Inshore · 60 ft · beaches, bays, inlets and rips
Atlantic Bonito
Sarda sarda. Prime water reaches Cape Cod Bay in New England right now (63°F at the surface). Fish it 0–59 ft down — that is where 64–63°F water sits off Cape Cod Bay.
LaneInshore · 10 fa (60 ft)
Depth it holds16–131 ft
Prime water63–73°F (workable 63–79°F)
Holds in the column0–82 ft down below the surface, over 16–131 ft of water
Judged onsurface temperature (NASA MUR satellite)
Structurenone
The water column off Cape Cod Bay
The strip is the water itself, coloured by temperature from the surface down to the 59 ft surveyed bottom at that spot — one band per RTOFS model level. The outlined stretch is where Atlantic Bonito's temperature band (63–79°F) and the depth it holds actually overlap. That thickness is the number that matters: it is how much water you can work, not just whether the spot is warm enough somewhere. One model cycle, not a weekly archive — this holds still while the surface map scrubs.
In 3D
Drag to rotate, pinch or scroll to zoom. 3D model traced from a Sherman Foote Denton; original1913 plate scanned by rawpixel (vintage_illustration), CC BY 2.0 reference — source.
How it's fished
Trolled small feathers or cast metals around bait; moving water.
Region by region — right now
| Region | Season | Prime water | Temp | Fish it at | Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New England | in season | reaches Cape Cod Bay | 63°F | 0–59 ft | J F M A |
| Mid-Atlantic | in season | reaches Montauk | 67°F | 0–60 ft | J F M A M |
"Fish it at" is where this species' temperature band and its holding depth overlap in the water column, from the RTOFS profile (13 levels, 0–300 m) — the depth to actually put a bait, not just the place. "Prime water" is the furthest sampled station on the 10-fathom lane whose surface temperature sits inside this species' band. It is water, not a sighting report.
Charted grounds on the 10-fathom lane