Waterlands

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ScupPeak season

Bay · Rhode Island

Sand Bank Cove

41.15°N · 71.55°W · Bay · Block Island Sound

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Best score today · 8 AM · Scup

78/100Great
Now
7412 PM EDT
Best window
12-7 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Flooding2.8 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 12 PM · now

Time12PNOW
Score74Great
Tide2.8 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentSlack0.1 kn
Wind7 kn SSWgusts 17 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.8 ft · 6 s
Air temp77°Warm
WeatherMostly cloudy75% cloud
Water71°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Scup is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with RIDEM before you keep a fish.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Scup is best here

Peak season for Scup · 1 more week at peak

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

Scup in Rhode Island

Spot profile

Sand Bank Cove

Depth
5-30 ftSlope
Structure
Bay · Outer · ExposedBay · slope
Season
Peak seasonScup

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 Sand Bank Cove

Sand Bank Cove is a bay in Block Island Sound, Rhode Island. Depth is 5-30 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, outer water and exposed.

Waterlands scores 10 species here; the best right now are scup, little tunny and striped bass. It is peak season now for scup, little tunny, striped bass and bluefish, and shoulder season for summer flounder and tautog. Scup peak from June through September. Little tunny peak from September through October. Striped bass peak from May through June and from September through October.

Tackle & technique

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.
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

  • Cat Rock Cove

    Bay · 0.2 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Little tunny 59
    • Striped bass 59

    7 kt SSWH 12:35 PM · 2.8 ftL 6:55 PM · 0.9 ft

  • Lighthouse Cove

    Bay · 0.3 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Little tunny 59
    • Striped bass 59

    7 kt SSWH 12:35 PM · 2.8 ftL 6:55 PM · 0.9 ft

  • Corn Cove

    Bay · 0.5 mi

    74
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 74
    • Little tunny 59
    • Striped bass 59

    7 kt SSWH 12:35 PM · 2.8 ftL 6:55 PM · 0.9 ft

  • Southeast Point

    Cape · 0.1 mi

    69
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 69
    • Little tunny 62
    • Striped bass 61

    7 kt SSWH 12:35 PM · 2.8 ftL 6:55 PM · 0.9 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 RIDEM before you keep a fish.