The temperature drop is wonderful but I am not ready for that morning sore throat when I am not sick, because of the chilly weather. I am ready for gallons of soup or chili after chasing striped bass all morning. It was cold yesterday morning. All of the metal in the field was coated in ice. There’s nothing like lifting the feedbox lid bare handed when you are not ready for that initial shock of ice cold to the touch. What happened to summer? Oh yeah, it’s October.

We do have a visitor this month: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is in the western sky a little after sunset. It is visible to the naked eye but faint. Your camera or phone will pick it up much better. The past two days were the brightest it will appear, but it can be seen each evening until Oct. 26 as it fades more until it is just a dot like a star. It is on its way out of our solar system and won’t be back for 80,000 years. It’s neat to see while you are out fishing. October has been a busy month for celestial events. The northern lights on the 14th were epic! I sat at the Indian River Inlet in awe for an hour and then went home and watched a few more shows form bursts.

The real question is will we ever get Rocktober back? The striped bass run back in the day would be well underway by now. Instead, we are delayed until November usually. The shorter resident schooling bass are all active and this cold snap really turned on the feeding. Striped bass prefer the cooler water of fall in the ’50s, much like the air now. We have some resident striped bass in the keeper ranges too. It should be a decent fall for striped bass. Now the migratory striped bass will probably just swim by, but some do come by Delaware. If you aren’t out fishing, you will just hear about these catches. Migratory fishing is different. You are trying to catch a fish that is swimming by the beach, as you stand on that beach on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, with a line or two in the water. It’s a little ominous when you think about it. That is why there is a fine line between surf fishing and looking like a complete idiot standing on the beach.

DNREC should be stocking the fall trout aka fish in a barrel at some point. It’s the only fish stocking they never announce but everyone knows when it happens, yet everyone is asking when. Freshwater fishing has been producing a decent amount of Chesapeake Channa. Pond hopping has been fun. It’s getting a little safer to walk to a pond edge covered in weeds full of ticks because I’m wearing waders doused in bug spray. I use these in the garden when it is overgrown to avoid bug bites too. Pro tip: Don’t wear black waders gardening when it is 99 degrees outside and be sure to spray inside the waders too.

Red drum are on the catch card from Assateague to Delaware beaches. We are seeing more red drum catches this year in Delaware. Use spot or kingfish heads for bait. Buck’s at Assateague has been carrying spot for bait.
We use the kingfish heads because we clean the fish, and then use the head for bait. Red drum love a fish head. Sand fleas and sand flea Fishbites are working as well. One day they prefer one bait over the other — most anglers are casting out a variety. You have to pick through the scavengers, or you get to be that guy who casts out and his first drop is big fish. It happens. Kingfish and the little summer catches are still around. Pompano are still being caught. There are plenty of dogfish and skate in the surf too.

Bluefish have been caught at the Indian River Inlet. Many other species are around the rocks — sheepshead, trigger and tautog. Sand fleas are still easy to dig up but you have to go a little deeper. The fish in the surf are feeding on an immense amount of tiny sand fleas. Sand fleas for striped bass along the rocks are working great too. It’s a lot of fun using light gear. Croaker are still pretty much everywhere.

It’s getting colder and the warmer days can be deceiving. The water is getting colder — it’s time to break out the waders full time for the surf. Be careful getting wet when the sun is going down. Hypothermia can happen this time of year because you think it’s just going to be warm the whole day and it is not. Bring more snacks — food is energy, and energy is heat. I was close to home for comet pictures because it was easy to see, but mainly it is cold out at night now. Running back into the warm shop or house is a bonus, and there was soup, unlike trekking across a cold beach for that money shot.