UTERJanuary
Winter cod on the ledges
Party boats to the Rhode Island ledges and the wrecks when seasons and weather allow; Coxes Ledge has seasonal spawning closures — check NOAA and RIDEM.
Watch Hill to Cape Cod and the Islands
Rhode Island and Cape Cod fishing
What's biting in Rhode Island and Cape Cod in October: bluefish, little tunny and tautog at their peak, with black sea bass, mahi-mahi and yellowfin tuna around too. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows 23 fish here month by month, from Point Judith to Plymouth.
The fall feed; tog season and the last albies
Rhode Island's rocky south coast and salt ponds, Narragansett Bay, Block Island, Buzzards Bay and the Elizabeth Islands, Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds with their shoals and rips, the Cape Cod Canal, Cape Cod Bay's sand flats, and the Monomoy rips and outer Cape beaches; offshore Coxes Ledge and the southern New England canyons (Block, Atlantis, Veatch).
Point JudithNewportBlock IslandWestportWoods HoleMartha's VineyardNantucketChathamPlymouth
Updated
Now · October
The fall feed; tog season and the last albies
Stripers stage on Block Island and the Rhode Island beaches; green crabs for tog on the breakwaters and Buzzards Bay rocks; albies until a storm ends it.
Striped bassTautog (blackfish)Little tunny (bonito)Atlantic bluefin tunaBluefish
This month here
From the season calendar, best firstPeakPeakPeakPeakPeakPeakLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingLeavingAround
Bluefish
Little tunny (bonito)
Tautog (blackfish)
The fall blackfish bite on the Rhode Island breakwaters, Buzzards Bay rocks and the Vineyard.
Striped bass
Fall feed: the fish stage on Block Island, the Rhode Island beaches and the Elizabeth Islands before they head south.
Golden tilefish
Atlantic bluefin tuna
Black sea bass
Mahi-mahi (dolphin)
Yellowfin tuna
Swordfish
Summer flounder (fluke)
Atlantic bonito
Scup (porgy)
Bigeye tuna
Shortfin mako
Blue shark
Albacore (longfin tuna)
Atlantic mackerel
Common thresher
The water
The tide here
Semidiurnal, 1–10 ft
Two tides a day and huge differences over short distances: three to four feet in Narragansett and Buzzards Bay, a foot or two in Nantucket Sound, nine or ten in Cape Cod Bay. The Cape Cod Canal and Woods Hole run like rivers — the canal turns every six hours and the fish feed on the turn.
Structure that matters
Beach / surfPass / inletArtificial reefWreckLedge / hard bottomChannel edgeGrass flatFishing pierBridge
After a cold front
A northeast blow in the fall stirs the beaches and moves bait south fast — fish the lee shores the next day. In spring, a cold snap stalls the run for a week; the salt ponds and harbor mud warm first.
Month by month
What's happening, and what to throwFebruary
Cod on the offshore ledges — mind the closures
Calm-day cod trips; little inshore.
March
The quiet before the run
Late cod; first flounder in the salt ponds as they warm.
April
Spring tog opens April 1; first schoolies late
Crabs on the shallow breakwaters and rocks for tog; chum and sandworms for winter flounder in the harbors; schoolie stripers in the salt ponds and rivers at month's end.
May
The striper run fills in; scup and sea bass arrive
Herring runs and the Canal for stripers; mackerel on sabikis for live bait; spawning sea bass on the shallow rocks; scup fill the piers.
June
Canal blitzes and big stripers on mackerel
Striped bassBluefishBlack sea bassScup (porgy)Summer flounder (fluke)Atlantic bluefin tunaYellowfin tuna
Pencil poppers at dawn in the Cape Cod Canal; tube-and-worm in Cape Cod Bay; eels at night off Block Island; fluke start on the sand.
July
Giants in Cape Cod Bay; fluke, sea bass and bonito
Atlantic bluefin tunaSummer flounder (fluke)Black sea bassScup (porgy)Atlantic bonitoStriped bassShortfin makoBlue shark
Giant bluefin in Cape Cod Bay and off Chatham (trophy category closes early — check HMS); bucktail fluke off Block Island and the Vineyard; bonito off Watch Hill.
August
Bonito and the first albies; canyon tuna
Atlantic bonitoLittle tunny (bonito)Summer flounder (fluke)Black sea bassScup (porgy)Yellowfin tunaMahi-mahi (dolphin)Atlantic bluefin tuna
Small epoxy jigs for bonito and the first albies around Martha's Vineyard; overnight runs to the canyons for yellowfin and bigeye.
September
Albie season — the Vineyard Derby month
Little tunny (bonito)Atlantic bonitoStriped bassBluefishSummer flounder (fluke)Atlantic bluefin tunaBlack sea bass
False albacore on the Rhode Island beaches, Watch Hill, Point Judith and Nantucket Sound; stripers start the fall feed; the biggest bluefin of the year off the Cape.
October · now
The fall feed; tog season and the last albies
Stripers stage on Block Island and the Rhode Island beaches; green crabs for tog on the breakwaters and Buzzards Bay rocks; albies until a storm ends it.
November
Big blackfish; the last stripers leave
Tog on the deeper rocks; last stripers off the Rhode Island beaches; winter cod trips begin.
December
Tog goes deep; cod on the ledges
Last big tog on the offshore rocks; cod on the ledges — mind the spawning closures.
Fish guides for Rhode Island and Cape Cod
When, where and what to use, fish by fishAlbacore (longfin tuna)Atlantic bluefin tunaAtlantic bonitoAtlantic codAtlantic mackerelBigeye tunaBlack sea bassBlue sharkBluefishCommon thresherGolden tilefishLittle tunny (bonito)Mahi-mahi (dolphin)Scup (porgy)Shortfin makoStriped bassSummer flounder (fluke)SwordfishTautog (blackfish)Weakfish (gray trout)White marlinWinter flounderYellowfin tuna
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