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Winter Vineyard Fishing: Patience and Persistence in the Deep Cold
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Vineyard fishing report.
We woke up to a cold, clear January morning on-Island, light northwest breeze and that sharp winter bite in the air. According to tide-forecast dot com, Oak Bluffs is seeing a morning high around 4:49 a.m. and a low at 10:08 a.m., with another modest high late afternoon, so those first and last couple hours of moving water are your best bet. Sunrise is right around 7:00 a.m. and sunset about 4:30–4:40 p.m., so you don’t get much daylight to work with.
Saltwater action around Martha’s Vineyard is deep winter slow. Most of the stripers that kept us busy off Wasque and Middle Ground are long gone or hunkered way down. Any bass now are holdovers in the deeper, quieter holes and you’re not going to see numbers. This is the time for patient plugging or jigging, not hero shots.
Right now, the realistic play is mixed: a little winter surf scouting and a lot of freshwater. The Fisherman’s Cape Cod and the Islands report has been talking up hardwater and trout around the region, and that lines up with what locals are seeing on Island ponds. Trout, pickerel, and bass in the bigger ponds like Long Pond and Duarte’s are providing most of the bend in rods.
Recent catches have been modest but steady: a handful of rainbows to 14–16 inches, the odd brown, plus chain pickerel and small largemouth. No crazy blitzes, but if you put in time around drop‑offs and inflows you can scratch out a nice mixed bag.
Best offerings right now:
- In the ponds:
• **Bait** – small shiners, medium shiners for pickerel, nightcrawlers on light leaders.
• **Lures** – 1/8–1/4 oz marabou jigs, small silver or gold spoons, 2–3 inch soft plastics on light jigheads, and subtle suspending jerkbaits. Go natural colors; the water’s cold and clear.
- In the salt (if you insist on walking a winter beach):
• **Bait** – fresh or salted clam strips or squid if you can get them, fished slow and close to bottom.
• **Lures** – slim metals like Kastmasters or Deadly Dicks, and small soft‑plastic paddletails on 3/8–1/2 oz heads, crawled painfully slow along the sand. Downsize and slow down; any bass now is lethargic.
Couple of local hot spots to think about:
- **Sengekontacket Pond**: more of a scouting mission this time of year, but the channels and deeper pockets can hold a random winter holdover striper. Fish the tide edges with small soft plastics or bait, stay mobile, and treat any tap like gold.
- **Long Point / Tisbury Great Pond side**: focus on the pond itself for trout and pickerel. Work the wind‑blown shorelines and any visible structure with shiners or small jigs. It’s a good place to tuck out of the worst of the wind and still find life.
With Norton Point breached again and Chappy temporarily cut off, as reported by the Vineyard Gazette, currents and sand will be shifting hard out that way. File that away for spring: Wasque and the newly energized cuts could fish very well for stripers and blues once the water warms and bait returns.
For now, dress warm, think small and slow, and treat every fish as a bonus in this deep‑winter lull.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe.
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
We woke up to a cold, clear January morning on-Island, light northwest breeze and that sharp winter bite in the air. According to tide-forecast dot com, Oak Bluffs is seeing a morning high around 4:49 a.m. and a low at 10:08 a.m., with another modest high late afternoon, so those first and last couple hours of moving water are your best bet. Sunrise is right around 7:00 a.m. and sunset about 4:30–4:40 p.m., so you don’t get much daylight to work with.
Saltwater action around Martha’s Vineyard is deep winter slow. Most of the stripers that kept us busy off Wasque and Middle Ground are long gone or hunkered way down. Any bass now are holdovers in the deeper, quieter holes and you’re not going to see numbers. This is the time for patient plugging or jigging, not hero shots.
Right now, the realistic play is mixed: a little winter surf scouting and a lot of freshwater. The Fisherman’s Cape Cod and the Islands report has been talking up hardwater and trout around the region, and that lines up with what locals are seeing on Island ponds. Trout, pickerel, and bass in the bigger ponds like Long Pond and Duarte’s are providing most of the bend in rods.
Recent catches have been modest but steady: a handful of rainbows to 14–16 inches, the odd brown, plus chain pickerel and small largemouth. No crazy blitzes, but if you put in time around drop‑offs and inflows you can scratch out a nice mixed bag.
Best offerings right now:
- In the ponds:
• **Bait** – small shiners, medium shiners for pickerel, nightcrawlers on light leaders.
• **Lures** – 1/8–1/4 oz marabou jigs, small silver or gold spoons, 2–3 inch soft plastics on light jigheads, and subtle suspending jerkbaits. Go natural colors; the water’s cold and clear.
- In the salt (if you insist on walking a winter beach):
• **Bait** – fresh or salted clam strips or squid if you can get them, fished slow and close to bottom.
• **Lures** – slim metals like Kastmasters or Deadly Dicks, and small soft‑plastic paddletails on 3/8–1/2 oz heads, crawled painfully slow along the sand. Downsize and slow down; any bass now is lethargic.
Couple of local hot spots to think about:
- **Sengekontacket Pond**: more of a scouting mission this time of year, but the channels and deeper pockets can hold a random winter holdover striper. Fish the tide edges with small soft plastics or bait, stay mobile, and treat any tap like gold.
- **Long Point / Tisbury Great Pond side**: focus on the pond itself for trout and pickerel. Work the wind‑blown shorelines and any visible structure with shiners or small jigs. It’s a good place to tuck out of the worst of the wind and still find life.
With Norton Point breached again and Chappy temporarily cut off, as reported by the Vineyard Gazette, currents and sand will be shifting hard out that way. File that away for spring: Wasque and the newly energized cuts could fish very well for stripers and blues once the water warms and bait returns.
For now, dress warm, think small and slow, and treat every fish as a bonus in this deep‑winter lull.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe.
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
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By Inception Point AiName’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Vineyard fishing report.
We woke up to a cold, clear January morning on-Island, light northwest breeze and that sharp winter bite in the air. According to tide-forecast dot com, Oak Bluffs is seeing a morning high around 4:49 a.m. and a low at 10:08 a.m., with another modest high late afternoon, so those first and last couple hours of moving water are your best bet. Sunrise is right around 7:00 a.m. and sunset about 4:30–4:40 p.m., so you don’t get much daylight to work with.
Saltwater action around Martha’s Vineyard is deep winter slow. Most of the stripers that kept us busy off Wasque and Middle Ground are long gone or hunkered way down. Any bass now are holdovers in the deeper, quieter holes and you’re not going to see numbers. This is the time for patient plugging or jigging, not hero shots.
Right now, the realistic play is mixed: a little winter surf scouting and a lot of freshwater. The Fisherman’s Cape Cod and the Islands report has been talking up hardwater and trout around the region, and that lines up with what locals are seeing on Island ponds. Trout, pickerel, and bass in the bigger ponds like Long Pond and Duarte’s are providing most of the bend in rods.
Recent catches have been modest but steady: a handful of rainbows to 14–16 inches, the odd brown, plus chain pickerel and small largemouth. No crazy blitzes, but if you put in time around drop‑offs and inflows you can scratch out a nice mixed bag.
Best offerings right now:
- In the ponds:
• **Bait** – small shiners, medium shiners for pickerel, nightcrawlers on light leaders.
• **Lures** – 1/8–1/4 oz marabou jigs, small silver or gold spoons, 2–3 inch soft plastics on light jigheads, and subtle suspending jerkbaits. Go natural colors; the water’s cold and clear.
- In the salt (if you insist on walking a winter beach):
• **Bait** – fresh or salted clam strips or squid if you can get them, fished slow and close to bottom.
• **Lures** – slim metals like Kastmasters or Deadly Dicks, and small soft‑plastic paddletails on 3/8–1/2 oz heads, crawled painfully slow along the sand. Downsize and slow down; any bass now is lethargic.
Couple of local hot spots to think about:
- **Sengekontacket Pond**: more of a scouting mission this time of year, but the channels and deeper pockets can hold a random winter holdover striper. Fish the tide edges with small soft plastics or bait, stay mobile, and treat any tap like gold.
- **Long Point / Tisbury Great Pond side**: focus on the pond itself for trout and pickerel. Work the wind‑blown shorelines and any visible structure with shiners or small jigs. It’s a good place to tuck out of the worst of the wind and still find life.
With Norton Point breached again and Chappy temporarily cut off, as reported by the Vineyard Gazette, currents and sand will be shifting hard out that way. File that away for spring: Wasque and the newly energized cuts could fish very well for stripers and blues once the water warms and bait returns.
For now, dress warm, think small and slow, and treat every fish as a bonus in this deep‑winter lull.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe.
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
We woke up to a cold, clear January morning on-Island, light northwest breeze and that sharp winter bite in the air. According to tide-forecast dot com, Oak Bluffs is seeing a morning high around 4:49 a.m. and a low at 10:08 a.m., with another modest high late afternoon, so those first and last couple hours of moving water are your best bet. Sunrise is right around 7:00 a.m. and sunset about 4:30–4:40 p.m., so you don’t get much daylight to work with.
Saltwater action around Martha’s Vineyard is deep winter slow. Most of the stripers that kept us busy off Wasque and Middle Ground are long gone or hunkered way down. Any bass now are holdovers in the deeper, quieter holes and you’re not going to see numbers. This is the time for patient plugging or jigging, not hero shots.
Right now, the realistic play is mixed: a little winter surf scouting and a lot of freshwater. The Fisherman’s Cape Cod and the Islands report has been talking up hardwater and trout around the region, and that lines up with what locals are seeing on Island ponds. Trout, pickerel, and bass in the bigger ponds like Long Pond and Duarte’s are providing most of the bend in rods.
Recent catches have been modest but steady: a handful of rainbows to 14–16 inches, the odd brown, plus chain pickerel and small largemouth. No crazy blitzes, but if you put in time around drop‑offs and inflows you can scratch out a nice mixed bag.
Best offerings right now:
- In the ponds:
• **Bait** – small shiners, medium shiners for pickerel, nightcrawlers on light leaders.
• **Lures** – 1/8–1/4 oz marabou jigs, small silver or gold spoons, 2–3 inch soft plastics on light jigheads, and subtle suspending jerkbaits. Go natural colors; the water’s cold and clear.
- In the salt (if you insist on walking a winter beach):
• **Bait** – fresh or salted clam strips or squid if you can get them, fished slow and close to bottom.
• **Lures** – slim metals like Kastmasters or Deadly Dicks, and small soft‑plastic paddletails on 3/8–1/2 oz heads, crawled painfully slow along the sand. Downsize and slow down; any bass now is lethargic.
Couple of local hot spots to think about:
- **Sengekontacket Pond**: more of a scouting mission this time of year, but the channels and deeper pockets can hold a random winter holdover striper. Fish the tide edges with small soft plastics or bait, stay mobile, and treat any tap like gold.
- **Long Point / Tisbury Great Pond side**: focus on the pond itself for trout and pickerel. Work the wind‑blown shorelines and any visible structure with shiners or small jigs. It’s a good place to tuck out of the worst of the wind and still find life.
With Norton Point breached again and Chappy temporarily cut off, as reported by the Vineyard Gazette, currents and sand will be shifting hard out that way. File that away for spring: Wasque and the newly energized cuts could fish very well for stripers and blues once the water warms and bait returns.
For now, dress warm, think small and slow, and treat every fish as a bonus in this deep‑winter lull.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe.
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