Waterlands

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ScupShoulder season

Channel · Virginia

Green Straits

37.91°N · 75.88°W · Channel · Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point to Windmill Point VA

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Best score today · 5 PM · Scup

87/100Epic
Now
672 PM EST
Best window
4-7 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding0.4 ft ▲

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

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24-hour conditions

Sunday, Nov 8 · 5 PM

Time5P
Score58Good
Tide0.2 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb0.7 kn · toward SSE
Wind2 kn NNWgusts 13 · steady
Sea stateCalm0.4 ft · 3 s
Air temp54°Cool
WeatherMostly cloudy51% cloud
Water63°FModel

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 VMRC before you keep a fish.

Source: VMRC · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Scup is best here

Shoulder season for Scup · 2 more weeks at shoulder

Scup season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Scup · 2 more weeks at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Scup in Virginia →

Spot profile

Green Straits

Depth
1-3 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Channel · Inner · Semi-exposedChannel · flat bottom
Season
Shoulder 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 Green Straits

Green Straits is a channel in Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point to Windmill Point VA, Virginia. Depth is 1-3 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads channel, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 14 species here; the best right now are spotted seatrout, striped bass and black sea bass. It is peak season now for spotted seatrout, striped bass, black sea bass and tautog, and shoulder season for weakfish, scup, red drum and spot. Spotted seatrout peak from October through November. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Black sea bass peak from May through June and from October through November.

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.
Spotted seatrout
Trout hold over grass beds and sandy potholes in 2 to 8 feet of water most of the year and slide into channels, deep creek bends and canals during cold snaps. A live shrimp under a slip or popping cork, a paddle tail on a light jighead, or a topwater walked at first light covers most situations. Keep the drag light because their mouths tear easily.
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

  • Green Straits

    Channel · 0.0 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 76
    • Black sea bass 71

    2 kt WNWH 6:52 PM · 2.0 ftL 1:35 AM · 0.1 ft

  • Cedar Straits

    Channel · 0.5 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 76
    • Black sea bass 71

    2 kt WNWH 6:52 PM · 2.0 ftL 1:35 AM · 0.1 ft

  • Cedar Straits

    Channel · 0.5 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 76
    • Black sea bass 71

    2 kt WNWH 6:52 PM · 2.0 ftL 1:35 AM · 0.1 ft

  • Cedar Island Creek

    Bay · 0.7 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 71
    • Bluefish 67

    2 kt WNWH 6:52 PM · 2.0 ftL 1:35 AM · 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 VMRC before you keep a fish.