Waterlands

UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN

Summer flounderShoulder season

Cape · Massachusetts

Fort Point (historical)

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

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 12 AM · Summer flounder

75/100Great
Now
4510 AM EDT
Best window
5-7 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Ebbing6.5 ft ▼

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

Notify me when Fort Point (historical) scores 75+

Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.

Sign in to set an alert

24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 10 AM · now

Time10ANOW
Score45Good
Tide6.5 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentSlack0.1 kn
Wind10 kn NNEgusts 22 · steady
Air temp61°Mild
WeatherOvercast85% cloud
Water64°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

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

Source: MassDMF · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Summer flounder is best here

Shoulder season for Summer flounder · 1 more week at shoulder

Summer flounder season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Summer flounder · 1 more week at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Summer flounder in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Fort Point (historical)

Depth
10-30 ftNearest water
Structure
Point · Inner · ProtectedPoint · slope
Season
Shoulder seasonSummer flounder

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 (historical)

Fort Point (historical) is a cape in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Depth in the nearest water is 10-30 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads point, inner water and protected.

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

Tackle & technique

Summer flounder
Summer flounder lie half-buried on sand and shell bottom and ambush bait along channel edges, inlet bars and ocean reefs, from a few feet deep in back bays to about 100 feet offshore. Drift with the tide and bounce a bucktail tipped with a squid or fish strip along the bottom. The bigger fish move to ocean reefs and wrecks in late summer, so follow them out.
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.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Boston Main Channel

    Channel · 1.4 mi

    69
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 69
    • Striped bass 68
    • Scup 63

    10 kt NNEL 1:49 PM · 2.4 ftH 8:08 PM · 9.1 ft

  • Fort Point Channel

    Channel · 0.1 mi

    68
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 68
    • Striped bass 67
    • Scup 62

    10 kt NNEL 1:49 PM · 2.4 ftH 8:08 PM · 9.1 ft

  • Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 67
    • Striped bass 67
    • Bluefish 63

    10 kt NNEL 1:49 PM · 2.4 ftH 8:08 PM · 9.1 ft

  • Bird Island Flats

    Flat · 1.4 mi

    63
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 63
    • Striped bass 62
    • Little tunny 61

    10 kt NNEL 1:49 PM · 2.4 ftH 8:08 PM · 9.1 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.