Good morning from Martha’s Vineyard, this is Artificial Lure with your local November 20th, 2025 fishing report.

We’re waking up to a classic late fall scene—temperatures settle cool in the mid-40s, and there’s a light northwest breeze making it feel even brisker. Sunrise hit at 6:27 am, with sunset coming early at 4:24 pm, so daylight’s short—prime times are definitely at first light and right up to dusk.

The tides today are cooperating if you’re looking for that moving water bite: low tide just past 8:10 am, high tide swinging back in at around 1:23 pm, and you’ll get another low at 8:47 tonight according to CapeTides.com. Off the south side—think Chilmark to Katama—hitting the late morning and that early afternoon high will put you right in the strike zone as fish prowl the edges and troughs.

Fish activity’s winding down as the season stretches into its closing weeks, but you can still get into striped bass, especially the schoolies and the odd slot-size straggler. They’re running in the mid-20-inch bracket, scattered but hungry, especially wherever you find bait—peanuts and sand eels are thick along the beaches and backwaters. A couple over-30s hit the tape this week for those walking at first and last light, though most days it’s a quick bite window and then you’ll need to move to find another pocket of action. Out by the marshes, small soft plastics and slow-walked topwater pencils at dawn and dusk are pulling bites, while Jumpin’ Minnows and spooks work for those casting to shadow lines near bridges and creek mouths.

Tautog are the other headline—rock piles off Lobsterville and the boulder fields off Menemsha have been producing steady tog if you’re willing to work a green crab or Asian crab tight to the structure. Fish are solid, plenty in the legal bracket, and a couple in the five-pound class were caught over the weekend. Drop a hi-lo rig right down the vertical stuff—be patient, bites can be finicky, but persistence pays off. For bottom dwellers, black sea bass are thinning out but you might grab a dinner fish near the jetties and deep mud holes.

Freshwater’s alive too—stocked brown and rainbow trout are active at dawn and dusk in Seth’s Pond and Duarte’s, and a flashy spoon or small swimbait will get bit. Folks drifting live shiners or nightcrawlers off the bottom are also catching jumbo yellow perch and bass in the upper ponds.

For lure selection, topwater pencils and spooks at low light are still prime for bass—bone or chrome finishes if it’s overcast. Soft plastics like 5-inch paddle tails in olive, gray, or white are working in the outflows, and don’t overlook bucktails trimmed with pork or curly tail. Tautog want green crabs or Asian crabs rigged tidy on a dropper. For trout, go flashy with small Kastmasters or Mepps spinners, or toss a live shiner for your shot at a big brown.

Best bait remains fresh if you can get it—chunked squid, bunker, or mackerel for bass if lures aren’t working. Green crab for ducking tautog on the rocks, and nightcrawlers for trout and perch.

Hot spots for action this week: check the deep rocks at Lobsterville for tautog, and the Sengekontacket backwaters for a shot at late bass. For trout, Seth’s Pond near Tisbury is the local bet. Want a surf mission? The outgoing at Wasque Point still produces stripers right as the water pulls hard.

That’s the bite for November 20th. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for your daily fishing fix. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI