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Winter flounderOff seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 6 AM · Winter flounder
- Now
- 252 AM EDT
- Best window
- 4-9 AMFlood tide
- Tide now
- Low1.6 ft
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Shank Painter Bar 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
Saturday, Sep 26 · 5 PM
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS + Open-Meteo Marine
73Tide: EbbingCurrent: 0.5 knWind & pressure
ECMWF
0Wind over the limit · capped at 30Wind: 25 kt ENEPressure: Falling fastWater temp & sky
NDBC + Open-Meteo Marine
47Seas over the limit · capped at 30Water temp: 58°F, primeLight: DuskSolunar: Between periodsSeas: 7.7 ftSeason & habitat · Winter flounder
Species seasonality
20Off season · capped at 35Season: Off seasonHabitat: Poor fitDepth: In range
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
No rule for Winter 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 Winter flounder is best here
Out of season for Winter flounder · it leaves in 11 weeks
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Shank Painter Bar
- Depth
- 20-150 ftDrop-off
- Structure
- Bar · Inner · Semi-exposedBar · drop-off
- Season
- Off seasonWinter 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 Shank Painter Bar
Shank Painter Bar is a bar in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts. Depth is 20-150 ft, with a drop-off. Its profile reads bar, inner water and semi-exposed.
Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are striped bass, scup and bluefish. It is peak season now for striped bass, scup, bluefish and Atlantic cod, and shoulder season for tautog and summer flounder. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Scup peak from June through September. Bluefish peak from June through July and in September.
Tackle & technique
- Winter flounder
- Winter flounder spend late winter and spring on mud and sand bottom in harbors, coves and tidal channels, often in 5 to 30 feet. Anchor, chum with crushed clams or mussels, and fish small long-shank hooks with worm or clam on the bottom, tapping the rig to stir up mud. The bite is light, so use a sensitive rod.
- 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.
- 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.
Nearby spots
Other spots within an easy run
- Hatches Harbor70
Bay · 1.8 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 70
- Scup 60
- Bluefish 58
8 kt ESEH 8:03 AM · 7.8 ftL 1:59 PM · 2.1 ft
- Long Point70
Bar · 2.9 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 70
- Scup 61
- Bluefish 59
8 kt ESEH 8:03 AM · 7.8 ftL 1:59 PM · 2.1 ft
- Herring Cove67
Bay · 0.6 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 67
- Scup 59
- Bluefish 58
8 kt ESEH 8:03 AM · 7.8 ftL 1:59 PM · 2.1 ft
- Wood End Bar63
Bar · 1.3 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 63
- Scup 61
- Bluefish 59
8 kt ESEH 8:03 AM · 7.8 ftL 1:59 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.