UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN
TautogShoulder seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 11 PM · Tautog
- Now
- 523 AM EDT
- Best window
- 11 PM-12 AMEbb tide
- Tide now
- Low1.0 ft
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Dix Island Harbor 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
Saturday, Oct 3 · 7 AM
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
100Tide: EbbingCurrent: 0.6 kn ebbWind & pressure
ECMWF
100Wind: 4 kt SSEPressure: SteadyWater temp & sky
Open-Meteo Marine
90Water temp: 57°F, primeLight: DawnSolunar: Near a majorSeason & habitat · Tautog
Species seasonality
83Season: PeakHabitat: Usable structureDepth: In range
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
No rule for Tautog 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 Tautog is best here
Shoulder season for Tautog · 1 more week at shoulder
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Dix Island Harbor
- Depth
- 8-35 ftSlope
- Structure
- Bay · Outer · ExposedBay · slope
- Season
- Shoulder seasonTautog
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 Dix Island Harbor
Dix Island Harbor is a bay in Penobscot Bay, Maine. Depth is 8-35 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, outer water and exposed.
Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are striped bass, scup and black sea bass. It is peak season now for striped bass, scup, black sea bass and bluefish, and shoulder season for tautog and summer flounder. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October. Scup peak from June through September. Black sea bass peak from June through July and in September.
Tackle & technique
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Nearby spots
Other spots within an easy run
- Channel Rock62
Bar · 1.0 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 62
- Atlantic cod 59
- Black sea bass 59
8 kt NNEL 3:19 AM · 1.1 ftH 9:31 AM · 8.3 ft
- High Clam Ledge60
Bar · 1.0 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 60
- Atlantic cod 57
- Black sea bass 57
8 kt NNEL 3:19 AM · 1.1 ftH 9:31 AM · 8.3 ft
- Poverty Hump54
Bar · 0.5 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 54
- Bluefish 53
- Atlantic cod 52
8 kt NNEL 3:19 AM · 1.1 ftH 9:31 AM · 8.3 ft
- Clam Ledges54
Bar · 0.8 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 54
- Bluefish 53
- Atlantic cod 52
8 kt NNEL 3:19 AM · 1.1 ftH 9:31 AM · 8.3 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.