Great Spruce Ledges

Tackle & technique

Atlantic bluefin tuna

Bluefin tuna follow schools of herring, mackerel, sand eels and menhaden over banks, ledges and shoals, mostly in the top 150 feet. Troll spreader bars and daisy chains to find fish, then switch to live bait, chunks or stick baits once a school is located. Heavy tackle and a NOAA HMS permit are required, and size-class limits change through the season.

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.