This is Artificial Lure with today’s Charles River fishing report for Wednesday, September 17, 2025. It’s shaping up to be a fine morning for anglers in Boston: sunrise came at 5:46 am and sunset’s not till 7:53 pm, giving us over 14 hours of crisp daylight. The weather’s classic September—cloud cover is light at 21%, air temps drifting from 60 to 70 degrees, a gentle 4 mph breeze, and just enough humidity at 76% to keep things comfortable. Charles River’s water is holding steady at 62°F, just cool enough to kick the bass into an autumn pattern.The tide’s just coming off the early morning low at 6:21 am and will peak again at 12:30 pm with a nine-foot swing. If you can get lines in the water between 7:08 and 9:08 am, you’re in prime fishing hours thanks to the opposing lunar transit. The evening bite should fire up again between 7:22 and 9:22 pm during the moonrise. According to TidesChart, today is rated excellent for fishing.Now for the fish—locals have reported a solid uptick in **largemouth bass** action around Magazine Beach and up near the Harvard footbridge. A few chunky **smallmouth** came up from the deeper runs just east of the Longfellow. Early risers this week also hooked into steady numbers of schoolie **striped bass** farther east near the Science Museum outflow, with some pushing 22 inches—not bad for the river. There’s chatter on local forums about feisty **pickerel** ambushing smaller shiners around marsh grasses, and the panfish bite, especially for **crappie** and **yellow perch**, is described as “almost easy” around shaded boat docks.Best baits right now:- Topwater poppers or buzzbaits at first light, especially if you’re hitting shallow flats or overhanging willows.- Soft plastic stickbaits or senkos, wacky rigged in pumpkin or green, fished slow near weed edges.- Small swimbaits and jigging spoons if you’re searching out deeper holes.- If you’re going for something live, nightcrawlers and small shiners have accounted for a lot of the recent catches, especially for the perch and crappie.If you’re hunting stripers closer to the dam, bring along a white fluke or chartreuse paddle-tail on a 1/4 ounce jighead—the moving water near the locks has been prime. Locals focusing on the evenings have picked several bass on black spinnerbaits as the sun dips.A couple of my favorite hotspots: the stretch by Magazine Beach is always a local magnet and, with the current water clarity and September’s cool-down, the bite there should be hot. The down-river side of the Museum of Science, around the outflow pipes and pilings, has produced some of the best numbers all week, especially around sunrise and sunset when the baitfish are bunched up.As for the rest of the bite: New England shrimp are still tough to come by with the continued harvest moratorium, but the river’s native and resident species are showing up in healthy numbers. There’s been a slight increase in small invasive green crab sightings near shorelines—if you catch one by accident, toss it to help the local ecosystem.That’s the scene in and around the Charles for September 17th. Get out there and enjoy what’s left of summer’s warmth! Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure—don’t forget to subscribe for all your Boston angling updates. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease dot ai.Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1PnThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

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