Waterlands

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Summer flounderShoulder season

Cape · Massachusetts

Lands End

42.63°N · 70.60°W · Cape · Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 6 PM · Summer flounder

77/100Great
Now
526 PM EDT
Best window
6-8 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding5.3 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
Score52Good
Tide5.3 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood1.9 kn · toward NW
Wind11 kn NEgusts 17 · steady
Sea stateModerate3.5 ft · 6 s
Air temp58°Mild
WeatherOvercast95% cloud
Water62°FObserved

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.

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

Lands End

Depth
10-30 ftNearest water
Structure
Point · Outer · ExposedPoint · slope
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 Lands End

Lands End is a cape in Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay. Depth in the nearest water is 10-30 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads point, outer water and exposed.

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

  • Cape Hedge

    Cape · 0.9 mi

    78
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 78
    • Bluefish 75
    • Little tunny 74

    11 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.4 ftL 3:23 AM · 1.1 ft

  • Loblolly Point

    Cape · 0.4 mi

    77
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 77
    • Little tunny 74
    • Bluefish 72

    11 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.4 ftL 3:23 AM · 1.1 ft

  • Cape Ann

    Cape · 1.0 mi

    76
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 76
    • Atlantic cod 74
    • Black sea bass 72

    11 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.4 ftL 3:23 AM · 1.1 ft

  • Milk Island Bar

    Bar · 0.2 mi

    74
    Top: BluefishPeak season
    • Bluefish 74
    • Little tunny 71
    • Striped bass 70

    11 kt NEH 9:04 PM · 8.4 ftL 3:23 AM · 1.1 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.