Waterlands

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Little tunnyPeak season

Bar · Maine

Yellow Rock

44.00°N · 68.80°W · Bar · Penobscot Bay

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Best score today · 6 AM · Little tunny

82/100Great
Now
635 PM EDT
Best window
5-9 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing8.6 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions

Tuesday, Sep 22 · 5 PM

Time5P
Score65Great
Tide4.3 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood0.3 kn · toward N
Wind12 kn ENEgusts 20 · steady
Sea stateModerate2.0 ft · 5 s
Air temp56°Mild
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water58°FModel

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Little tunny is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with Maine DMR before you keep a fish.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Little tunny is best here

Peak season for Little tunny · 5 more weeks at peak

Little tunny season by week of the year. Peak season for Little tunny · 5 more weeks at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Little tunny in Maine

Spot profile

Yellow Rock

Depth
20-100 ftDrop-off
Structure
Ledge · Outer · ExposedLedge · drop-off
Season
Peak seasonLittle tunny

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 Yellow Rock

Yellow Rock is a bar in Penobscot Bay, Maine. Depth is 20-100 ft, with a drop-off. Its profile reads ledge, outer water and exposed.

Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are scup, striped bass and black sea bass. 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. Black sea bass peak from June through July and in September.

Tackle & technique

Little tunny
Little tunny travel fast in schools that pin bait against inlets, points, jetties and tide rips, usually within a few miles of shore and often in less than 60 feet. Stay off the school's path, wait for it to surface within range, and cast small metal or epoxy jigs with a fast retrieve. When fish stay down, troll small feathers along bait edges and color changes to find them.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Knubble Ledge

    Bar · 0.6 mi

    83
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 83
    • Black sea bass 74
    • Striped bass 74

    5 kt SEL 10:32 PM · 1.2 ftH 4:42 AM · 7.9 ft

  • Channel Ledge

    Bar · 1.0 mi

    83
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 83
    • Black sea bass 74
    • Striped bass 74

    5 kt SEL 10:32 PM · 1.2 ftH 4:42 AM · 7.9 ft

  • Lower Ledge

    Bar · 0.3 mi

    81
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 81
    • Striped bass 73
    • Black sea bass 72

    5 kt SEL 10:32 PM · 1.2 ftH 4:42 AM · 7.9 ft

  • Otter Island Ledge

    Bar · 0.6 mi

    81
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 81
    • Striped bass 73
    • Black sea bass 72

    5 kt SEL 10:32 PM · 1.2 ftH 4:42 AM · 7.9 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.