Waterlands

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Summer flounderShoulder season

Cape · Massachusetts

Windmill Point (historical)

42.35°N · 71.05°W · Cape · Boston Harbor

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 10 PM · Summer flounder

75/100Great
Now
431 AM EDT
Best window
7 PM-12 AMEbb tide
Tide now
Flooding2.2 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions

Thursday, Oct 1 · 7 AM

Time7A
Score35Fair
Tide2.7 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb0.3 kn · toward ESE
Wind6 kn SWgusts 14 · steady
Air temp60°Mild
WeatherClear14% cloud
Water66°FPersisted

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.

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

Windmill Point (historical)

Depth
15-25 ftNearest water
Structure
Point · Inner · ProtectedPoint · flat bottom
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 Windmill Point (historical)

Windmill Point (historical) is a cape in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Depth in the nearest water is 15-25 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads point, inner water and protected.

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

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.
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.
Bluefish
Bluefish travel in size-sorted schools and feed where tide pushes bait past structure: inlet mouths, rips, shoal edges and the surf line, mostly in water shallower than 60 feet. Look for birds and breaking bait and cast metal or poppers into it, or soak cut bunker or mullet on the bottom from the beach. Use a short wire or heavy leader because their teeth cut light line.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Boston Main Channel

    Channel · 1.5 mi

    66
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 66
    • Striped bass 65
    • Black sea bass 62

    8 kt NH 6:03 AM · 7.9 ftL 11:56 AM · 2.5 ft

  • 64
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 64
    • Bluefish 61
    • Little tunny 61

    8 kt NH 6:03 AM · 7.9 ftL 11:56 AM · 2.5 ft

  • Fort Point Channel

    Channel · 0.4 mi

    64
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 64
    • Striped bass 64
    • Black sea bass 61

    8 kt NH 6:03 AM · 7.9 ftL 11:56 AM · 2.5 ft

  • Bird Island Flats

    Flat · 1.6 mi

    60
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 60
    • Striped bass 60
    • Bluefish 58

    8 kt NH 6:03 AM · 7.9 ftL 11:56 AM · 2.5 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.