Inshore · 60 ft · beaches, bays, inlets and rips

Atlantic Croaker

Micropogonias undulatus. Prime water reaches Montauk in Mid-Atlantic right now (60°F on the bottom). Fish it 10–60 ft down — that is where 73–71°F water sits off Montauk.

Atlantic Croaker identification illustration
LaneInshore · 10 fa (60 ft)
Depth it holds10–82 ft
Prime water59–82°F (workable 59–90°F)
Holds in the column10–82 ft down (on the bottom)
Judged onseabed temperature (RTOFS at depth)
Structurenone

The water column off Montauk

0 ft30 ft60 ft51 ft of workable water10–60 ft · 73–71°F

The strip is the water itself, coloured by temperature from the surface down to the 60 ft surveyed bottom at that spot — one band per RTOFS model level. The outlined stretch is where Atlantic Croaker's temperature band (59–90°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.

How it's fished

Shrimp or squid on a bottom rig over mud and shell in the bays and nearshore lumps.

Region by region — right now

RegionSeasonPrime waterTempFish it atMonths
Mid-Atlantic in season reaches Montauk 60°F 10–60 ft
J
F
M
A
M
J
Southeast Atlantic in season reaches Cape Hatteras 80°F 10–60 ft
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
Gulf of Mexico in season reaches Tampa 88°F —
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
"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 seabed temperature sits inside this species' band. It is water, not a sighting report.
Charted grounds on the 10-fathom lane
The Mud Hole
Chesapeake Light Tower
Frying Pan Shoals
The Point — Cape Hatteras