Episode Details

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Vineyard fishing report.

We’re into the late-fall lull now, but there’s still life in the water if you play the tides and slow things down. According to CapeTides for the Vineyard, we’re on a mid-range cycle with a pre-dawn low and a late-morning high, so the **first light flood** and the **evening drop** are your best bets for any kind of bite. CapeTides also notes short daylight, with sunrise right around 7 a.m. and sunset just after 4 p.m., so you don’t get many prime windows—make ’em count on moving water.

Weather’s classic shoulder-season island stuff: cold mornings in the 30s pushing into the low 40s, light northwest to north winds, and fairly clear skies. That lighter wind makes the North Shore and Vineyard Sound side more comfortable, and the cleaner water helps any remaining predators commit. Think winter layers, fingerless gloves, and short, focused sessions.

On the salt side, the **striper run is essentially over** for keeper fish, but a few diehards have still been picking at small schoolies this past week from the Oak Bluffs fishing pier and along the Steamship wharf in Vineyard Haven. Most of those fish have been runt schoolies in the 12–20 inch range, a handful per tide if you grind. The bigger push of fish slid past in November; what’s left are stragglers and resident shorts.

If you’re chasing those last bass, your best artificial game right now is:
- Small **soft plastics** on 1/4–3/8 oz jigheads in white or pearl.
- Slim **metal** like Deadly Dicks and Kastmasters worked slow and low.
- Downsized **bucktail jigs** with a thin pork or curly tail trailer.

Bait-wise, it’s tough to beat **seaworms** or small **cut squid strips** fished on simple hi-lo rigs off the pier. The bite is lazy—long soaks, light wire hooks, and just enough weight to hold bottom.

Most consistent action at the moment is actually **bottom fishing** for tog and mixed white perch/cunner around the rock piles and structure. The Martha’s Vineyard crowd that stayed out late into the fall has been boxing up decent tautog on the reefs off East Chop and along the edges near Cape Poge. Green crabs and Asian crabs are the ticket, fished tight to the rock with 1–2 oz tog jigs—short, sharp lifts and hang on. You’re picking a couple of keeper tog here and there with plenty of shorts.

A couple of hot spots to try:
- **Oak Bluffs Fishing Pier**: Easy access, lights at night, and still giving up a few schoolie bass plus cunners on bait. Bring light spinning gear and a bucket of worms or squid.
- **East Chop / Vineyard Haven Harbor edges**: Work the flood around rocky points and pilings with green-crab tog jigs or small bucktails. If there are any last bass or active tog around, they’ll be here.

Freshwater is where smart locals pivot now. Island ponds like **Sengekontacket, Duarte’s, and Crackatuxet** have been seeing steady **largemouth bass and pickerel** action. Small suspending jerkbaits, 3–4 inch swimbaits, and black or green pumpkin jigs crawled painfully slow along the bottom are putting fish in the kayak. Nightcrawlers or shiners under a slip bobber around drop-offs will get bit all day, especially when the sun’s been on the water for a few hours.

Overall fish activity is **low but predictable**: short feeding windows on tide changes in the salt, and a midday bump in the ponds when the shallows warm a degree or two. Downsize, slow down, and fish with confidence in those narrow windows—this time of year it’s about quality time, not numbers.

That’s your Martha’s Vineyard fishing rundown from Artificial Lure.

Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for more local fishing reports and tips.

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