Vineyard Winter: Small Lures, Slow Tactics for Holdover Stripers and Pond Trout

Artificial Lure here with your Martha’s Vineyard fishing report.

We’ve slid into true winter mode, and the island is fishing like it. Expect cold air, a stiff northwest bite at times, and water temps low enough that every strike feels earned. Skies are generally clear behind a recent front, so it’s a bright, chilly pattern with a good chance of those crisp, glassy mornings and breezy afternoons.

Tides around the Vineyard today are running on a typical early‑December cycle: a predawn low, a mid‑morning push, another drop mid‑afternoon, then an evening flood. Think of your best windows as first light into the late‑morning high, and again late afternoon into dusk. Sunrise is right around 7:00 a.m. local, with sunset coming early, around 4:15 p.m., so the prime bite windows are short and focused.

Saltwater action is very much a holdover and cold‑water game now. Most of the migratory stripers are long gone, but a few resident schoolies are still tucked into the warmer, darker backwaters—think brackish ponds and muddy creeks rather than the open south shore surf. When they chew, it’s usually on the softer parts of the tide: the top of the flood or the first of the ebb, especially if the wind lays down. Flounder and the odd winter flattie are possible on the deeper, sheltered edges, and there’s always the chance of a surprise cod or pollock offshore for anyone jumping on a winter headboat out of the Cape.

As for recent catches, the island chatter has shifted from fall blitzes to “one or two fish if you work” reports. Anglers poking around Vineyard Haven Harbor and the Lagoon are still picking at small stripers, mostly undersized but spirited, and a handful of anglers soaking bait off the Oak Bluffs side have seen some mixed flounder and sea robins on the better tide. Freshwater is quietly stealing the show: stocked trout, pickerel, and cold‑happy largemouth in the inland ponds are producing the most consistent bend in the rod, with browns and rainbows chasing slow‑rolled spoons and small jigs.

Lure selection needs to match the cold, sluggish fish. In the salt, scale way down: small soft‑plastic paddle tails and sand‑eel imitations on light jigheads, worked painfully slow near the bottom, will out‑produce big plugs now. Slim metal like Kastmasters or Deadly Dicks, again fished slow with long pauses, will pick off both holdover bass and any lingering herring or mackerel‑chasing predators. For bait, nothing beats fresh or salted clams and sea worms on a high‑low rig for flounder, and small chunks of herring or squid will draw the odd striper that’s still hanging around. In the ponds, tiny hair jigs, micro plastics on 1/16‑ounce heads, and small gold or silver spoons are the ticket, with nightcrawlers or shiners for those fishing bait.

A couple of local hot spots to circle for this stretch: Vineyard Haven Harbor and the Lagoon outflow are worth your predawn and dusk efforts for holdover stripers, especially on that incoming tide when slightly warmer ocean water pushes in. Down‑island, the Edgartown Harbor and Katama Bay edges, particularly the deeper channels out of the wind, can still cough up a schoolie or a cold‑stunned flounder if you bounce bait or jigs slowly along the bottom. If you’re willing to pivot to freshwater, Duarte’s Pond and the state‑stocked kettle ponds inland are quietly giving up trout and bass to anyone who walks the banks and keeps moving.

Bundle up, fish slow, and think small and subtle—this is the time of year when one well‑placed cast can make the whole day.

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