Waterlands

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Atlantic codPeak season

Bay · Massachusetts

The Anchorage

41.67°N · 70.64°W · Bay · Buzzards Bay

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Best score today · 7 PM · Atlantic cod

83/100Great
Now
535 AM EDT
Best window
6-10 PMDusk
Tide now
Ebbing2.7 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions

Thursday, Oct 1 · 8 AM

Time8A
Score64Good
Tide1.8 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood0.6 kn · toward ENE
Wind7 kn Sgusts 14 · steady
Air temp62°Mild
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water65°FPersisted

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Atlantic cod 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 Atlantic cod is best here

Peak season for Atlantic cod · 5 more weeks at peak

Atlantic cod season by week of the year. Peak season for Atlantic cod · 5 more weeks at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • This week

Atlantic cod in Massachusetts

Spot profile

The Anchorage

Depth
3-15 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · ProtectedBay · flat bottom
Season
Peak seasonAtlantic cod

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 The Anchorage

The Anchorage is a bay in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Depth is 3-15 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and protected.

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

Tackle & technique

Atlantic cod
Cod hold near coarse, rocky bottom on ledges, banks and wrecks, commonly from 80 to 300 feet in the Gulf of Maine. Drift over the structure with a diamond or cod jig and a teaser fly above it, keeping the jig within a few feet of bottom, or fish clams on a high-low rig. Check the stock area and season before keeping one, because most of the year cod must be released.
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

  • Pocasset Harbor

    Gut · 0.7 mi

    69
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 69
    • Striped bass 69
    • Bluefish 65

    4 kt ESEL 9:13 AM · 1.2 ftH 4:03 PM · 3.4 ft

  • Red Brook Harbor

    Bay · 0.7 mi

    69
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 69
    • Striped bass 69
    • Bluefish 65

    4 kt ESEL 9:13 AM · 1.2 ftH 4:03 PM · 3.4 ft

  • Hospital Cove

    Bay · 0.4 mi

    67
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 67
    • Striped bass 67
    • Bluefish 65

    4 kt ESEL 9:13 AM · 1.2 ftH 4:03 PM · 3.4 ft

  • Northwest Cove

    Bay · 0.5 mi

    67
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 67
    • Striped bass 67
    • Bluefish 65

    4 kt ESEL 9:13 AM · 1.2 ftH 4:03 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.