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Late Fall Fishing on Martha's Vineyard: Tog, Flounder, and the Last of the Stripers
Published 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Description
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Vineyard fishing report.
We’re sliding into that late‑fall, early‑winter pattern now. According to the National Weather Service marine forecast for Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Sound, we’ve got cold air, northwest breeze building to small‑craft conditions offshore, and water temps in the low to mid‑40s. That’s bundle‑up weather, but it can still fish.
CapeTides and Lobsterville Beach tide charts show a morning high around nine‑thirty with about a four‑foot swing, then dropping out through late morning and early afternoon. Surfline’s Lucy Vincent listings back that up: a decent morning flood, then exposed bars on the ebb. Sunrise is right around 6:55, sunset about 4:12, so your “golden windows” are the first two hours of light and the dusk tide turn.
Striped bass runs are basically wrapped; the last few schoolies have been picked off in Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs harbors at night on small soft plastics and bucktails, but most of the body of fish is south and west. What’s left to play with now is mostly holdover schoolies in the back ponds and a handful of die‑hard tog and sea bass guys working the rock and wrecks when the seas let them.
The charter fleet reports the last decent black sea bass came off mid‑Sound structure on green and purple jigs tipped with squid; pick a day with light wind if you’re going to try that. Tog have been coming in ones and twos on the rock piles off Menemsha and around Cape Poge, mostly 3–5 pounds with an occasional bigger whitechin. Green crabs and Asian shore crabs are still the top bait; fish them on a simple tog jig or hi‑low rig, keep your presentations tight to the rocks, and be ready to lose some gear.
For the shore crew, the best bet now is scratching up a mixed bag of holdover bass and winter flounder. In the salt ponds and quiet corners—think Sengekontacket and the upper Lagoon—slow‑rolled 3–4 inch soft plastics in natural sand‑eel colors, small bucktails, and metal like Kastmasters will still move a few fish when the sun warms the mud a bit. For flounder, drag small pieces of clam, sea worm, or squid on a simple bottom rig, size 6–8 hooks, just off the channel edges.
If you’re heading out, here are a couple of local hot spots to circle:
• Menemsha Jetty and harbor mouth: fish the slower side of the tide for tog on crab baits and the odd schoolie bass on small jigs along the inside edge.
• Cape Poge gut and the nearby shoals: on a settled day, this area still holds tog and a few sea bass on the rock and rubble, especially around the deeper pockets.
Best lures right now are subtle and slow: small bucktails with a bit of Gulp, 3–4 inch paddletails on light jigheads, and compact metal for covering water. Best bait is fresh squid for bottom fish, and green crab if you’re serious about tog.
That’s the word from around the Island. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This episode includes AI-generated content.
We’re sliding into that late‑fall, early‑winter pattern now. According to the National Weather Service marine forecast for Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Sound, we’ve got cold air, northwest breeze building to small‑craft conditions offshore, and water temps in the low to mid‑40s. That’s bundle‑up weather, but it can still fish.
CapeTides and Lobsterville Beach tide charts show a morning high around nine‑thirty with about a four‑foot swing, then dropping out through late morning and early afternoon. Surfline’s Lucy Vincent listings back that up: a decent morning flood, then exposed bars on the ebb. Sunrise is right around 6:55, sunset about 4:12, so your “golden windows” are the first two hours of light and the dusk tide turn.
Striped bass runs are basically wrapped; the last few schoolies have been picked off in Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs harbors at night on small soft plastics and bucktails, but most of the body of fish is south and west. What’s left to play with now is mostly holdover schoolies in the back ponds and a handful of die‑hard tog and sea bass guys working the rock and wrecks when the seas let them.
The charter fleet reports the last decent black sea bass came off mid‑Sound structure on green and purple jigs tipped with squid; pick a day with light wind if you’re going to try that. Tog have been coming in ones and twos on the rock piles off Menemsha and around Cape Poge, mostly 3–5 pounds with an occasional bigger whitechin. Green crabs and Asian shore crabs are still the top bait; fish them on a simple tog jig or hi‑low rig, keep your presentations tight to the rocks, and be ready to lose some gear.
For the shore crew, the best bet now is scratching up a mixed bag of holdover bass and winter flounder. In the salt ponds and quiet corners—think Sengekontacket and the upper Lagoon—slow‑rolled 3–4 inch soft plastics in natural sand‑eel colors, small bucktails, and metal like Kastmasters will still move a few fish when the sun warms the mud a bit. For flounder, drag small pieces of clam, sea worm, or squid on a simple bottom rig, size 6–8 hooks, just off the channel edges.
If you’re heading out, here are a couple of local hot spots to circle:
• Menemsha Jetty and harbor mouth: fish the slower side of the tide for tog on crab baits and the odd schoolie bass on small jigs along the inside edge.
• Cape Poge gut and the nearby shoals: on a settled day, this area still holds tog and a few sea bass on the rock and rubble, especially around the deeper pockets.
Best lures right now are subtle and slow: small bucktails with a bit of Gulp, 3–4 inch paddletails on light jigheads, and compact metal for covering water. Best bait is fresh squid for bottom fish, and green crab if you’re serious about tog.
That’s the word from around the Island. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This episode includes AI-generated content.