Waterlands

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Striped bassShoulder season

Cape · Virginia

Sparrow Point

37.42°N · 75.97°W · Cape · Chesapeake Bay from Windmill Point to New Point Comfort VA

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Best score today · 7 AM · Striped bass

49/100Good
Now
323 AM EDT
Best window
5-8 AMFlood tide
Tide now
Low0.2 ft

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 3 AM · now

Time3ANOW
Score32Fair
Tide0.2 ftLow
CurrentEbb0.2 kn · toward S
Wind21 kn NEgusts 29 · steady
Sea stateModerate3.7 ft · 4 s
Air temp70°Warm
WeatherOvercast53% chance of rain
Water78°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

Sparrow Point

Depth
2-4 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 Sparrow Point

Sparrow Point is a cape in Chesapeake Bay from Windmill Point to New Point Comfort VA, Virginia. Depth is 2-4 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are bluefish, little tunny and spot. It is peak season now for little tunny, spot, red drum and scup, and shoulder season for bluefish, striped bass, black sea bass and spotted seatrout. Bluefish peak in May and from October through November. Little tunny peak from September through October. Spot peak from August 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.
Bluefish
Bluefish travel in size-sorted schools and feed where tide pushes bait past structure: inlet mouths, rips, shoal edges and the surf line, mostly in water shallower than 60 feet. Look for birds and breaking bait and cast metal or poppers into it, or soak cut bunker or mullet on the bottom from the beach. Use a short wire or heavy leader because their teeth cut light line.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Masden Gut

    Gut · 0.5 mi

    47
    Top: Black sea bassShoulder season
    • Black sea bass 47
    • Bluefish 41
    • Striped bass 41

    21 kt NEH 6:36 AM · 4.4 ftL 12:16 PM · 0.7 ft

  • Vaucluse Point

    Cape · 0.6 mi

    35
    Top: BluefishShoulder season
    • Bluefish 35
    • Little tunny 35
    • Spot 35

    21 kt NEH 8:50 AM · 1.5 ftL 3:04 PM · 0.2 ft

  • Waterford Point

    Cape · 0.9 mi

    35
    Top: BluefishShoulder season
    • Bluefish 35
    • Little tunny 35
    • Red drum 35

    21 kt NEH 8:50 AM · 1.5 ftL 3:04 PM · 0.2 ft

  • Paraplane Cove

    Bay · 1.0 mi

    35
    Top: BluefishShoulder season
    • Bluefish 35
    • Red drum 35
    • Scup 35

    21 kt NEH 8:50 AM · 1.5 ftL 3:04 PM · 0.2 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.