Fishing in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania · Northeast Atlantic Coast & Piedmont · hardiness zone 7b
Fall · September 14, 2026
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Now
20°C · Clear
Today
25° / 16°
Sun
06:40 – 19:10
Moon
Waxing Crescent · solunar good
Bright and still pushes fish deep, into shade and under structure. Work the edges of the day.
- Brown troutbest now — The most nocturnal trout there is. After dark the big ones leave cover and hunt the shallows and the tailouts.
- Black crappiebest now — Suspended over brush and around lit docks after dark, looking upward for anything silhouetted.
In the water now · September
What's biting
The sport fish active near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in September — where they hold, how to know one on the line, and the tactic that usually works. Check your licence and the current limits before you go.
FishMay–OctSmallmouth bass
Micropterus dolomieu
Bronze-brown with vertical bars, red eye, and a jaw that ends level with the eye — not past it.
Where and how to catch it →Photo: Joshua Johnson · CC BY 4.0
Writing your field guide — reading the forecast, the moon and the map…
Overhead · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The sky over the water
The two clocks nothing on the ground can argue with: the length of the day, and the phase of the moon.
The sun
12h 28m of light
Sunrise
06:41
Solar noon
12:55
Sunset
19:10
A month from now the day will be 1h 18m shorter. Enough light for steady growth.
Right now · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Forces at work
Nothing here is a guess. Each of these is read from this week's forecast and this location's climate record, and each one is pushing the season one way or the other.
- Worth watching
The moon
Waxing Crescent · 11%
Waxing, 3 days old. Full moon in 11 days. Fishing outlook: good.
It moves water — in the sea, in a lake's edge, and, by long tradition, in the sap of a plant. Fish feed hardest on the days around new and full.
- Worth watching
Wind
7 km/h now · 20 peak
Calm. Good for spraying, for transplanting, and for spotting a rise on flat water — but calm bright days push fish deep.
It pollinates corn and grasses, dries soil, breaks stems — and it decides where the bait, and therefore the fish, end up.
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