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ScupPeak seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 6 PM · Scup
- Now
- 767 PM EDT
- Best window
- 7-9 PMFlood tide
- Tide now
- Flooding8.0 ft ▲
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Northwest 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 · rolling from now
Conditions · 7 PM · now
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
96Tide: FloodingCurrent: 0.3 kn floodWind & pressure
ECMWF
97Wind: 3 kt SEPressure: RisingWater temp & sky
Open-Meteo Marine
88Water temp: 58°F, primeLight: DuskSolunar: Between periodsSeas: 1.5 ftSeason & habitat · Scup
Species seasonality
84Season: PeakHabitat: Usable structureDepth: In rangeRegulations: no rule on file
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 today
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
Northwest Cove
- Depth
- 10-50 ftSlope
- Structure
- Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · slope
- 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 Northwest Cove
Northwest Cove is a bay in Penobscot Bay, Maine. Depth is 10-50 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.
Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are scup, striped bass and tautog. It is peak season now for scup, striped bass, black sea bass and Atlantic cod, 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. Tautog peak in May and from October through November.
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
- Kimball Rock79
Bar · 1.2 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 79
- Black sea bass 73
- Atlantic cod 72
3 kt SEH 8:31 PM · 8.9 ftL 2:29 AM · 0.9 ft
- Marsh Cove Ledges78
Bar · 0.6 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 78
- Atlantic cod 72
- Black sea bass 72
3 kt SEH 8:31 PM · 8.9 ftL 2:29 AM · 0.9 ft
- Laundry Cove76
Bay · 1.8 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 76
- Striped bass 70
- Tautog 66
3 kt SEH 8:31 PM · 8.9 ftL 2:29 AM · 0.9 ft
- Bay West70
Bar · 0.7 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 70
- Atlantic cod 69
- Haddock 66
3 kt SEH 8:31 PM · 8.9 ftL 2:29 AM · 0.9 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.