Waterlands

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TautogShoulder season

Cape · Massachusetts

Folger Point

42.52°N · 70.87°W · Cape · Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay

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Best score today · 6 PM · Tautog

75/100Great
Now
616 PM EDT
Best window
6-8 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding5.4 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 6 PM · now

Time6PNOW
Score61Good
Tide5.4 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood0.3 kn · toward W
Wind8 kn NEgusts 19 · steady
Sea stateModerate3.0 ft · 5 s
Air temp58°Mild
WeatherOvercast85% cloud
Water62°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Tautog 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 Tautog is best here

Shoulder season for Tautog · 1 more week at shoulder

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

Tautog in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Folger Point

Depth
4-25 ftSlope
Structure
Point · Inner · ProtectedPoint · slope
Season
Shoulder seasonTautog

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 Folger Point

Folger Point is a cape in Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay. Depth is 4-25 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads point, inner water and protected.

Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are striped bass, little tunny and black sea bass. It is peak season now for striped bass, little tunny, black sea bass and bluefish, and shoulder season for tautog and summer flounder. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Little tunny peak from September through October. Black sea bass peak from June through July and in September.

Tackle & technique

Tautog
Tautog live in rocks, wrecks, bridge pilings and jetties and rarely stray from cover, usually in 10 to 60 feet inshore and deeper in late fall. Anchor so the bait sits in the structure, fish crab on a short rig or a tog jig, and set hard on the second tap before the fish pulls into the rocks. Clams and worms work better in cold spring water; hard crabs are the standard in fall.
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.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Naugus Head

    Cape · 0.3 mi

    75
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 75
    • Little tunny 73
    • Black sea bass 68

    8 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.5 ftL 3:22 AM · 1.2 ft

  • Cloutman Point

    Cape · 0.6 mi

    75
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 75
    • Little tunny 73
    • Black sea bass 68

    8 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.5 ftL 3:22 AM · 1.2 ft

  • Salem Harbor

    Bay · 0.7 mi

    74
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 74
    • Striped bass 74
    • Scup 73

    8 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.5 ftL 3:22 AM · 1.2 ft

  • South Channel

    Channel · 0.7 mi

    73
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 73
    • Striped bass 73
    • Scup 72

    8 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.5 ftL 3:22 AM · 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.