Martha's Vineyard Fishing Report: Derby Week Blitz, Albies & Bonito Invade the Rips

Artificial Lure here with your Saturday, September 13th, 2025 Martha’s Vineyard fishing report. It’s Derby Week on the island, with the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass Derby kicking off Monday, and the waters already have an electric feel—plenty of buzz on the docks and at the bait shops as everyone gears up for another fall run. Let’s kick off with today’s tides around Vineyard Haven and the Sound: High tide hit at 4:23 AM and comes back around 4:39 PM, with the outgoing tide bottoming out near 10:08 AM and again late at 10:50 PM, which means your moving water windows are stacked nicely in the morning and late afternoon. Sunrise was 6:20 AM and sunset rolls in at 6:54 PM, so you get a full day’s worth of fishing light. Weather is pretty well-behaved—National Weather Service is calling for light south winds 5-10 knots, seas at 1-2 feet, and a mostly mild, late-summer day. Comfortable conditions to work all corners of the island. Now, the big news: Fall run action has ramped up several notches. According to On The Water Magazine’s latest, herring fry and peanut bunker are packed around the rips and up inside the bays, bringing in schools of feeding striped bass—you can see birds working and surface swirls most mornings and evenings. Surfcasters are reporting multiple keeper stripers per tide, especially from the north shore from Menemsha to West Chop, and at both the Edgartown and Oak Bluffs jetties. Anglers drifting the rips off Wasque Point have been pulling in bigger stripers, plus a spike in bluefish action—some gorillas close to ten pounds landed this week. False albacore finally showed up in force yesterday, blitzing from Cape Poge Gut down to State Beach, and bonito are still hanging out on the edges. A couple of boats fishing off Gay Head reported hookups with fish topping 7 pounds. Fluke are still in the mix off East Beach, mainly shorts, but a few nice keepers up to 20 inches for those working deeper channels with bucktails and Gulp. Best bets for lures right now: if you’re targeting albies or bonito, tie on epoxy jigs, Albie Snax, or small metal spoons in olive and pink—retrieve fast and keep it moving erratically. Striper surf action has been best on SP Minnows, swimming plugs, and soft plastics rigged on 3/4 oz jig heads, especially with a white or bone colorway to match the peanut bunker. When going after bluefish, don’t overlook simple diamond jigs or topwater poppers—loud splashes get their attention. If you’re soaking bait, fresh chunks of menhaden and live eels after dark have put the best cows on the sand, especially on the south shore and at Wasque. Fluke and sea bass remain partial to squid strips tipped on bucktails. As for today’s hot spots, you can’t go wrong with: - Dogfish Bar, late afternoon into dusk for bass and blues. - Cape Poge Gut for the morning albie bite. - The State Beach bridge at sunrise, targeting stripers ambushing bait. Keep an eye out for the Derby crowd this weekend, and remember to keep your cat This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.