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ScupPeak seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 6 PM · Scup
- Now
- 571 AM EDT
- Best window
- 5-8 PMFlood tide
- Tide now
- Ebbing3.4 ft ▼
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Ames Cove scores 75+
Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.
14-day forecast
Best days to fish
24-hour conditions
Sunday, Sep 27 · 8 AM
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
100Tide: FloodingCurrent: 0.6 kn floodWind & pressure
ECMWF
74Wind: 11 kt NEPressure: FallingWater temp & sky
Open-Meteo Marine
62Water temp: 57°F, primeLight: DawnSolunar: Between periodsSeas: 3.9 ftSeason & habitat · Scup
Species seasonality
80Season: PeakHabitat: Usable structureDepth: In range
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
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
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Ames Cove
- Depth
- 1-8 ftFlat bottom
- Structure
- Bay · Inner · ProtectedBay · flat bottom
- 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 Ames Cove
Ames Cove is a bay in Penobscot Bay, Maine. Depth is 1-8 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and protected.
Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are striped bass, tautog and black sea bass. It is peak season now for striped bass, black sea bass, bluefish and haddock, and shoulder season for tautog and summer flounder. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Tautog peak in May and from October through November. Black sea bass peak from June through July and in September.
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.
- Tautog
- Tautog live in rocks, wrecks, bridge pilings and jetties and rarely stray from cover, usually in 10 to 60 feet inshore and deeper in late fall. Anchor so the bait sits in the structure, fish crab on a short rig or a tog jig, and set hard on the second tap before the fish pulls into the rocks. Clams and worms work better in cold spring water; hard crabs are the standard in fall.
Nearby spots
Other spots within an easy run
- Dark Harbor73
Bay · 0.5 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 73
- Atlantic cod 70
- Black sea bass 70
7 kt NNEL 3:11 AM · 1.2 ftH 9:24 AM · 8.9 ft
- Shattuck Point73
Cape · 0.5 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 73
- Black sea bass 63
- Bluefish 63
7 kt NNEL 3:11 AM · 1.2 ftH 9:24 AM · 8.9 ft
- Gilkey Harbor73
Bay · 1.0 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 73
- Black sea bass 69
- Tautog 66
7 kt NNEL 3:11 AM · 1.2 ftH 9:24 AM · 8.9 ft
- Birch Point73
Cape · 1.2 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 73
- Black sea bass 63
- Bluefish 63
7 kt NNEL 3:11 AM · 1.2 ftH 9:24 AM · 8.9 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.