Waterlands

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Little tunnyPeak season

Bay · Massachusetts

Menemsha Bight

41.35°N · 70.78°W · Bay · Vineyard Sound

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Best score today · 6 PM · Little tunny

82/100Great
Now
631 PM EDT
Best window
5-8 PMEbb tide
Tide now
High2.8 ft

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 1 PM · now

Time1PNOW
Score63Good
Tide2.8 ftHigh
CurrentFlood0.7 kn · toward E
Wind6 kn SWgusts 9 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.2 ft · 6 s
Air temp69°Warm
WeatherMostly cloudy69% cloud
Water71°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Little tunny 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 Little tunny is best here

Peak season for Little tunny · 5 more weeks at peak

Little tunny season by week of the year. Peak season for Little tunny · 5 more weeks at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Little tunny in Massachusetts

Spot profile

Menemsha Bight

Depth
8-35 ftSlope
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · slope
Season
Peak seasonLittle tunny

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 Menemsha Bight

Menemsha Bight is a bay in Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts. Depth is 8-35 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.

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

Tackle & technique

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.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Squibnocket Bight

    Bay · 2.6 mi

    75
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 75
    • Striped bass 69
    • Little tunny 68

    6 kt SWL 6:25 PM · 0.8 ftH 12:40 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Peases Point

    Cape · 0.9 mi

    70
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 70
    • Little tunny 66
    • Striped bass 65

    6 kt SWH 1:22 PM · 2.8 ftL 8:03 PM · 0.8 ft

  • Gay Head

    Cape · 3.0 mi

    67
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 67
    • Striped bass 67
    • Scup 66

    6 kt SWL 7:12 PM · 0.8 ftH 1:19 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Devils Bridge

    Bar · 3.5 mi

    66
    Top: BluefishPeak season
    • Bluefish 66
    • Scup 66
    • Little tunny 64

    6 kt SWL 7:12 PM · 0.8 ftH 1:19 AM · 2.3 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.