Waterlands

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ScupPeak season

Bay · Massachusetts

Broad Cove

43.54°N · 70.23°W · Bay · Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay

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Best score today · 6 PM · Striped bass

81/100Great
Now
6510 AM EDT
Best window
5-10 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Low1.5 ft

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 10 AM · now

Time10ANOW
Score65Great
Tide1.5 ftLow
CurrentFlood0.3 kn · toward WNW
Wind3 kn ESEgusts 10 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.8 ft · 8 s
Air temp70°Warm
WeatherOvercast90% cloud
Water60°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Scup is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with MassDMF before you keep a fish.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Scup is best here

Peak season for Scup · 1 more week at peak

Scup season by week of the year. Peak season for Scup · 1 more week at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Scup in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Broad Cove

Depth
8-25 ftSlope
Structure
Bay · Outer · ExposedBay · slope
Season
Peak seasonScup

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 Broad Cove

Broad Cove is a bay in Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay. Depth is 8-25 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, outer water and exposed.

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

Tackle & technique

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.
Black sea bass
Black sea bass hold tight to wrecks, reefs, rock piles and jetties, from 15 feet inshore in late spring to well over 100 feet on offshore wrecks in late fall. Anchor or drift right over the structure and fish a two-hook high-low rig with squid or clam, or bounce a small jig on the bottom. The biggest males sit on the highest relief.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Watts Ledge

    Bar · 0.3 mi

    69
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 69
    • Black sea bass 65
    • Atlantic cod 62

    3 kt ESEH 4:18 PM · 8.8 ftL 10:53 PM · 1.0 ft

  • Little Cove

    Bay · 0.3 mi

    65
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 65
    • Striped bass 61
    • Black sea bass 58

    3 kt ESEH 4:18 PM · 8.8 ftL 10:53 PM · 1.0 ft

  • Watts Point

    Cape · 0.1 mi

    64
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 64
    • Little tunny 61
    • Scup 60

    3 kt ESEH 4:18 PM · 8.8 ftL 10:53 PM · 1.0 ft

  • East Point

    Cape · 0.2 mi

    64
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 64
    • Little tunny 61
    • Scup 60

    3 kt ESEH 4:11 PM · 8.8 ftL 10:40 PM · 1.2 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.