Waterlands

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ScupPeak season

Bay · Massachusetts

Quincy Bay

42.29°N · 70.97°W · Bay · Boston Harbor

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Best score today · 7 PM · Scup

77/100Great
Now
755 PM EDT
Best window
5-10 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding5.5 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions

Tuesday, Sep 29 · 12 AM

Time12A
Score56Good
Tide8.9 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood0.3 kn · toward SW
Wind16 kn NNEgusts 30 · steady
Sea stateRough5.2 ft · 7 s
Air temp59°Mild
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water61°FModel

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Scup 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 Scup is best here

Peak season for Scup · 1 more week at peak

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

Scup in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Quincy Bay

Depth
15-20 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · flat bottom
Season
Peak seasonScup

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 Quincy Bay

Quincy Bay is a bay in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Depth is 15-20 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.

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

Tackle & technique

Scup
Scup school over hard and mixed bottom, rock piles, mussel beds, piers and jetties, usually in 10 to 60 feet of water. Fish a high-low rig with small hooks and squid or clam strips on the bottom, and chum with clam to hold a school under the boat. If nothing bites within 15 minutes, move to the next piece of structure.
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

  • Sunken Ledge

    Bar · 0.7 mi

    80
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 80
    • Black sea bass 78
    • Atlantic cod 75

    6 kt ENEH 8:13 PM · 8.9 ftL 2:38 AM · 1.6 ft

  • Houghs Neck

    Cape · 1.3 mi

    80
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 80
    • Striped bass 79
    • Bluefish 74

    6 kt ENEH 8:13 PM · 8.9 ftL 2:38 AM · 1.6 ft

  • Quarantine Rocks

    Bar · 1.3 mi

    80
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 80
    • Black sea bass 78
    • Little tunny 76

    6 kt ENEH 8:09 PM · 9.0 ftL 2:38 AM · 1.6 ft

  • Sculpin Ledge Channel

    Channel · 0.9 mi

    75
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 75
    • Scup 75
    • Striped bass 74

    6 kt ENEH 8:09 PM · 9.0 ftL 2:38 AM · 1.6 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.