Stripers Blanket Buzzards Bay as Bluefish Make First Appearance

What's Biting

What's Next

The Memorial Day weekend setup looks promising. The Fisherman (Northeast) notes that bluefish have arrived at three locations across southern New England and 'will undoubtedly spread out from there.' Buzzards Bay, where Red Top Sporting Goods already spotted first fish off Mattapoisett and Wareham, is directly in their path. Expect bluefish presence to firm up over the next several days as water temps hold in the upper 50s and feeding fish push north through the Sound.

Striper action shows no signs of slowing. On The Water's Striper Migration Map (May 22) notes the spring run peaks around moon phases, and with a Waxing Gibbous building toward full, we are entering a window that typically concentrates fish on current edges and rip lines. The topwater bite from Fairhaven to the Canal's west end that Capt. Carl of Westport River Outfitters reported should hold through early morning and dusk hours. The worm hatch he flagged is a classic late-May trigger for Buzzards Bay bass on calm evenings; matching a soft plastic or sparse deceiver to the silhouette can produce when lipped plugs get refused.

The Canal deserves focused attention this weekend. Charley Soares in The Fisherman (Cape Cod and Islands) confirmed solid action at both ends, and Red Top Sporting Goods reported good numbers of bass plus mackerel showing in the east end. Plan to fish the last two hours of an outgoing tide at the east end and the corresponding incoming flow on the west end for the best shot at concentrated bass. The mackerel push could draw additional bluefish into the Canal as that species continues spreading through the region.

For bottom fishers, scup are running jumbo and the bite looks excellent through the weekend. Tautog are still cooperating on green crab, but Red Top flagged tightening bait supply; stock up before heading out. Black sea bass are showing around structure, though legal-sized fish remain scarce per Charley Soares; check current MA size and bag limits before retaining any. NOAA buoy 44085 recorded swells near 4 feet at its exposed outer station while buoy 44020 showed only 1-foot seas in more sheltered water. If any residual swell lingers, inner Buzzards Bay coves and the Canal will fish more comfortably than exposed Vineyard Sound points.

Context

Late May is historically the prime striper month for Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, and the 2026 season is delivering, and then some. Water temps logged at NOAA buoys 44085 and 44020 (56 to 59°F) sit right in the productive window for striped bass and early bluefish. Typically, Buzzards Bay bass fishing fires up as water crosses 55°F in mid-to-late May, and we are now solidly past that threshold with conditions still warming.

The standout contextual note comes from The Fisherman (Northeast), which described the current spring push as a run of 20- to 30-pound stripers 'the likes of which we haven't seen in many years.' For Buzzards Bay, large post-spawn fish moving north from Chesapeake staging grounds are expected each late May, but an unusually strong showing in that size class suggests a healthy year class is working through the system this season. The Canal in particular, flagged by Charley Soares in The Fisherman (Cape Cod and Islands), is producing for both regulars and first-timers, consistent with historical late-May patterns when migrating fish funnel through the east-west passage.

Bluefish timing in Buzzards Bay typically lags stripers by one to two weeks in the spring push, and the first arrivals appearing off Mattapoisett and Wareham now follows that expected seasonal schedule. Scup in jumbo sizes stacking this early bodes well for the summer fishery ahead. Tautog fishing typically winds down as water temps climb toward the mid-60s, so the current window likely represents the tail end of reliable tog action for the season in this region. No comparative signal is available in the current intel feeds to benchmark against prior years for scup or sea bass specifically, so those assessments are based on typical late-May seasonal patterns for the area.