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SheepsheadOff seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 3 PM · Sheepshead
- Now
- 355 PM EST
- Best window
- 6-11 PMEbb tide
- Tide now
- Ebbing2.7 ft ▼
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Orient Harbor 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
Thursday, Nov 12 · 7 AM
- —
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
- —
Wind & pressure
ECMWF
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Water temp & sky
NDBC + Open-Meteo Marine
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Season & habitat · Sheepshead
Species seasonality
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
No rule for Sheepshead is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with NYSDEC before you keep a fish.
Source: NYSDEC · synced today
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Sheepshead is best here
Out of season for Sheepshead · it leaves next week
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Orient Harbor
- Depth
- 15-20 ftFlat bottom
- Structure
- Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · flat bottom
- Season
- Off seasonSheepshead
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 Orient Harbor
Orient Harbor is a bay in Peconic and Gardiners Bays, New York. Depth is 15-20 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.
Waterlands scores 14 species here; the best right now are striped bass, scup and spotted seatrout. It is peak season now for striped bass, spotted seatrout, tautog and black sea bass, and shoulder season for scup, spot, weakfish and little tunny. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Scup peak from June through October. Spotted seatrout peak from October through November.
Tackle & technique
- Sheepshead
- Sheepshead graze barnacles and crabs off pilings, jetty rocks, bridge supports, oyster bars and nearshore reefs, from a few feet deep out to about 50 feet. Drop a fiddler crab, sand flea or piece of shrimp on a small, strong hook straight down next to the structure with just enough weight to hold bottom. The bite is a light tap, so keep the line tight and set the hook fast.
- 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.
- 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.
Nearby spots
Other spots within an easy run
- Browns Point78
Cape · 1.6 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 78
- Scup 68
- Spotted seatrout 65
7 kt SWL 10:47 PM · 0.3 ftH 5:19 AM · 2.7 ft
- Eagle Point76
Cape · 1.9 mi
Top: Striped bassPeak season- Striped bass 76
- Scup 65
- Spotted seatrout 63
7 kt SWL 10:47 PM · 0.3 ftH 5:19 AM · 2.7 ft
- Hay Beach Point75
Cape · 1.9 mi
Top: ScupShoulder season- Scup 75
- Striped bass 72
- Black sea bass 67
10 kt SWL 10:54 PM · 0.3 ftH 5:38 AM · 2.7 ft
- Spring Pond73
Bay · 1.6 mi
Top: ScupShoulder season- Scup 73
- Striped bass 70
- Tautog 64
10 kt SWL 10:54 PM · 0.3 ftH 5:38 AM · 2.7 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.