Waterlands

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Winter flounderOff season

Cape · Massachusetts

Lands End

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

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Best score today · 6 PM · Winter flounder

77/100Great
Now
199 PM EDT
Best window
10 PM-12 AMEbb tide
Tide now
High8.4 ft

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 9 PM · now

Time9PNOW
Score19Poor
Tide8.4 ftHigh
CurrentEbb0.2 kn · toward SE
Wind12 kn NEgusts 17 · steady
Sea stateModerate3.3 ft · 6 s
Air temp58°Mild
WeatherMostly cloudy72% cloud
Water60°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

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.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Winter flounder is best here

Out of season for Winter flounder · it leaves in 10 weeks

Winter flounder season by week of the year. Out of season for Winter flounder · it leaves in 10 weeks.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Winter flounder in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Lands End

Depth
10-30 ftNearest water
Structure
Point · Outer · ExposedPoint · slope
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 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, scup and bluefish. It is peak season now for striped bass, scup, bluefish and black sea bass, 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

  • Cape Ann

    Cape · 1.0 mi

    64
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 64
    • Striped bass 59
    • Atlantic cod 54

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

  • Cape Hedge

    Cape · 0.9 mi

    60
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 60
    • Scup 58
    • Bluefish 53

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

  • Loblolly Point

    Cape · 0.4 mi

    59
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 59
    • Scup 58
    • Bluefish 50

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

  • Milk Island Bar

    Bar · 0.2 mi

    58
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 58
    • Atlantic cod 52
    • Bluefish 52

    12 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.