By Sam Brown.
The Black Sea Bass is actually a member of the grouper family and each fish makes for a couple sweet tasting white meat fillets. They are known as “protogynous hermaphrodites” which means they start as females and end up as mature males. The males will develop a big hump on the top of their heads and can turn into a gorgeous light blue to purple coloration.
During the colder months in the Northeast, our biomass of Black Sea Bass will push out to deeper waters east of Cape Cod, typically staying in depths from around 250 – 550 feet deep. When the water temperatures rise, they move in to shallower inshore waters from 10-120 feet deep.
For 2019 in Massachusetts, May 18th is the start of the Black Sea Bass Season and it stretches until September 8th. These fish occupy waters along the east coast from the Gulf of Maine all the way down to the Florida Keys. Fortunately for anybody fishing Cape Cod waters, we have one of the healthiest biomass of Black Sea Bass on the east coast.
Nantucket Sound is a popular hang out for this species of fish. The waters are the perfect depth and along with great structure and a healthy source of their preferred meals–crab, small lobster, squid, and small fish–makes this a great place for the novice angler to have a great day on the water.
For a beginner boat owner/angler making the trip to Nantucket Sound and putting some Black Sea Bass on the deck is a great place to start. If your boat is on a trailer, dropping in to Bass River in Yarmouth, or Saquatucket Harbor in Harwich makes for an easy and inexpensive trip to the fishing grounds.
If you have good sonar/side scan capabilities on your boat (or even kayak), then looking for any rock piles, deep drop-offs or holes anywhere in the Sound can hold lots of Black Sea Bass. Fortunately for us, the powers that be have created a few artificial reefs that are always a good place to start.
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