Waterlands

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ScupPeak season

Bay · Massachusetts

Sewards Cove

43.07°N · 70.68°W · Bay · Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay

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Best score today · 2 PM · Striped bass

83/100Great
Now
764 PM EDT
Best window
5-10 PMEbb tide
Tide now
High8.6 ft

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

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24-hour conditions

Monday, Sep 28 · 5 PM

Time5P
Score78Great
Tide1.5 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb1.4 kn · toward SSW
Wind5 kn Sgusts 12 · steady
Air temp62°Mild
WeatherClear0% cloud
Water60°FPersisted

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

Sewards Cove

Depth
6-35 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 Sewards Cove

Sewards Cove is a bay in Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay. Depth is 6-35 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 little tunny. It is peak season now for scup, striped bass, little tunny and bluefish, and shoulder season for summer flounder and tautog. Scup peak from June through September. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Little tunny peak from September through October.

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.
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

  • White Island Reef

    Bar · 0.7 mi

    79
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 79
    • Black sea bass 64
    • Striped bass 64

    4 kt EH 4:11 PM · 8.6 ftL 10:38 PM · 1.1 ft

  • Phillips Rock

    Bar · 0.7 mi

    79
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 79
    • Black sea bass 64
    • Striped bass 64

    4 kt EH 4:11 PM · 8.6 ftL 10:38 PM · 1.1 ft

  • Sewards Point

    Cape · 0.2 mi

    74
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 74
    • Scup 71
    • Little tunny 62

    4 kt EH 4:11 PM · 8.6 ftL 10:38 PM · 1.1 ft

  • West Sister

    Bar · 0.6 mi

    71
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 71
    • Striped bass 64
    • Atlantic cod 58

    4 kt EH 4:11 PM · 8.6 ftL 10:38 PM · 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.