Waterlands

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WeakfishShoulder season

Channel · New York

Snakehill Channel

40.66°N · 73.24°W · Channel · South Shore Bays from Jones Inlet through Shinnecock Bay

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 4 AM · Weakfish

68/100Great
Now
305 AM EDT
Best window
5-9 AMHigh slack
Tide now
Flooding0.5 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 5 AM · now

Time5ANOW
Score30Fair
Tide0.5 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood1.3 kn · toward E
Wind10 kn NEgusts 21 · steady
Sea stateRough4.0 ft · 6 s
Air temp57°Mild
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water66°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.

Source: NYSDEC · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Weakfish is best here

Shoulder season for Weakfish · 1 more week at shoulder

Weakfish season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Weakfish · 1 more week at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Weakfish in New York

Spot profile

Snakehill Channel

Depth
2-7 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Channel · Inner · Semi-exposedChannel · flat bottom
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 Snakehill Channel

Snakehill Channel is a channel in South Shore Bays from Jones Inlet through Shinnecock Bay, New York. Depth is 2-7 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads channel, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are striped bass, summer flounder and scup. It is peak season now for summer flounder, scup, little tunny and sheepshead, and shoulder season for striped bass, bluefish, black sea bass and tautog. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Summer flounder peak from June through September. Scup peak from June through October.

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.
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.
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

  • Dickerson Channel

    Channel · 0.9 mi

    64
    Top: Striped bassShoulder season
    • Striped bass 64
    • Summer flounder 62
    • Scup 61

    10 kt NEH 8:14 AM · 0.6 ftL 2:27 PM · 0.1 ft

  • West Channel

    Channel · 1.7 mi

    64
    Top: Striped bassShoulder season
    • Striped bass 64
    • Summer flounder 62
    • Scup 61

    10 kt NEH 8:14 AM · 0.6 ftL 2:27 PM · 0.1 ft

  • Whig Inlet

    Channel · 0.7 mi

    30
    Top: Atlantic croakerShoulder season
    • Atlantic croaker 30
    • Black drum 30
    • Black sea bass 30

    10 kt NEH 5:58 AM · 1.9 ftL 12:04 PM · 0.4 ft

  • Farm Shoals

    Bar · 2.0 mi

    30
    Top: Atlantic croakerShoulder season
    • Atlantic croaker 30
    • Black drum 30
    • Black sea bass 30

    10 kt NEH 6:50 AM · 0.7 ftL 1:31 PM · 0.1 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.