Waterlands

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Striped bassShoulder season

Bay · New York

Sommerville Basin

40.60°N · 73.79°W · Bay · South Shore Bays from Jones Inlet through Shinnecock Bay

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Best score today · 6 PM · Striped bass

82/100Great
Now
573 PM EDT
Best window
5-7 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing5.0 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 3 PM · now

Time3PNOW
Score57Good
Tide5.0 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentSlack0.2 kn
Wind7 kn Sgusts 19 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.8 ft · 4 s
Air temp81°Warm
WeatherMostly cloudy70% cloud
Water74°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Striped bass 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 Striped bass is best here

Shoulder season for Striped bass · 1 more week at shoulder

Striped bass season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Striped bass · 1 more week at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • This week

Striped bass in New York

Spot profile

Sommerville Basin

Depth
7-40 ftSlope
Structure
Bay · Inner · ProtectedBay · slope
Season
Shoulder seasonStriped bass

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 Sommerville Basin

Sommerville Basin is a bay in South Shore Bays from Jones Inlet through Shinnecock Bay, New York. Depth is 7-40 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, inner water and protected.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are scup, spot and red drum. It is peak season now for scup, spot, red drum and sheepshead, and shoulder season for Atlantic croaker, bluefish, spotted seatrout and striped bass. Scup peak from June through October. Spot peak from August through October. Red drum peak in May and from September through October.

Tackle & technique

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.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Vernam Basin

    Bay · 0.9 mi

    74
    Top: Red drumPeak season
    • Red drum 74
    • Sheepshead 72
    • Spot 72

    7 kt SL 7:25 PM · 1.3 ftH 1:29 AM · 4.5 ft

  • Grass Hassock Channel

    Channel · 0.4 mi

    73
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 73
    • Spot 72
    • Red drum 70

    7 kt SL 8:03 PM · 1.5 ftH 1:53 AM · 4.5 ft

  • Winhole Point

    Cape · 1.3 mi

    70
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 70
    • Scup 67
    • Red drum 65

    7 kt SL 8:03 PM · 1.5 ftH 1:53 AM · 4.5 ft

  • Motts Point

    Cape · 1.2 mi

    69
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 69
    • Scup 68
    • Spot 67

    7 kt SL 8:06 PM · 1.5 ftH 2:07 AM · 4.6 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.