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Striped bassShoulder seasonCape · Virginia
Buckhorn Point
37.38°N · 75.85°W · Cape · Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
Species here · tap to switch
Best score today · 9 AM · Striped bass
- Now
- 479 AM EDT
- Best window
- 9 AM-12 PMEbb tide
- Tide now
- Ebbing3.2 ft ▼
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Buckhorn Point 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 · rolling from now
Conditions · 9 AM · now
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
81Tide: EbbingCurrent: 0.3 kn floodWind & pressure
ECMWF
31Wind: 16 kt NEPressure: RisingWater temp & sky
NDBC + Open-Meteo Marine
40Water temp: 77°F, hotLight: MorningSolunar: Between periodsSeas: 4.5 ftSeason & habitat · Striped bass
Species seasonality
73Season: ShoulderHabitat: Usable structureDepth: Out of rangeRegulations: no rule on file
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
No rule for Striped bass is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with VMRC before you keep a fish.
Source: VMRC · synced yesterday
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Striped bass is best here
Shoulder season for Striped bass · 1 more week at shoulder
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- This week
Spot profile
Buckhorn Point
- Depth
- Under 1 ftFlat bottom
- Structure
- Point · Inner · Semi-exposedPoint · flat bottom
- 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 Buckhorn Point
Buckhorn Point is a cape in Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Virginia. Depth is under 1 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.
Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are little tunny, summer flounder and bluefish. It is peak season now for little tunny, summer flounder, sheepshead and Spanish mackerel, and shoulder season for bluefish, black sea bass, striped bass and king mackerel. Little tunny peak from September through October. Summer flounder peak from June through September. Bluefish peak in May and from October through November.
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.
- 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.
- 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
- Powells Channel59
Channel · 1.7 mi
Top: Summer flounderPeak season- Summer flounder 59
- Sheepshead 58
- Black sea bass 56
16 kt NEL 12:54 PM · 0.8 ftH 7:13 PM · 5.2 ft
- The Outlet58
Channel · 0.7 mi
Top: Summer flounderPeak season- Summer flounder 58
- Sheepshead 55
- Black sea bass 54
16 kt NEL 12:54 PM · 0.8 ftH 7:13 PM · 5.2 ft
- Holt Neck51
Cape · 2.0 mi
Top: BluefishShoulder season- Bluefish 51
- Black sea bass 49
- Striped bass 47
19 kt NEL 12:16 PM · 0.7 ftH 7:04 PM · 5.3 ft
- Outlet Bay30
Bay · 1.9 mi
Top: Atlantic croakerShoulder season- Atlantic croaker 30
- Black drum 30
- Black sea bass 30
30 kt NEL 11:57 AM · 0.6 ftH 6:36 PM · 4.7 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 VMRC before you keep a fish.
