Waterlands

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WeakfishShoulder season

Bar · New York

Hen and Chickens

40.91°N · 73.74°W · Bar · Long Island Sound West of New Haven CT/Port Jefferson NY

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Best score today · 7 AM · Weakfish

74/100Great
Now
607 PM EDT
Best window
7 PM-12 AMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding4.3 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 7 PM · now

Time7PNOW
Score60Good
Tide4.3 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood0.6 kn · toward WSW
Wind10 kn ENEgusts 23 · steady
Sea stateModerate2.0 ft · 4 s
Air temp60°Mild
WeatherPartly cloudy36% cloud
Water71°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

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

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Weakfish is best here

Last week of shoulder season for Weakfish · peak season next

Weakfish season by week of the year. Last week of shoulder season for Weakfish · peak season next.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Weakfish in New York

Spot profile

Hen and Chickens

Depth
10-35 ftSlope
Structure
Bar · Inner · Semi-exposedBar · slope
Season
Shoulder seasonWeakfish

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 Hen and Chickens

Hen and Chickens is a bar in Long Island Sound West of New Haven CT/Port Jefferson NY, New York. Depth is 10-35 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bar, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are little tunny, summer flounder and bluefish. It is peak season now for little tunny, summer flounder, scup and Spanish mackerel, and shoulder season for bluefish, black sea bass, striped bass and weakfish. Little tunny peak from September through October. Summer flounder peak from June through September. Bluefish peak in May and from October through November.

Tackle & technique

Weakfish
Weakfish hold along channel edges, grass beds, oyster bars and bridge shadows in bays and sounds, usually in 5 to 40 feet of water, and feed hardest at dawn, dusk and after dark. Swim soft plastics or bucktails slowly near the bottom, or drift peeler crab and bloodworms. They have soft mouths, so keep the drag light and the pressure steady.
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.
Summer flounder
Summer flounder lie half-buried on sand and shell bottom and ambush bait along channel edges, inlet bars and ocean reefs, from a few feet deep in back bays to about 100 feet offshore. Drift with the tide and bounce a bucktail tipped with a squid or fish strip along the bottom. The bigger fish move to ocean reefs and wrecks in late summer, so follow them out.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Table Rock

    Bar · 0.7 mi

    78
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 78
    • Little tunny 72
    • Black sea bass 71

    10 kt ENEH 9:59 PM · 7.6 ftL 4:20 AM · 0.6 ft

  • South Ledge

    Bar · 0.7 mi

    78
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 78
    • Little tunny 74
    • Black sea bass 71

    10 kt ENEH 9:59 PM · 7.6 ftL 4:20 AM · 0.6 ft

  • Hicks Ledge

    Bar · 0.9 mi

    78
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 78
    • Little tunny 72
    • Black sea bass 71

    10 kt ENEH 9:59 PM · 7.6 ftL 4:20 AM · 0.6 ft

  • Edgewater Point

    Cape · 0.8 mi

    77
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 77
    • Scup 69
    • Spot 68

    10 kt ENEH 9:59 PM · 7.6 ftL 4:20 AM · 0.6 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 NYSDEC before you keep a fish.