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Vineyard Fishing Report: Schoolies, Pickerel, and a Chilly December Bite
Published 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Description
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Vineyard fishing report.
We’re on the back side of the new moon, and CapeTides and Surfline’s Lucy Vincent tables show modest, even tides today, with an early-morning high around first light and another late-afternoon bump. That gives you two solid windows: the dawn push and the last couple hours before dark, when current tightens around the rocks and rips.
CapeTides notes sunrise right around 7:00 a.m. and sunset a little before 4:15 p.m., so it’s a short-light day. Air temps are sitting in the low 40s, light northwest breeze early, swinging more west by afternoon, typical clear, cold December feel. The water’s chilled into the mid‑40s, so fish are sluggish and tight to structure, but they’re still here if you grind.
Most of the fall run is wrapped up, and the big stripers are south of us, but guys poking around the south shore this week—Lucy Vincent to Squibby—have still been into schoolie bass with an occasional keeper. Think a half‑dozen fish in a tide if you work at it, more if you hit birds on small bait. Nantucket Sound side has given up a mix of holdover schoolies and some decent black sea bass and scup for the few boats still splashing.
According to The Martha’s Vineyard Times and local chatter, freshwater’s been the steadier play the last couple weeks: ponds giving up healthy pickerel, yellow perch, and the odd largemouth for folks casting from shore. Chill the expectations and you can put together a fun mixed bag.
Best bets on lures:
- For bass on the south shore, downsize. I’m throwing **small white or amber soft‑plastic paddletails** on 3/8‑oz heads, and **narrow metal** like Deadly Dicks or Kastmasters when the wind’s up.
- In the ponds, a **3–4 inch suspending jerkbait** in perch or shad, or a **gold inline spinner**, has been money on pickerel and perch.
Best bait right now:
- **Seaworms or fresh clam** if you’re soaking bottom in the Sound for a mixed bag.
- **Shiners or lively shad** in the ponds for bigger pickerel and bass.
Couple hot spots for you:
- **Squibnocket and the nearby rocks**: fish the edges of the rip at first light with tins and soft plastics; expect schoolies with a shot at something better.
- **Sengekontacket and the bridge areas**: moving water, small bait, and enough resident bass to make it worth a few casts around the tide change. For freshwater, **Long Pond in West Tisbury** has been steady on pickerel and perch.
Tactics today: move slow, keep your presentations low and tight to the bottom, and don’t leave fishy structure just because you haven’t had a hit in ten minutes. In this cold, they’re there—you just have to tease them into chewing.
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 on the back side of the new moon, and CapeTides and Surfline’s Lucy Vincent tables show modest, even tides today, with an early-morning high around first light and another late-afternoon bump. That gives you two solid windows: the dawn push and the last couple hours before dark, when current tightens around the rocks and rips.
CapeTides notes sunrise right around 7:00 a.m. and sunset a little before 4:15 p.m., so it’s a short-light day. Air temps are sitting in the low 40s, light northwest breeze early, swinging more west by afternoon, typical clear, cold December feel. The water’s chilled into the mid‑40s, so fish are sluggish and tight to structure, but they’re still here if you grind.
Most of the fall run is wrapped up, and the big stripers are south of us, but guys poking around the south shore this week—Lucy Vincent to Squibby—have still been into schoolie bass with an occasional keeper. Think a half‑dozen fish in a tide if you work at it, more if you hit birds on small bait. Nantucket Sound side has given up a mix of holdover schoolies and some decent black sea bass and scup for the few boats still splashing.
According to The Martha’s Vineyard Times and local chatter, freshwater’s been the steadier play the last couple weeks: ponds giving up healthy pickerel, yellow perch, and the odd largemouth for folks casting from shore. Chill the expectations and you can put together a fun mixed bag.
Best bets on lures:
- For bass on the south shore, downsize. I’m throwing **small white or amber soft‑plastic paddletails** on 3/8‑oz heads, and **narrow metal** like Deadly Dicks or Kastmasters when the wind’s up.
- In the ponds, a **3–4 inch suspending jerkbait** in perch or shad, or a **gold inline spinner**, has been money on pickerel and perch.
Best bait right now:
- **Seaworms or fresh clam** if you’re soaking bottom in the Sound for a mixed bag.
- **Shiners or lively shad** in the ponds for bigger pickerel and bass.
Couple hot spots for you:
- **Squibnocket and the nearby rocks**: fish the edges of the rip at first light with tins and soft plastics; expect schoolies with a shot at something better.
- **Sengekontacket and the bridge areas**: moving water, small bait, and enough resident bass to make it worth a few casts around the tide change. For freshwater, **Long Pond in West Tisbury** has been steady on pickerel and perch.
Tactics today: move slow, keep your presentations low and tight to the bottom, and don’t leave fishy structure just because you haven’t had a hit in ten minutes. In this cold, they’re there—you just have to tease them into chewing.
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.