Waterlands

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Black sea bassPeak season

Channel · Massachusetts

Fort Point Channel

42.36°N · 71.05°W · Channel · Boston Harbor

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Best score today · 7 PM · Scup

78/100Great
Now
7010 AM EDT
Best window
2-11 PMHigh slack
Tide now
Ebbing3.8 ft ▼

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 10 AM · now

Time10ANOW
Score70Great
Tide3.8 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb0.2 kn · toward ESE
Wind7 kn NNEgusts 18 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.8 ft · 5 s
Air temp59°Mild
WeatherMostly cloudy81% cloud
Water65°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Black sea bass is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with MassDMF before you keep a fish.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Black sea bass is best here

Peak season for Black sea bass · 1 more week at peak

Black sea bass season by week of the year. Peak season for Black sea bass · 1 more week at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Black sea bass in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Fort Point Channel

Depth
15-30 ftSlope
Structure
Channel · Inner · ProtectedChannel · slope
Season
Peak seasonBlack sea bass

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Fort Point Channel

Fort Point Channel is a channel in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Depth is 15-30 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads channel, inner water and protected.

Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are black sea bass, striped bass and little tunny. It is peak season now for black sea bass, striped bass, little tunny and scup, and shoulder season for summer flounder and tautog. Black sea bass peak from June through July and in September. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Little tunny peak from September through October.

Tackle & technique

Black sea bass
Black sea bass hold tight to wrecks, reefs, rock piles and jetties, from 15 feet inshore in late spring to well over 100 feet on offshore wrecks in late fall. Anchor or drift right over the structure and fish a two-hook high-low rig with squid or clam, or bounce a small jig on the bottom. The biggest males sit on the highest relief.
Striped bass
Striped bass feed where moving tide pushes bait past structure: inlets, points, jetties, bridge pilings and rips in the surf, usually in 2 to 40 feet of water. Fish dawn, dusk and night hardest, casting plugs, bucktails and soft plastics or drifting live bunker and eels, and chunk bait on the bottom in current. In midsummer the larger fish drop deeper or feed mostly after dark.
Little tunny
Little tunny travel fast in schools that pin bait against inlets, points, jetties and tide rips, usually within a few miles of shore and often in less than 60 feet. Stay off the school's path, wait for it to surface within range, and cast small metal or epoxy jigs with a fast retrieve. When fish stay down, troll small feathers along bait edges and color changes to find them.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • 70
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 70
    • Striped bass 68
    • Bluefish 65

    7 kt NNEL 11:56 AM · 2.5 ftH 6:13 PM · 8.9 ft

  • Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 70
    • Striped bass 68
    • Bluefish 65

    7 kt NNEL 11:56 AM · 2.5 ftH 6:13 PM · 8.9 ft

  • Boston Main Channel

    Channel · 1.3 mi

    70
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 70
    • Striped bass 69
    • Little tunny 65

    7 kt NNEL 11:56 AM · 2.5 ftH 6:13 PM · 8.9 ft

  • Bird Island Flats

    Flat · 1.3 mi

    65
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 65
    • Little tunny 65
    • Striped bass 64

    7 kt NNEL 11:56 AM · 2.5 ftH 6:13 PM · 8.9 ft

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with MassDMF before you keep a fish.