UTERThe best time to fish Cape Cod is late May through June, when striped bass blitz the Cape Cod Canal and big fish feed on mackerel in Cape Cod Bay, and September, when false albacore and bonito run the sounds and the fall striper feed starts. Summer in between brings giant bluefin tuna, fluke, sea bass and scup. Spring and fall add tautog on the rocks.
This guide covers Cape Cod and the islands within Fish Scouter's Southern New England region: Buzzards Bay and the Elizabeth Islands, the Cape Cod Canal, Cape Cod Bay from Plymouth to the Brewster flats, Vineyard and Nantucket sounds with their shoals and rips, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and the Monomoy rips off Chatham. The months come from the Southern New England page of Fish Scouter's season calendar.
Cape Cod fishing calendar at a glance
| Month | Headline | Top targets |
|---|---|---|
| January to March | Winter cod offshore; quiet inshore | Atlantic cod, winter flounder (late March) |
| April | Spring tog; first schoolies late in the month | Tautog, winter flounder, striper |
| May | The striper run fills in; scup and sea bass arrive | Striper, scup, black sea bass, bluefish, mackerel |
| June | Canal blitzes; big stripers on mackerel | Striper, bluefish, sea bass, fluke, bluefin |
| July | Giants in Cape Cod Bay; fluke and bonito | Bluefin, fluke, sea bass, scup, bonito |
| August | Bonito and the first albies | Bonito, albies, fluke, sea bass, bluefin |
| September | Albie season; the Vineyard Derby | Albies, bonito, striper, bluefish, bluefin |
| October | The fall feed; tog season | Striper, tautog, albies, bluefin |
| November | Big blackfish; the last stripers | Tautog, striper |
| December | Tog goes deep; cod offshore | Tautog, Atlantic cod |
Winter and early spring: December to April
Inshore Cape Cod is quiet in winter. Cod trips run to the offshore ledges and Nantucket Shoals when the weather allows, but cod rules in New England are tight and include seasonal spawning closures. Check NOAA and Massachusetts DMF before you book a trip.
In late March and April the shallow salt ponds and harbors warm first, and winter flounder feed in the harbor mud. Fish sandworms with a chum pot. Tautog season opens April 1 across southern New England, and the shallow breakwaters and rocks in Buzzards Bay warm first. Fish a crab on a jig or a short rig tight to the rocks. Late in April, the first schoolie stripers arrive in Buzzards Bay and the rivers.
Late spring: May and June
May: the run fills in
The striper migration fills in through May. The fish follow the river herring runs and the bunker, and the Cape Cod Canal, the Buzzards Bay rivers and the herring-run mouths all hold fish. Mackerel move into the Canal, and anglers catch them on sabikis for live bait. Scup arrive in Buzzards Bay and fill the piers, spawning black sea bass move onto the shallow rocks in Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound, and bluefish show late in the month.
June: the Canal
June is when the Cape Cod Canal is famous. Big stripers chase mackerel and herring through the Canal, and the dawn tide brings blitzes. Shore anglers line the service road with pencil poppers, big swimming plugs and heavy jigs. In Cape Cod Bay, boats troll tube-and-worm rigs or live-line mackerel for big fish. Fluke start on the sand, and the first bluefin move in. Our striped bass migration guide follows the fish all the way up the coast.
Summer: July and August
July: giants and fluke
Giant bluefin feed in Cape Cod Bay and east of Chatham, on sand eels and herring. It's a big-boat, heavy-tackle fishery that needs a federal HMS permit, and the trophy category often closes early, so check NOAA HMS. Closer in, drift a bucktail and a strip of squid on the sand edges south of Martha's Vineyard and in the sounds for fluke. Sea bass and scup are on every rock pile and wreck. Bonito show in July.
The big stripers go deep and nocturnal in midsummer. Fish live eels at night in the rips, or deep with jigs and wire line in the Canal and off the Elizabeth Islands at dawn.
August: bonito and the first albies
Bonito are in the sounds, and the first false albacore show around Martha's Vineyard, often the first place they appear in the Northeast. Cast small epoxy jigs and metal into the breaking fish. Bluefish feed in the Canal and off Monomoy, and snapper blues fill the harbors, which makes for great kids' fishing. Offshore, overnight trips reach the southern New England canyons for yellowfin and bigeye.
Fall: September to November
September: albie season
The best light-tackle month of the year. False albacore blitz through Nantucket Sound and Vineyard Sound, off the Vineyard's south shore, and along the Elizabeth Islands, alongside the bonito until the albies take over. It's also the month of the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, which runs into October. Stripers start the fall feed, and the biggest bluefin of the year are often caught off the Cape.
October: the fall feed
Stripers stage in the rips, off the Elizabeth Islands and along the outer beaches as they gather to migrate south. Fall tautog season gets good on the Buzzards Bay rocks and the Vineyard. Fish green crabs on the bottom. Albies stay until a northeast storm ends the season.
November and December
The last stripers leave in November. Big tautog move to the deeper rocks, and December is the last chance at a trophy blackfish before the season closes. A northeast blow in the fall moves bait south quickly, so fish the lee shore the day after.
Tides on Cape Cod
Cape Cod has a semidiurnal tide, two highs and two lows a day, but the range changes dramatically over a few miles. Cape Cod Bay sees nine to ten feet, Buzzards Bay three to four, and Nantucket Sound a foot or two. The Cape Cod Canal and Woods Hole run like rivers. The Canal current turns roughly every six hours, and the fish feed on the turn.
- The Canal: the first hours of the east or west tide at dawn, when bait gets pushed through.
- The rips (Monomoy, Woods Hole, the Elizabeth Islands): fish the moving water on the up-current side of the rip line.
- Cape Cod Bay flats: the incoming tide pushes stripers up onto the sand to feed.
Many good spots, including the rips and the Canal, have strong currents. Wear a life jacket in a small boat, and be careful on the Canal riprap. The outer Cape beaches have white sharks in summer and fall, so be careful wading.
Rules
Massachusetts requires a saltwater fishing permit, and striped bass, fluke, sea bass, scup and tautog all have state seasons and size limits that change. Striped bass rules are set coastwide through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and change often. Read the current rules at Massachusetts DMF before you keep fish. Bluefin and other tunas need a federal HMS permit.
Time the tide, then the fish
Fish Scouter combines this calendar with the NOAA tide for the nearest station (which matters a lot on a coast with this much tide difference), the nearest live water temperature, the wind and the seven-day outlook, and ranks every species for your spot hour by hour with the reasons in plain words. We think it's the best fishing app for planning a Cape Cod trip around the Canal turn. Heading south? See the Outer Banks fishing season for where the same stripers and albies go next. Try Fish Scouter free.