Stellwagen Bank is the beating heart of the inshore bluefin fishery in Massachusetts. A large, shallow sand bank rising from the floor of Massachusetts Bay between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, it stacks up sand eels and other bait, and where the bait piles up, the tuna, and the whales, follow. It is a National Marine Sanctuary and one of the most productive pieces of water in the Northeast.
The ground
The bank runs roughly north to south for about nineteen miles, and anglers key on its edges and corners, where current sweeps bait up against the structure. Those spots have names, the SW, NW, NE and SE corners, the Middle Bank and the High Ground, and each fishes a little differently with the wind and tide.
How to fish it
All the tuna methods produce here depending on the day: trolling to find fish, jigging and popping marked or breaking fish, and live bait or butterfish when they get picky. Read the water, find the bait and the life, and match your approach to how the fish are feeding.
Tip On Stellwagen, follow the bait and the whales. Sand eels, working birds and feeding humpbacks all point to where the tuna are, so run the corners and edges until you find the life, then set up on it.