Rocktober Blues

The month of Rocktober used to bring wide-open bites with frenzied striped bass churning water under diving birds all up and down the Bay. And this year we might see that happen, but during the last few seasons finding October rockfish has been downright tough. Bird shows have been far fewer and farther between than in years past, and it hasn’t been until Rockvember that the big fall bite really busted loose.

What gives? Maybe it’s the reduced numbers of striped bass in the Bay, maybe it’s a warming climate, or maybe it’s some other factor we can’t lay our finger on. The bottom line: the “why” part of the equation is rather moot when all you really want to do is just go out there and catch some fish. And hopefully the weather patterns of 2025 will bring back awesome October action and this entire conversation will be moot. But if history holds and October ends up being a tougher than expected month for catching rockfish, apply these tactics to boost your catch rate.

1. If the bird shows aren’t happening in a big way, keep your focus on individual fish and small pods of fish found near shorelines, shallow structure, and tributary mouths. Yes, we’re used to this month offering up an open water bite for schooled fish, but if Mother Nature isn’t cooperating and the fish haven’t shifted into that pattern yet you can’t force it to happen. Focus on the pre-schooled fish, however, and you’ll likely discover that you can still get steady bites.
2. Watch the bait. The bait in the creeks, that is, to keep tabs on when the bite shifts to open water. Many anglers start looking out in open water because the calendar says it’s time, but as the past few seasons have taught us, the calendar simply isn’t reliable. What is reliable is the transition of baby bunker from the creeks, to the rivers, to the open Bay—and the fact that rockfish follow them and gather up as the bait gathers up. If you see swarms of bunker at the dock way up a creek or river, that’s a pretty good indication that the rockfish probably haven’t shifted patterns and schooled up yet. After some chilly nights set in and the bait’s pushed out of there, you know the rockfish will likely be on the move, too.
3. When you find fish and they won’t bite, reach for everything in the tacklebox. There have been times in the past few seasons when you’d see fish on the meter or sidescan and couldn’t buy a bite to save your life. Anglers who swapped out lures one for the next as opposed to casting the same thing over and over again were often the ones who went home happy. Rat-L-Traps, small spinnerbaits, small silver jigging spoons, and three-inch pumpkinseed/chartreuse paddletails are a few examples of lures that saw their moments in the spotlight at different times last season. In each case, the specific one that worked only worked for a few days then the fish seemed to change their minds about what they wanted to hit. The trick to keeping the hits coming was constantly swapping out your offerings until you found something that the fish would bite on that particular day.
4. Stay out late. For several years in a row we’ve seen an October bite that seemed to want to crank up here and there but quickly lost steam from one day to the next. The one commonality? When fish did school up and bust bait, it was in the last half hour (or even 15 minutes) of daylight. If the pattern holds the worst thing you could do is start running home at 5:30 for dinner. At the beginning of October the sun sets just before 7 p.m. and by the end of the month sunset will be right around 6 p.m. Check all your lights and headlamps to be sure everything is in working order, and plan to keep casting until you have to turn them all on.
5. Go night fishing in a trib. Often rockfish in the tribs feed best at night during the warmer months of the year, and may continue this practice right up until they shift into “real” fall patterns. There have been periods in recent Octobers when we heard from plenty of anglers who were singing the blues after fishing all day long, yet at the very same time we were also hearing about a red-hot bite for fishermen who started casting after the sun had gone down. Stick with live baits or dark colored lures and fish light-lines around bridges and illuminated piers, and there’s a good chance you’ll discover that the night bite is the right bite.

Are you ready to rumble with the rockfish this Rocktober? We certainly hope so, because Rockvember is still one long month away. And although the fishing has been tough during this month for the past few seasons, if you modify your tactics to meet the moment you can still celebrate this Chesapeake holiday the old-fashioned way—with a rockfish on the end of your line.