You all wanted fall, and it fell. My porch rail had ice on it the other morning. Now we just need those fish to go with that fall. Or will we fall just out of range again this year? One never knows with the fall run but we can rely on the residents to keep us occupied. The problem with the run is most think the resident fish are run fish and run fish are resident fish. It gets weird and fun to follow.

The local run is all the resident fish schooling up and feeding heavy. Then the big striped bass make an appearance (maybe) as they go south. The residents that grew up and are ready will join that migration at some point. The migration is like a summer season of tourists — it begins and ends in waves of schools of fish passing by our beaches. So you will see some large bass being caught and they are either resident fish or early arrivals. We have a lot of very large striped bass that just live in our waters, they don’t all migrate.

Half the drive-on beaches are still closed. I’m hoping they open soon. Then again, I enjoy walking two-plus miles casting all by myself. Now is the time to look at limits on vehicles and see the difference it makes on our resources use — meaning the beaches get less torn up with less traffic.

There is a swale along Delaware Seashore State Park that looks like a river and ends in a delta at the inlet. It is great to walk and fish all the drains. It has the beach cut in half down the middle.

Cast spoons or poppers into the huge drains or cuts. These will not last long. The sand bars are already migrating back to shore. Enjoy them while you can. The town beaches are carved up, too, and the structure is always productive around the beach towns, including storm drains and old jetties.

Plenty of resident striped bass action is occurring around the Delaware and inland bays, Lewes canal and all waterways. Fish around structure, rips and lights at night. Use swim shads, small bucktails in tandem rigs like a speck rig. Small metals work to mimic bunker flashing. The ever popular white swim shad is producing, too. Those little pearl white Tsunamis are nice in the two-ounce range.

The red drum are still around Assateague, just not sure how long that will last. The water temperature dumped a solid 10 degrees from Ian and it has yet to pop back up and probably won’t. We are in fall fishing conditions, with summer suspects around as well. Kingfish are the best bait for red drum, especially the heads. Spot and mullet work well, too, then there is clam and crab. Start with the kings if you can. Just spend a day catching kings, to fish overnight for reds. It makes for a very long but fun day of surf fishing.

Mullet are easier to catch now that the water has calmed down. The bluefish are feeding along the beaches and sand fleas are still in the surf.

Boats are just getting out and back to normal fishing. Get booked for trips, and it will be chilly on that water, so dress appropriately.

I saw guys catching tautog during Ian at the inlet so I’m sure those are doing just fine. The same for the offshore — it doesn’t take long to get back to normal. Fish have to eat, too. There isn’t a Food Lion out there.

There are big striped bass off the northern Jersey coasts right now. They are snag fishing them, which is illegal but NJDNR is on that little issue. You can’t snag and drop bunker for striped bass anymore, because you have to use a circle hook with bait. You can’t even use a plug or spoon to accidentally snag a bunker to then catch a bass either, because you are targeting striped bass with improper gear for bait.

The fall run has begun and it is time to lament if we will see them anywhere near Delaware beaches and waters. Otherwise it is long trips to Jersey waters inside the EEZ. Maybe drive up and hit the beaches for one of the blitzes. They are seeing decent bluefish action, too.

Meanwhile, with Delaware’s incidental catch rule for keeper striped bass, all of that is moot as long as you follow the circle hook law. If you are fishing for, say, perch and not using circle hooks, then you happen to catch a keeper striped bass. Despite the circle hook law, which would require you to put the bass back, instead you are allowed to keep that keeper striped bass.

Delaware opted for the incidental catch rule of the ASMFC’s striped bass circle hook law. So, in essence, the circle hook law is required to target striped bass with bait, but not entirely required to keep said fish if caught by “accident” with improper gear using bait while targeting a different species. If you say you are targeting striped bass with said improper gear ... ticket. It’s best to just use the circle hooks and not worry about it.

The conundrum of fishery laws is we are our own police, so to speak. It is up to us to follow said rules and be honest. Anglers being honest, it’s fun irony.