Martha's Vineyard Early June: Stripers and Blues Setting Up for Prime Evening Tides

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Martha’s Vineyard fishing report. We’ve got a classic early‑June pattern setting up around the Island. Light southwest breeze this morning, 5–10 knots, building a bit in the afternoon with temps topping out in the upper 60s to low 70s. Skies are partly cloudy, just enough cover to keep fish comfortable up top. Sunrise was right around 5:10 a.m., sunset will be close to 8:15 p.m., giving you a long window to work the tides. Vineyard Haven tide is running a predawn high, then dropping through the morning, with a low mid‑day and another push of water late afternoon into evening. Around here, that evening flood has been the money tide, especially on the north shore rips and the entrances to the ponds. Striped bass are the main story. Schoolies are thick along State Beach, East Chop, and around Oak Bluffs Harbor, with a steady pick of keeper‑size fish mixing in after dark. The Canal crowd and local Vineyard sharpies have been reporting decent runs of 26–32 inch fish sliding through, and a few bigger ones into the low 40s showing on the rips off Middle Ground and Lucas Shoal. Bluefish have started to show in better numbers, mostly 3–6 pounds, roaming between Chappy, Wasque, and occasionally blitzing bait off Cape Poge. Nothing like the old days, but enough to saw you off if you’re not ready. A few weakfish and the odd fluke are coming from the south side and around Menemsha, with scup pretty much a sure thing on bait over rockier patches. For artificial lures, this is prime time for small to medium swimmers and soft plastics. Think: - 4–6 inch soft plastic paddletails or straight tails in olive/white or all white on 3/8 to 3/4 oz jigheads. - Slim minnow plugs and SP‑style swimmers in bone or sand eel patterns along State Beach and the ferry lanes. - Unweighted or lightly weighted soft plastics swung in the current at inlet mouths and creek openings on that flooding tide. When the wind is up or fish are blitzing, metal is still king. Small to medium metals with siwash hooks, epoxy jigs, and old‑school Kastmaster‑style tins have been producing bass and blues from the beaches and jetties. If you’re soaking bait, fresh is everything. Fresh squid strips, sandworms, and chunked menhaden or mackerel have all been putting fish on the sand. Clam will take bass in the rocks and scup anywhere you can hold bottom. Two hot spots to circle for today: 1. **State Beach / Joseph Sylvia State Beach (Edgartown–Oak Bluffs side)** That inside edge near the bridge and the deeper cuts have been holding schoolie bass with keepers mixed in. Work small soft plastics and minnow plugs on the dropping tide at first light, then again on the evening flood. If the wind lays down, it can light up quickly. 2. **Wasque / Cape Poge area on Chappy** If you can get over there safely, this has been the place for a mixed bag of bass and blues, especially when the current is ripping. Metals, big soft plastics, and topwater spooks at first light or dusk can produce some serious action. Always respect the surf and shifting bars down there. Overall fish activity is best at first light and again in that last hour of daylight, especially when those periods line up with a moving tide. Mid‑day is slower but not dead; go deeper, smaller, and more subtle with your presentations. That’s the word from the Island for now. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn