Martha's Vineyard Fishing Report: Stripers, Blues, and Exotics in Prime Time

Artificial Lure here with your Martha’s Vineyard fishing report for Saturday, August 9, 2025. Sunrise hit the water at 5:44 this morning and sunset will wrap things up at 7:50 tonight, so you’ve got a solid window for chasing the bite all day long. Over on the Oak Bluffs tide chart, the first low tide came in just after 5:15am, high tide’s slotted in at 11:41am, and we’ll see the second low right around 5pm—classic summer swings, so mid-morning and late afternoon are your prime moving-water windows according to Tide-Forecast. Skies are partly cloudy with temps hovering in the low 70s. There’s a light southwest breeze pushing through, enough to ripple the surface but not enough to keep you off the water. If you’re planning to hit the surf, you’ll notice that typical Vineyard chop, but nothing out of the ordinary—good conditions to hunt up stripers before the sun gets too high. On the fishing front, On The Water Magazine says sand eels and herring fry are thick off the South Shore, and that has the striped bass fired up, especially low-light hours. Nighttime plug tossers and dawn patrols are reporting hefty stripers cruising the beaches, especially on the outer island. Topwater walkers, soft plastics, and live eels have been the ticket for working the boulder fields and deeper cuts around Wasque and Dogfish Bar. For those hitting deeper water, bluefish action is steady across the rips—think State Beach and Menemsha Bight. Tossing metal slabs, pencil poppers, or even just chunking bunker is getting fast hits from blues in the five- to eight-pound range, and the bite’s hottest on that outgoing tide when bait pours off the flats. Bottom enthusiasts are in for a treat: sea bass and fluke are both running strong around the reefs off East Chop and Squibnocket. Keeper fluke are coming up on chartreuse bucktails tipped with squid strips, while sea bass can’t resist green crabs or small jigs with a bit of Gulp. Not many reports of doormat fluke over 24 inches, but lots of action in the legal slot. Bonito are making their first real showings this week in the rips at Vineyard Sound. Most fish are taking epoxy jigs, small diamond jigs, or silver tins worked fast—key is to match the hatch with small, shining profiles. Early risers are boating a few bones tight to Middle Ground and Hedge Fence. A couple Spanish mackerel even showed up just west of Edgartown, according to Instagram’s On The Water Magazine feed—always a nice bonus. Offshore action’s hot for those running deep. Big bluefin tuna are still being caught southwest on flutter jigs in the early morning, and there’s even chatter about more white marlin releases than usual, as reported on US Harbors' coastal news. Local hot spots today? Here’s where you want to try: - Wasque Point—old reliable for dawn stripers and the occasional bluefish blitz. - Menemsha Bight—afternoon blues and strong sea bass numbers. - Middle Ground—hot for bonito and the random Spanish mack right now. - Squibnocket Reefs—best This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.