Weather-based grades are not available for these dates. Lunar indicators describe moon phase and feeding-period timing.
Choose a location to get local times and weather-based grades where available. Select a date for its timing details.
Planning for October
October is the autumn feeding peak, and for many anglers the best fishing of the year. Fish put on weight ahead of winter and become noticeably less selective about it, so bigger presentations and faster retrieves start outproducing careful ones. Follow the bait into dying weed beds and onto transition banks, and expect the largest fish of the season to be in play.
Fall tactics and species
Fall triggers aggressive feeding as fish prepare for winter. Follow baitfish migrations and target transition zones. Cooling water pushes fish shallow again. Some of the best fishing of the year.
Lunar indicators describe moon phase and feeding-period timing, not fishing conditions. Weather and water temperature are not included. National timing uses a Central US reference.
Get the full A+ to F grade for your water at bestdaystofish.com
Moon Phase Calendar
🌑New Moon
October 29
Top moon-phase score in our rating
🌕Full Moon
October 15
Top moon-phase score in our rating
Major & Minor Feeding Periods
Major Periods (about 2 hours)
Centered on the moon passing overhead or underfoot. Solunar theory treats these as the strongest feeding windows of the day; our full forecast uses them to shape the best hours.
Minor Periods (about 1 hour)
Centered on moonrise and moonset. Solunar theory's secondary feeding windows.
Best Fishing Days in October 2027
The strongest lunar dates in October 2027 are October 15, October 14, October 13, October 16, October 29, ranked by solunar activity, moon phase, and the strength of each day's major and minor feeding periods. Those are the factors a national calendar can actually know. Water temperature moves a fishing grade far more than the moon does, and it depends entirely on where you fish, so enter your location for a full grade that adds water temperature, weather, and barometric pressure.
October is the autumn feeding peak, and for many anglers the best fishing of the year. Fish put on weight ahead of winter and become noticeably less selective about it, so bigger presentations and faster retrieves start outproducing careful ones. Follow the bait into dying weed beds and onto transition banks, and expect the largest fish of the season to be in play.
Want it on the boat or the fridge? This page doubles as a free printable fishing calendar for October 2027. Use the Print or Save as PDF button at the top and your browser produces a clean one-page PDF of the whole month, grades and moon phases included.
What the Fish Are Doing in October
Pre-spawn (5 species)
Coho Salmon, Brown Trout, Lingcod, Pacific Halibut, Redfish (Red Drum) feed hard before spawning in October. Select one of them for your location and its forecast adds up to 11 points while the water says it is staging. Look for coho salmon on staging off river mouths and in the harbors 10-40 ft.
Spawning (9 species)
Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Flounder, Kokanee, Lake Trout, Landlocked Salmon, Redfish (Red Drum) spawn during October. Fish on beds are harder to tempt, so a forecast for one of these species lowers the grade while the water says the fish are spawning. Target pre-spawn and post-spawn species instead, or fish deeper staging areas nearby. Some species appear in both lists because spawning runs across the month, with northern waters lagging southern ones by several weeks.
Snook are recovering from the spawn in October. Expect a short lull before they return to normal feeding, and favor slower presentations near spawning flats.