UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN
TautogShoulder seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 6 AM · Tautog
- Now
- 575 PM EDT
- Best window
- 5-9 PMEbb tide
- Tide now
- Ebbing2.9 ft ▼
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Dumpling Rocks scores 75+
Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.
14-day forecast
Best days to fish
24-hour conditions
Sunday, Sep 27 · 1 PM
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
100Tide: EbbingCurrent: 0.5 kn ebbWind & pressure
ECMWF
84Wind: 10 kt NNEPressure: RisingWater temp & sky
NDBC + Open-Meteo Marine
55Water temp: 65°F, warmLight: OvercastSolunar: Near a majorSeas: 4.9 ftSeason & habitat · Tautog
Species seasonality
83Season: ShoulderHabitat: Prime structureDepth: In range
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
No rule for Tautog is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with MassDMF before you keep a fish.
Source: MassDMF · synced today
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Tautog is best here
Shoulder season for Tautog · 1 more week at shoulder
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Dumpling Rocks
- Depth
- 10-40 ftSlope
- Structure
- Ledge · Outer · ExposedLedge · slope
- Season
- Shoulder seasonTautog
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 Dumpling Rocks
Dumpling Rocks is a bar in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Depth is 10-40 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads ledge, outer water and exposed.
Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are scup, striped bass and little tunny. It is peak season now for scup, striped bass, little tunny and black sea bass, and shoulder season for tautog and summer flounder. Scup peak from June through September. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Little tunny peak from September through October.
Tackle & technique
- Tautog
- Tautog live in rocks, wrecks, bridge pilings and jetties and rarely stray from cover, usually in 10 to 60 feet inshore and deeper in late fall. Anchor so the bait sits in the structure, fish crab on a short rig or a tog jig, and set hard on the second tap before the fish pulls into the rocks. Clams and worms work better in cold spring water; hard crabs are the standard in fall.
- 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.
- 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
- Lazy Rocks79
Bar · 1.1 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 79
- Striped bass 71
- Little tunny 68
8 kt SEL 10:43 PM · 1.1 ftH 4:23 AM · 2.7 ft
- Round Hill Point78
Cape · 0.4 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 78
- Little tunny 70
- Scup 69
8 kt SEL 10:43 PM · 1.1 ftH 4:23 AM · 2.7 ft
- Ragged Rocks78
Bar · 0.6 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 78
- Striped bass 71
- Little tunny 67
8 kt SEL 10:43 PM · 1.1 ftH 4:23 AM · 2.7 ft
- The Sandspit71
Bar · 0.7 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 71
- Scup 69
- Little tunny 67
8 kt SEL 10:43 PM · 1.1 ftH 4:23 AM · 2.7 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.