Massachusetts deep sea fishing: groundfish and giant bluefin

What you fish in Massachusetts, and when

Massachusetts deep sea fishing is three fisheries off a cold New England coast, and the calendar runs them. The bread and butter is groundfish on Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge, the grounds the New England fleet has worked for centuries. Haddock is the keeper that carries the season, open most of the year at a 17 inch minimum, with pollock, cusk, and redfish alongside it. Cod is the fish the rules protect: the Gulf of Maine recreational season is a short fall window, so a keeper cod is a bonus, not the plan. The headline is giant bluefin tuna, the summer and fall fishery that put the state on television as the home of Wicked Tuna, trolled and jigged offshore on Stellwagen and the backside under a federal permit. Close to shore, striped bass run the bays and rips from spring into fall on a tight one fish slot, with black sea bass, scup, and bluefish filling out a summer bottom bag.

One thing shapes the whole coast: the Gulf of Maine is cold and rough in winter, so the fleet runs roughly April into November and the offshore trips cluster in the warm months. The bluefin retention and the cod and haddock seasons are set year to year by NOAA and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, so the rule in force on your date is the one to confirm before a season specific trip.

The Massachusetts ports compared

Two ports carry the offshore fleet, on opposite sides of Massachusetts Bay, and both run to the same Stellwagen Bank grounds from their own side. Gloucester, on Cape Ann about 40 minutes north of Boston, is the compact old fishing town and the Wicked Tuna home port, with a head boat fleet that has run since 1944 selling cheap per person seats and a deep bench of private six packs that fish groundfish in the cool months and giant bluefin in the warm. Cape Cod, reaching southeast of Boston, is the opposite: a sprawling peninsula with boats spread across a dozen harbors, the largest head boat fleet in the northeast running bottom trips out of Hyannis, more per person boats at Falmouth, the giant bluefin charters working from Provincetown closest to the grounds, and a large inshore striped bass fleet that fishes the bay rather than the deep water. Gloucester is the tighter groundfish and tuna port; the Cape is the bigger, more spread out one, with more formats and harbors to sort through.

Getting to the Massachusetts coast

The two ports sit on different sides of Boston, so the drive is the thing to plan. Gloucester is about 40 minutes north of the city on Cape Ann, off Route 128, with the charter docks around the inner harbor and at Cape Ann Marina on the Annisquam River. Cape Cod reaches southeast across the Cape Cod Canal, its harbors strung from Falmouth and Hyannis out to Provincetown at the tip, more than an hour end to end, so the harbor your boat leaves from matters as much as the Cape itself. Boston is the nearest major gateway for both. Offshore and tuna trips leave early and the Gulf of Maine has the final say on the weather, so build in a flexible date.

Massachusetts is one of six states on our Atlantic Northeast coast. To the north, Maine fishes the same Gulf of Maine groundfish; to the south, the region runs through the Mid-Atlantic ports of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. Pick a port for its full ranking, every boat scored on one national standard.