UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN
ScupShoulder seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 4 PM · Striped bass
- Now
- 682 PM EST
- Best window
- 3-8 PMEbb tide
- Tide now
- Ebbing5.1 ft ▼
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Lower Bay 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, Nov 14 · 7 AM
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
96Tide: FloodingCurrent: 0.7 kn floodWind & pressure
ECMWF
87Wind: 4 kt WPressure: FallingWater temp & sky
NDBC + Open-Meteo Marine
86Water temp: 59°F, primeLight: DawnSolunar: Between periodsSeason & habitat · Striped bass
Species seasonality
88Season: PeakHabitat: Structure unmappedDepth: In range
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 NYSDEC before you keep a fish.
Source: NYSDEC · synced yesterday
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Scup is best here
Shoulder season for Scup · 2 more weeks at shoulder
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Lower Bay
- Depth
- 25-35 ftFlat bottom
- Structure
- Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · flat bottom
- Season
- Shoulder 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 Lower Bay
Lower Bay is a bay in New York Harbor. Depth is 25-35 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.
Waterlands scores 14 species here; the best right now are scup, striped bass and spotted seatrout. It is peak season now for striped bass, spotted seatrout, tautog and bluefish, and shoulder season for scup, spot, weakfish and red drum. Scup peak from June through October. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Spotted seatrout peak 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.
- Spotted seatrout
- Trout hold over grass beds and sandy potholes in 2 to 8 feet of water most of the year and slide into channels, deep creek bends and canals during cold snaps. A live shrimp under a slip or popping cork, a paddle tail on a light jighead, or a topwater walked at first light covers most situations. Keep the drag light because their mouths tear easily.
Nearby spots
Other spots within an easy run
- Chapel Hill North Channel71
Channel · 0.7 mi
Top: ScupShoulder season- Scup 71
- Striped bass 71
- Spotted seatrout 70
6 kt SWL 8:15 PM · 0.4 ftH 2:24 AM · 4.8 ft
- Fourteen Foot Channel69
Bar · 1.5 mi
Top: ScupShoulder season- Scup 69
- Striped bass 68
- Spotted seatrout 65
6 kt SWL 8:15 PM · 0.4 ftH 2:24 AM · 4.8 ft
- Chapel Hill South Channel68
Channel · 1.4 mi
Top: ScupShoulder season- Scup 68
- Spotted seatrout 64
- Striped bass 64
6 kt SWL 8:32 PM · 0.4 ftH 2:28 AM · 4.8 ft
- Craven Shoal66
Bar · 2.2 mi
Top: ScupShoulder season- Scup 66
- Striped bass 62
- Spotted seatrout 61
6 kt SWL 8:21 PM · 0.2 ftH 2:33 AM · 4.9 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 NYSDEC before you keep a fish.