Waterlands

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Summer flounderShoulder season

Cape · Massachusetts

Ricketsons Point

41.58°N · 70.94°W · Cape · Buzzards Bay

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Best score today · 2 AM · Summer flounder

82/100Great
Now
489 AM EDT
Best window
6-10 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing1.2 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 9 AM · now

Time9ANOW
Score48Good
Tide1.2 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentSlack0.2 kn
Wind11 kn NNEgusts 21 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.6 ft · 3 s
Air temp61°Mild
WeatherOvercast96% cloud
Water67°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

Ricketsons Point

Depth
5-20 ftNearest water
Structure
Point · Inner · Semi-exposedPoint · 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 Ricketsons Point

Ricketsons Point is a cape in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Depth in the nearest water is 5-20 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.

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

  • Moshers Point

    Cape · 1.2 mi

    75
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 75
    • Striped bass 73
    • Bluefish 70

    11 kt NNEL 10:22 AM · 0.9 ftH 5:04 PM · 3.4 ft

  • Clarks Cove

    Bay · 1.8 mi

    71
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 71
    • Bluefish 70
    • Striped bass 70

    11 kt NNEL 10:22 AM · 0.9 ftH 5:04 PM · 3.4 ft

  • Barekneed Rocks

    Bar · 1.5 mi

    70
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 70
    • Bluefish 69
    • Little tunny 68

    11 kt NNEL 10:07 AM · 0.9 ftH 5:13 PM · 3.0 ft

  • Apponagansett Bay

    Bay · 0.2 mi

    69
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 69
    • Bluefish 68
    • Little tunny 68

    11 kt NNEL 10:22 AM · 0.9 ftH 5:04 PM · 3.4 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.