What is caught in the Black Sea in October?

Autumn is the busiest stretch of the year on the Black Sea coast. The water starts to cool, the migration gets going and for someone fishing from the shore the choices suddenly multiply.

Species on the ground in October

Target species marked as peaking in October for the Black Sea in our catalog:

• Migrants: Atlantic bonito, Bluefish, Atlantic horse mackerel, European anchovy, Atlantic mackerel, European sardine, Garfish
• Bottom fish: Red mullet, Striped red mullet, Black goby, Black scorpionfish, Tub gurnard, Shi drum
• Inshore: Flathead grey mullet, Golden grey mullet, Picarel, Big-scale sand smelt, Brown meagre

Why October?

Two things happen at once: as the water temperature comes down from its summer peak the migratory species move inshore, and the wind shifts direction and pushes the baitfish towards the shore. Predators such as Atlantic bonito and bluefish follow that baitfish in.

Watch out with Atlantic bonito: the closed season

For Atlantic bonito in recreational fishing the minimum size is 25 cm and a closed season runs from 1 April to 14 August. So in October fishing is open, but in the spring – summer stretch it is not.

Legal basis: Communiqué No. 6/2, Article 15 – Table 7.

Turbot is open in October but limited

Turbot has a minimum size of 45 cm and a limit of 1 per day; its closed season is 15 April – 15 June. It can be fished in autumn, but the quantity limit holds all year round.

Where should you go?

There are fishing grounds marked all along the Black Sea coast on the map — breakwaters, harbor mouths, stream mouths and rocky headlands. In autumn, harbor mouths and the outer sides of breakwaters are markedly more productive for migratory species.

The month data comes from our own species catalog; the minimum sizes and seasons from the communiqué of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Both can change.