weather will let you go, this is the place to be that’s the perfect distance from shore during waning daylight hours, giving you and the crew a decent amount of daytrip fishing time with some cooperative and impressive-sized combatants.
31 To 100 Fathoms
This zone is officially offshore territory. It is also “a bridge too far” for many day-tripping fishing boats, especially towards the end of the month when you are getting less than 11 hours of sunlight. Unless you have a go-fast, quad outboard 45-footer that that can tolerate 3- to 4-foot seas at a 40-knot cruising speed, you are leaving in the dark coming back in the dark and cleaning the boat the next day. You are also getting roughly 6 hours of fishing time, so you need to get it right at the first stop. Overnight boats have the best shot for the October offshore scene, where they can travel out the morning of day one and return the mid-afternoon of day two, getting maximum fishing time for the investment of fuel, bait and ice.
October at the edge is not a one-dimensional big bluefin fishery but has many other nuanced layers. This is the time of the year when you can get some really radical temperature breaks in close quarters, where the sea surface can shift 6 to 8 degrees in less than a nautical mile. This happened in mid-September of 2024 where the Hudson Canyon demonstrated such a phenomenon, going from 69 degrees on the cool side to 76 degrees on the warmer extreme. Anglers were trolling bigeye and yellowfin near the cooler side of the break and chunkers were slaying cooperative yellowfins day and night on the warmer, weedy side where it was difficult to troll.
My old 27 Phoenix powered by twin Merc V6 200s was the king of the daytrip fishery out on the edge back in the day, especially the first half of the month of October. We would leave Bay Shore at 5 a.m. in the dark, tiptoe through the back bays quietly, hit Fire Island inlet by 5:45 and watch the sunrise when we approached 25 fathoms at 27 knots on our way southeast to the daily dragger convention near the Tip area of the Hudson. It was usually lines in by 8 a.m. and we’d stay until 3:45 p.m. or so and race the sun back home, always losing that battle. Hookups were typically instantaneous and it was a full day of catching, releasing and breaking off hungry bluefin tuna that ranged in length from 60 to 73 inches and larger.
My best day during the early 2000s was 23 bluefin in one day, with a total of nine brought to the side of the boat. The others were lost due to myriad tackle failures (frayed leader, broken hooks, snapped rods, crunched gears) or angler error on fish that will bring you to your knees when pulling 20 pounds of drag for extended periods of time. Two-speed reels are a must for this type of fishing and will cut your fight times in half. If there was time to take a break from these tackle busters, we’d head south to one of the usual radical temp breaks and chunk near the draggers on the warm side and fill whatever space was remaining in the fishbag with 60- to 90-pound yellowfin. What was truly amazing was that all this action occurred in broad daylight and 30- to 40-pound fluoro leaders were not mandatory to get strikes.
| SIGNS OF LIFE |
No matter what inshore or offshore zone you choose for your October fishing forays, look for the universal signs of life in the area before you invest your precious time.
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Other action in the deeper waters between 31 to 100 fathoms includes plenty of dorado around the lobster pots, but this fishery usually takes a back seat to the four tunas (albacore, bluefin, yellowfin and bigeye) if they are in a feeding mood. Most of the billfish, wahoo and mahi will vacate the area by mid-October as the surface sea temps slip below 70 degrees and by the end of the month it’s all tuna all of the time, with water temps determining which species are on the menu.
Bottom dropping for tiles in 400- to 600-foot waters is also a possibility when out on the edge, but once again, if the tuna are cooperative during daylight and nighttime hours, this fishery is a distant second or third on the menu. When chunking overnight, huge makos can also pay a visit. I have had hooked 70-pound yellowfin literally cut off behind the head in one bite, which is something you have to see to believe. On one overnight trip to the Triple Wreck area northwest of the Hudson last year in mid-October, we had a total of five sharks to the side of the boat during the graveyard chunking shift between midnight and 4 a.m., including three makos, a big dusky and a huge 747-sized blue dog.
October fishing isn’t for the faint of heart. Sea conditions can be unfriendly and days are short. However, if you can get out there, the rewards can be great.
Catch ‘em up!
