Waterlands

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Striped bassShoulder season

Cape · Virginia

Sandy Point

37.44°N · 75.81°W · Cape · Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

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Best score today · 10 AM · Striped bass

64/100Good
Now
569 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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 9 AM · now

Time9ANOW
Score56Good
Tide3.2 ft ▼Ebbing
Current0.6 knmodeled · toward S
Wind16 kn NEgusts 26 · steady
Sea stateRough4.5 ft · 7 s
Air temp66°Mild
WeatherOvercast43% chance of rain
Water70°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 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

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 Virginia

Spot profile

Sandy 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 Sandy Point

Sandy 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, striped bass and summer flounder. It is peak season now for little tunny, summer flounder, sheepshead and Spanish mackerel, and shoulder season for striped bass, bluefish, black sea bass and king mackerel. Little tunny peak from September through October. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Summer flounder peak from June through September.

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

  • Cedar Point

    Cape · 2.3 mi

    67
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 67
    • Red drum 61
    • Striped bass 59

    16 kt NEL 12:54 PM · 0.8 ftH 7:13 PM · 5.2 ft

  • Great Machipongo Channel

    Channel · 2.5 mi

    59
    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 Ramshorn

    Channel · 2.8 mi

    59
    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

  • Short Prong

    Gut · 2.8 mi

    59
    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

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.