Waterlands

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ScupPeak season

Cape · Maine

Hendricks Head

43.82°N · 69.69°W · Cape · Casco Bay

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Best score today · 9 PM · Striped bass

81/100Great
Now
745 AM EDT
Best window
5 PM-12 AMEbb tide
Tide now
Flooding7.1 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions

Tuesday, Sep 29 · 4 PM

Time4P
Score79Great
Tide6.3 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb1.3 kn · toward SSE
Wind4 kn WNWgusts 14 · steady
Air temp73°Warm
WeatherOvercast95% cloud
Water59°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 Maine DMR before you keep a fish.

Source: Maine DMR · synced yesterday

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 Maine

Spot profile

Hendricks Head

Depth
15-150 ftDrop-off
Structure
Point · Inner · Semi-exposedPoint · drop-off
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 Hendricks Head

Hendricks Head is a cape in Casco Bay, Maine. Depth is 15-150 ft, with a drop-off. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are scup, striped bass and Atlantic cod. It is peak season now for scup, striped bass, Atlantic cod and black sea bass, and shoulder season for tautog and summer flounder. Scup peak from June through September. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Atlantic cod peak from May through June and 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.
Atlantic cod
Cod hold near coarse, rocky bottom on ledges, banks and wrecks, commonly from 80 to 300 feet in the Gulf of Maine. Drift over the structure with a diamond or cod jig and a teaser fly above it, keeping the jig within a few feet of bottom, or fish clams on a high-low rig. Check the stock area and season before keeping one, because most of the year cod must be released.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Nick Ledge

    Bar · 0.5 mi

    75
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 75
    • Black sea bass 64
    • Atlantic cod 63

    5 kt NNWH 5:57 AM · 7.4 ftL 11:45 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Cozy Harbor

    Bay · 0.5 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Striped bass 69
    • Atlantic cod 63

    5 kt NNWH 5:57 AM · 7.4 ftL 11:45 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Deep Cove

    Bay · 0.5 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Atlantic cod 63
    • Black sea bass 63

    5 kt NNWH 5:57 AM · 7.4 ftL 11:45 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Dogfish Head

    Cape · 1.0 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Striped bass 70
    • Atlantic cod 63

    5 kt NNWH 5:57 AM · 7.4 ftL 11:45 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 Maine DMR before you keep a fish.