Finfish and Fishing Information for Buzzards Bay

General Information

Beginning in 2011, in Massachusetts, a fishing license is now required for anyone over 16 for salt water fishing, including up to the first dam in rivers and streams that flow to the ocean. Saltwater fishermen must now have either a MA Recreational Saltwater Fishing permit, or a recreational saltwater fishing permit from a state that has a reciprocity agreement with Massachusetts. As of February 17, 2011, Massachusetts has reciprocity agreements with, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. For persons over 60, the permit is free. To obtain a license online, or for more information, go to the MA Div of Marine Fisheries Recreational Fishing Permit web page. The license costs $10.

There are also size or catch limits on certain species. In freshwater, anyone over 14 requires a license. A permit is also needed to catch herring in Rivers, even if it is caught as bait, although there has been a complete ban on the catch of herring for a number of years. We recommend visiting the MassWildlife page below for detailed information on fishing laws in Massachusetts.

Since the 1800s, the use of otter trawls and seining has been prohibited in Buzzards Bay. These limits are defined in the Division of Marine Fisheries regulations, 322 CMR 4.00. This prohibition may have originated in a similar ban in other Massachusetts water adopted in Chapter 196 of the Acts of 1881 by the Massachusetts Legislature.

Mass Wildlife Page at MA Fish and Wildlife
Mass Division of Marine Fisheries Recreational Fishing Page

Size and Catch Limits

A $10 Massachusetts saltwater recreation license is now required for saltwater fishing in Massachusetts, and many species have catch limits on size or number. Below are limits of some popular species in Buzzards Bay. This information is from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (click to see if there is an update). DMF also has a very useful recreational fishing regulation chart.

Recreational Finfish Regulations as of January 28, 2019
Species	Season Open – Close	Size Limit	Possession Limit
American Eel (1)	All Year	9 in	25 fish
Black Sea Bass (2)(6)	May 19 – Sept 12	15 in	10 fish
Bluefish	All Year	none	10 fish
Dab (Plaice) (3) (4)	All Year	14 in	none
Fluke	May 23 – Oct 9	17 in	5 fish
River Herring (5)	Emergency Ban	Harvest, possession, sale and use are prohibited	0 fish
Scup (6)	May 1 – Dec 31	9 in	30 fish
Striped Bass (5)	All Year	28 in	1 fish
Tautog (7)	Jan 1 – Mar 31 Apr 1- May 31 Jun 1 – Jul 31 Aug 1 – Oct 14 Oct 15 – Dec 31	N/a 16 in 16 in 16 in 16 in	prohibited 3 fish 1 fish 3 fish 5 fish
Weakfish (squeteague or sea trout)	All Year	16 in	1 fish
Winter Flounder Limits for Buzzards Bay and So. of Cape Cod (3) (4)	Mar 1 – Dec 31	12 in	2 fish

Yellowtail Flounder (3) (4)	All Year	13 in	none

Notes:

1) Subject to regulation by the Division and the municipality. Please consult municipal regulations.

2) Black sea bass are measured from the tip of the snout or jaw (mouth closed) to the farthest extremity of the tail, not including the tail filament.

3) Federal rules apply beyond state waters. Consult NOAA Fisheries for regulations.

4) It is unlawful to fish with hook and line gear in the Winter Cod Conservation Closure from November 15 through January 31. It is unlawful to take cod from the Summer Cod Conservation Closure from April 16 through July 21. See maps in 322 CMR 8.07 for more details.

5) Striped bass are measured from the tip of the snout or jaw (mouth closed) to the farthest extremity of the tail. The discard of dead legal sized striped bass is unlawful. The practice of high-grading, whereby legal sized striped bass are released in favor of larger fish caught subsequently is unlawful. Accordingly, it is also unlawful to keep a striped bass alive in water by attaching a line or chain to the fish (stringer), or placing it in a live well or holding car. Striped bass must be kept whole, meaning the head, tail, and body remain intact. Only evisceration is allowed. Permitted for-hire vessels may fillet striped bass for their customers.

6) Black sea bass and scup may be filleted but not skinned while at-sea. No more than two fillets per allowed fish may be possessed.

7) When the tautog fishery is open, private anglers are subject to 10-fish maximum tautog limit for the vessel. The most restrictive limit of the per angler bag limit or per vessel maximum limit applies.

Click this Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Link for the latest information and updates.

Species Profiles from Cornell University Extension Service website

These fact sheets were prepared from “Bigelow and Schroeder’s Fishes of the Gulf of Maine “, 3rd Edition.

ATLANTIC MACKAREL Scomber scombrus
BLACK SEA BASS Centropristis striata
BLUEFISH Pomatomus saltatrix
BUTTERFISH Peprilus triacanthus
GOOSEFISH Lophius americanus
REDHAKE Urophyds chuss
SCUP Stenotomus chrysops
SILVERHAKE Merluccius bilinearis
STRIPED BASS Morone saxatilis
SUMMER FLOUNDER Paralichthysdentatus
TAUTOG Tautoga onitis
TILEFISH Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps
WEAKFISH Cynoscion regalis
WINTER FLOUNDER Pseudopleuronectes americanus
YELLOWTAIL FLOUNDER Limanda ferruginea

Fishes of Buzzards Bay Poster Click for either the:

Fishes of Buzzards Bay Poster 8.5 x 11 inch micro version (111 kb pdf), which is just barely readable when printed, but magnifies well on your computer screen.

or the Fishes of Buzzards Bay Poster 34 x 40 inch poster version (1.5 MB pdf), if you own a large format plotter or printer.

This is the Methods Summary Poster (320 kb pdf).

Fishes of Buzzards Bay poster

The poster in the box at the right prepared by Tony Wilbur, at MCZM and Matt Camisa at DMF for a conference.

Full Poster Title: “INTRAANNUAL VARIATION IN FISH POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS AND SEAFLOOR HABITAT RELATIONSHIPS IN A LARGE ESTUARINE EMBAYMENT: BUZZARDS BAY, MASSACHUSETTS, Anthony R. Wilbur, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, Boston, MA Matthew Camisa, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Pocasset, MA.”

Fishing Clubs

Cape Cod Bass

Hyannis Anglers Club
Hyannis Anglers Club is a saltwater sport fishing club sponsoring Bass and Bluefish tournaments, and the Cape Cod Giant Bluefin Tuna Tournament each October

Massachusetts Striped Bass Association

Town specific information

State Information on state funded boat ramps and fish species

Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program

Established in 1985 as the Buzzards Bay Project, our mission is to protect and restore water quality and living resources in Buzzards Bay and its watershed through the implementation of the Buzzards Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.

Fishing