Waterlands

UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN

Black sea bassPeak season

Bar · Massachusetts

Hallets Rock

41.59°N · 70.26°W · Bar · Nantucket Sound

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 8 AM · Scup

78/100Great
Now
7110 AM EDT
Best window
4-11 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Ebbing2.2 ft ▼

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

Notify me when Hallets Rock scores 75+

Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.

Sign in to set an alert

24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 10 AM · now

Time10ANOW
Score71Great
Tide2.2 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb0.7 kn · toward W
Wind14 kn SEgusts 19 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.4 ft · 4 s
Air temp61°Mild
WeatherOvercast93% cloud
Water70°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

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

Source: MassDMF · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Black sea bass is best here

Peak season for Black sea bass · 1 more week at peak

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

Black sea bass in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Hallets Rock

Depth
25-30 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Ledge · Inner · Semi-exposedLedge · flat bottom
Season
Peak seasonBlack sea bass

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 Hallets Rock

Hallets Rock is a bar in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. Depth is 25-30 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads ledge, inner water and semi-exposed.

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

Tackle & technique

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.
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.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Point Gammon

    Cape · 1.3 mi

    74
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 74
    • Little tunny 70
    • Bluefish 66

    14 kt SEL 1:06 PM · 1.1 ftH 8:11 PM · 3.5 ft

  • Great Island

    Cape · 1.3 mi

    74
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 74
    • Little tunny 70
    • Bluefish 66

    14 kt SEL 1:06 PM · 1.1 ftH 8:11 PM · 3.5 ft

  • Gazelle Rock

    Bar · 0.7 mi

    71
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 71
    • Little tunny 70
    • Striped bass 70

    14 kt SEL 1:06 PM · 1.1 ftH 8:11 PM · 3.5 ft

  • Senator Shoal

    Bar · 1.0 mi

    70
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 70
    • Striped bass 70
    • Bluefish 69

    14 kt SEL 1:06 PM · 1.1 ftH 8:11 PM · 3.5 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.