Fishing Hot Spots

Lake guides for this map

Month-by-month patterns, fish, ramps and rules for each water:

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Fishing Hot Spots by area

Rips, points, ledges, breachways, jetties and offshore banks. Tap one to fly to it on the map.

Striped bass on the rips, bluefin tuna on Stellwagen and fall albies on the Vineyard

Southern New England is some of the best striped bass water in the world. The rips off Block Island, Cuttyhunk and the Elizabeth Islands, Wasque and Great Point, Monomoy and the Cape Cod Canal all hold big bass from late spring into the fall, with bluefish mixed in. In September and October, false albacore and bonito run the Rhode Island beaches, the Vineyard and Nantucket.

Bottom fishing is just as good: scup (porgy), black sea bass, fluke and tautog fill Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and the ledges, and Cox Ledge and the Southwest Ledge off Block Island have cod and big sea bass. North of the Cape, Stellwagen Bank, Tillies Bank and Jeffreys Ledge are famous for giant bluefin tuna, haddock, cod and pollock, with whales feeding right beside you.

Rhode Island needs a free saltwater license and Massachusetts a saltwater fishing permit; bluefin tuna need a federal HMS permit. Cod and haddock rules in the Gulf of Maine and southern New England are strict and change often. Check RI DEM, Massachusetts DMF and NOAA Fisheries before you go.