Waterlands

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Spanish mackerelPeak season

Cape · New York

Goff Point

41.02°N · 72.06°W · Cape · Peconic and Gardiners Bays

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Best score today · 3 AM · Spanish mackerel

74/100Great
Now
509 AM EDT
Best window
8-11 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing1.4 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 9 AM · now

Time9ANOW
Score50Good
Tide1.4 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb1.2 kn · toward N
Wind20 kn NNEgusts 29 · steady
Sea stateModerate2.6 ft · 4 s
Air temp63°Mild
WeatherOvercast48% chance of rain
Water69°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Spanish mackerel 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 Spanish mackerel is best here

Peak season for Spanish mackerel · 1 more week at peak

Spanish mackerel season by week of the year. Peak season for Spanish mackerel · 1 more week at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Spanish mackerel in New York

Spot profile

Goff Point

Depth
3-10 ftNearest water
Structure
Point · Inner · Semi-exposedPoint · slope
Season
Peak seasonSpanish mackerel

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 Goff Point

Goff Point is a cape in Peconic and Gardiners Bays, New York. Depth in the nearest water is 3-10 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are little tunny, striped bass and bluefish. It is peak season now for little tunny, red drum, summer flounder and sheepshead, and shoulder season for striped bass, bluefish, black sea bass and weakfish. Little tunny peak from September through October. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Bluefish peak in May and from October through November.

Tackle & technique

Spanish mackerel
Spanish mackerel school along beaches and around inlets, jetties, piers and bridge-tunnel structures, and along tide rips in 5 to 40 feet of water once the water climbs above about 68 degrees F. Troll small spoons or cast metal jigs and retrieve fast, or look for birds diving on bait and cast into the school. FWC calls for a 30 to 60 pound monofilament leader because their teeth cut light line.
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.
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

  • Cherry Point

    Cape · 1.6 mi

    66
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 66
    • Bluefish 58
    • Striped bass 58

    20 kt NNEL 12:46 PM · 0.9 ftH 7:21 PM · 2.7 ft

  • Lazy Point

    Cape · 0.6 mi

    65
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 65
    • Striped bass 57
    • Bluefish 56

    20 kt NNEL 12:02 PM · 0.9 ftH 6:21 PM · 2.2 ft

  • Cherry Harbor

    Bay · 5.8 mi

    64
    Top: SpotPeak season
    • Spot 64
    • Sheepshead 63
    • Little tunny 61

    20 kt NNEL 12:46 PM · 0.9 ftH 7:21 PM · 2.7 ft

  • Napeague Harbor

    Bay · 0.9 mi

    62
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 62
    • Sheepshead 58
    • Spot 57

    20 kt NNEL 12:02 PM · 0.9 ftH 6:21 PM · 2.2 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.