Waterlands

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Summer flounderShoulder season

Bay · Massachusetts

Bass Hole

41.73°N · 70.24°W · Bay · Cape Cod Bay

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Best score today · 6 AM · Summer flounder

77/100Great
Now
636 AM EDT
Best window
6-8 AMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding4.8 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions

Monday, Oct 5 · 4 AM

Time4A
Score35Fair
Tide4.1 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood1.0 kn · toward SSW
Wind10 kn SWgusts 20 · steady
Air temp66°Mild
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water62°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.

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

Bass Hole

Depth
Up to 3 ftNearest water
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · 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 Bass Hole

Bass Hole is a bay in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts. Depth in the nearest water is up to 3 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, 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 scup, and shoulder season for summer flounder and tautog. 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

  • Mussel Point

    Cape · 2.7 mi

    81
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 81
    • Striped bass 79
    • Bluefish 74

    9 kt NEH 9:03 AM · 8.3 ftL 3:14 PM · 2.1 ft

  • Barnstable Harbor

    Bay · 1.6 mi

    80
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 80
    • Striped bass 79
    • Scup 77

    9 kt NEH 9:03 AM · 8.3 ftL 3:14 PM · 2.1 ft

  • Horseshoe Shoal

    Bar · 2.4 mi

    79
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 79
    • Bluefish 76
    • Striped bass 72

    9 kt NEH 9:03 AM · 8.3 ftL 3:14 PM · 2.1 ft

  • The Cove

    Bay · 2.5 mi

    78
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 78
    • Striped bass 77
    • Scup 76

    9 kt NEH 9:03 AM · 8.3 ftL 3:14 PM · 2.1 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.