Waterlands

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SpotShoulder season

Bay · New York

Stirling Basin

41.11°N · 72.36°W · Bay · Peconic and Gardiners Bays

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Best score today · 6 AM · Spot

85/100Epic
Now
605 PM EST
Best window
6-11 PMEbb tide
Tide now
High2.6 ft

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

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24-hour conditions

Saturday, Nov 14 · 4 AM

Time4A
Score35Fair
Tide1.6 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb1.4 kn · toward NE
Wind4 kn Wgusts 9 · steady
Air temp51°Cool
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water58°FPersisted

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Spot 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 Spot is best here

Last week of shoulder season for Spot · the off season next

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

Spot in New York →

Spot profile

Stirling Basin

Depth
2-6 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · ProtectedBay · flat bottom
Season
Shoulder seasonSpot

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 Stirling Basin

Stirling Basin is a bay in Peconic and Gardiners Bays, New York. Depth is 2-6 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and protected.

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

Spot
Spot school over mud and sand in bays, tidal creeks and channels and around piers and bridges, generally in less than 25 feet of water. Fish a two-hook bottom rig with small hooks and bits of bloodworm or shrimp, and move until you find a school. In fall the biggest fish run out of the sounds past piers and inlets, and the bite can go all day.
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

  • Greenport Harbor

    Bay · 0.6 mi

    75
    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

  • Hay Beach Point

    Cape · 1.2 mi

    75
    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

  • Dering Harbor

    Bay · 1.5 mi

    74
    Top: ScupShoulder season
    • Scup 74
    • Striped bass 72
    • Spot 67

    10 kt SWL 10:54 PM · 0.3 ftH 5:38 AM · 2.7 ft

  • Spring Pond

    Bay · 1.2 mi

    73
    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.