Waterlands

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HaddockPeak season

Bay · Maine

False Whitehead Harbor

44.00°N · 69.12°W · Bay · Penobscot Bay

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Best score today · 7 PM · Haddock

83/100Great
Now
572 AM EDT
Best window
5-9 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Flooding3.7 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions

Wednesday, Sep 23 · 11 PM

Time11P
Score57Good
Tide8.4 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb0.6 kn · toward WSW
Wind2 kn ENEgusts 17
Sea stateModerate2.3 ft · 7 s
Air temp50°Cool
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water58°FModel

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Haddock 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 Haddock is best here

Peak season for Haddock · 1 more week at peak

Haddock season by week of the year. Peak season for Haddock · 1 more week at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • This week

Haddock in Maine

Spot profile

False Whitehead Harbor

Depth
10-20 ftSlope
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · slope
Season
Peak seasonHaddock

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 False Whitehead Harbor

False Whitehead Harbor is a bay in Penobscot Bay, Maine. Depth is 10-20 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-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

Haddock
Haddock feed on gravel, sand and clay bottom along the edges of banks and ledges, mostly in 120 to 400 feet. They have small, soft mouths, so fish clam or squid on small hooks on a high-low rig, or a light jig with teasers, right on the bottom. Set the hook gently and keep steady pressure on the way up.
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

  • Elwell Point

    Cape · 0.5 mi

    74
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 74
    • Scup 65
    • Black sea bass 64

    8 kt NNWH 5:51 AM · 7.6 ftL 11:32 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Sunken Ledge

    Bar · 0.9 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Black sea bass 72
    • Atlantic cod 70

    8 kt NNWH 5:51 AM · 7.6 ftL 11:32 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Hurricane Ledge

    Bar · 1.0 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Black sea bass 71
    • Atlantic cod 70

    8 kt NNWH 5:45 AM · 7.7 ftL 11:33 AM · 2.3 ft

  • Baum Bay

    Bay · 0.6 mi

    71
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 71
    • Scup 70
    • Black sea bass 64

    8 kt NNWH 5:51 AM · 7.6 ftL 11:32 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.