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Nantucket is a 14-mile-long island sitting 30 miles off the Massachusetts coast in the open Atlantic. The island's shape, a crescent curving around a harbor with points jutting out on both ends, creates distinct fishing zones where currents, shoals, and bottom structure concentrate different species in different spots.
The fishing here is defined by location. Each named point, beach, and rip on the island fishes differently depending on the tide, the wind, and the season. A guide or angler who knows which spot fires in which conditions can fish the island every day of the season and never repeat the same experience.
Great Point, The Northern Tip
Great Point is the long, curving sand spit that extends from the northern end of Nantucket. It's the most famous fishing spot on the island and one of the best surf-casting destinations in New England.
The point creates a natural convergence where Nantucket Sound currents meet the open Atlantic, and the rip that forms off the tip concentrates bait. Striped bass stack in the rip from May through October, with the biggest fish, 30 to 50 pounds, showing in June and again during the fall run in September and October. Bluefish crash through the rip in summer, attacking bait with characteristic violence.
Fishing Great Point means driving over miles of sand (a beach permit and 4WD are required) to reach the tip, then casting into the rip with plugs, eels, or fly tackle. The pre-dawn bite is legendary, standing alone at the tip of Great Point in the dark, casting into the sound of breaking fish, is a New England fishing experience without equal.
Madaket, The West End
Madaket sits on Nantucket's west end, facing Muskeget Channel and the open Atlantic. The deep water drops off quickly here, and the strong tidal currents between Nantucket and the Elizabeth Islands create rips and eddies that hold fish in tight, predictable zones.
Striped bass and bluefish are the primary targets, but Madaket's deeper water also brings bonito and false albacore closer to shore than most island spots. The west-facing beaches catch the afternoon sun and the evening bite, casting into a Madaket sunset with albies blitzing on the surface is one of the defining images of Nantucket fishing.
Cisco Beach and Smith's Point, The South Shore
The south shore faces the open Atlantic, and the beaches here, Cisco, Surfside, and Smith's Point, offer surf fishing with more exposure and bigger swells than the protected north side.
Smith's Point is the southwest corner of the island, where the beach narrows to a sand spit and the currents from Madaket and the south shore converge. It's a productive spot for striped bass during the fall migration, when fish running south along the coast pass within casting range.
Cisco Beach produces consistent bluefish in summer and stripers in spring and fall. The surf here can be heavy, which means bigger gear and heavier presentations.
The Harbor and Sound Side
Nantucket Harbor and the protected waters of Nantucket Sound offer calmer fishing for anglers who prefer boats or calmer conditions.
Fluke (summer flounder) hold on the sandy bottom in the sound, and drifting with bucktail jigs produces fish from June through September. Scup (porgy) and sea bass hold on the rocky structure. Striped bass cruise the harbor edges and the jetties, especially at dawn and dusk.
Charter boats run from the harbor to the offshore rips and shoals for bluefin tuna, the same Stellwagen Bank and south-of-the-Cape grounds that the mainland fleet fishes, accessible from Nantucket's eastern exposure.
The Fall Run, Albies and Bonito
The fall albie and bonito run, September through October, is the event that serious Nantucket anglers plan their year around. False albacore and Atlantic bonito are small, fast tuna relatives that show up when water temperatures peak and baitfish concentrate around the island's rips and points.
Albies run 5 to 15 pounds and make screaming runs that strip 100 yards of line in seconds. They're caught on small epoxy flies, Deadly Dick lures, and light spinning tackle, and they're one of the most exciting fish in the Atlantic on light gear. The challenge is finding them, they blitz on the surface unpredictably, and you have to be in the right spot when they appear.
When to Go
- May–June: Spring striper migration, first bass at Great Point, the season opens
- July–August: Bluefish everywhere, bonito starting, fluke in the sound, summer fishing
- September–October: The fall run, albies, bonito, trophy stripers, the best fishing of the year
- November: Late-season stripers, last albies, the island quiets down
