First for the surf: Migratory striped bass in coastal waters along Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island provide late-summer and early-fall surf-casting sport. Southern New England’s coastal hotspots include:

Plum Island (Massachusetts). Route 1A in Newburyport provides access to Plum Island Boulevard and the main sandbar (seven miles long). Parking is plentiful after Labor Day. Use fresh bait. Tie solid knots to sharp hooks (5/0 to 7/0). Carry medium spinning rods spooled with 200 yards of 20-pound test. Fly anglers need 8- to 9-weight rods with some backbone. A Lefty’s Deceiver or sand-eel pattern will interest striped bass. Topwater plugs, sea worms, live eels, chunks and bottom-bounced jigs all work. Night anglers catch the cow bass. Want bluefish? Hit the surf just before sunrise.

For fall-running striped bass, try Connecticut’s Harkness Memorial State Park (Waterford). Cut-bait and surface plugs work, with live eels as a Plan B option. Access: I-95 to Exit 75 to New London onto Route 213 puts you there. Bonus bluefish might be in the mix. Fish two hours on either side of the tidal high.

Rhode Island, a diminutive state with ample surfcasting opportunities, is home to many autumn striper hotspots. These include Harbor of Refuge (South Kingston; Route 1 to Route 108 to Galilee Road), Point Judith and Narrow River Inlet (Narragansett via Route 1), and Brenton Point State Park (Newport, Route 138 access). Cast sea worms, swimming plugs and streamer flies.

Got turkeys? Northern New England wild turkey opportunities in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont offer a chance at a fall bird.

York County’s Mount Agamenticus region (30,000 acres in the towns of Eliot, Ogunquit, Wells, York and South Berwick) holds many Maine fall flocks as original trap-and-transfer efforts took place here decades ago. Season dates: Zone 1, archery only, Oct. 10-24, 2009; Zone 2, archery only, Oct. 1-30, 2009; Zone 3, archery and shotgun, Oct. 17-23, 2009. Access: I-95. Listen for flocks roosted in white pines and hardwoods adjacent to agricultural fields in the region. Hunt them after fly-down.

New Hampshire’s three-month archery-only season for either-sex wild turkeys runs from Sept. 15 through Dec.15 and coincides with bow whitetails. The Connecticut River Valley region holds the most Granite State turkeys. Hunt the densest populations in Wildlife Management Units D1, D2, G, H1, H2, I1, I2 and K. A five-day shotgun season also is offered here from Oct. 12-16, 2009. Access: Route 101 west, plus routes 9 and 10.

Vermont’s west-central region along the New York State border holds the most turkey flocks and longest fall gun season, often running from late October into early November (dates unavailable as of this writing). Best locations: the southern Champlain Valley and southwestern foothills. To increase success here in New England, bird-nosed dogs such as English setters and Labs are sometimes used to find and/or flush fall turkeys before hunters set up in a blind and call gregarious flock mates back to the break site, a legal tactic in all three northern New England states.