Waterlands

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WeakfishShoulder season

Bay · Maryland

Harbor Cove

38.78°N · 76.33°W · Bay · Eastern Bay

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Best score today · 1 AM · Weakfish

77/100Great
Now
5711 AM EDT
Best window
11 AM-4 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding1.0 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions

Tuesday, Sep 29 · 7 AM

Time7A
Score66Great
Tide1.4 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentFlood0.2 kn · toward N
Wind5 kn Ngusts 8 · steady
Sea stateCalm0.1 ft · 2 s
Air temp65°Mild
WeatherOvercast99% cloud
Water70°FModel

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Weakfish is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with Maryland DNR before you keep a fish.

Source: Maryland DNR · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Weakfish is best here

Shoulder season for Weakfish · 1 more week at shoulder

Weakfish season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Weakfish · 1 more week at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Weakfish in Maryland

Spot profile

Harbor Cove

Depth
2-4 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · flat bottom
Season
Shoulder seasonWeakfish

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 Harbor Cove

Harbor Cove is a bay in Eastern Bay, Maryland. Depth is 2-4 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are scup, spot and little tunny. It is peak season now for scup, spot, little tunny and sheepshead, and shoulder season for bluefish, weakfish, Atlantic croaker and black sea bass. Scup peak from June through October. Spot peak from August through October. Little tunny peak from September through October.

Tackle & technique

Weakfish
Weakfish hold along channel edges, grass beds, oyster bars and bridge shadows in bays and sounds, usually in 5 to 40 feet of water, and feed hardest at dawn, dusk and after dark. Swim soft plastics or bucktails slowly near the bottom, or drift peeler crab and bloodworms. They have soft mouths, so keep the drag light and the pressure steady.
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.
Spot
Spot school over mud and sand in bays, tidal creeks and channels and around piers and bridges, generally in less than 25 feet of water. Fish a two-hook bottom rig with small hooks and bits of bloodworm or shrimp, and move until you find a school. In fall the biggest fish run out of the sounds past piers and inlets, and the bite can go all day.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Ferry Cove

    Bay · 0.8 mi

    69
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 69
    • Spot 67
    • Little tunny 63

    14 kt NEH 1:50 PM · 1.3 ftL 7:38 PM · 0.7 ft

  • Little Neck Point

    Cape · 1.9 mi

    68
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 68
    • Scup 65
    • Spot 63

    14 kt NEH 1:50 PM · 1.3 ftL 7:38 PM · 0.7 ft

  • Poplar Island Narrows

    Channel · 1.9 mi

    67
    Top: SpotPeak season
    • Spot 67
    • Spanish mackerel 66
    • Scup 64

    14 kt NEH 1:41 PM · 1.4 ftL 7:50 PM · 0.5 ft

  • Punch Point

    Cape · 1.3 mi

    64
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 64
    • Spot 61
    • Scup 59

    14 kt NEH 1:50 PM · 1.3 ftL 7:38 PM · 0.7 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 Maryland DNR before you keep a fish.