There was an interesting article in On The Water recently about fishing Noman's Island south of the Vineyard. Got me thinking about next season as a new spot I would like to explore, I try to find one new place each year just to keep things interesting.

Seems like a place where some big swimming plugs cast along the rocks would yield good results. Does anyone have any info they care to share? The run from Bass River is a long one, but it might be fun for a change of scenery!

I've never thrown plugs right up against the island but have fished quite often between it & Squibby. Reviewing any map will outline some obvious shoals, points and humps. Drfiting eels under the right conditions can be fun. Also an area where i have a lot of luck trolling for bonitas & false albacore.

for your first time getting in tight at Nomans I would make sure you have someone on the Bow looking out for LARGE rocks that scatter the island. Compared to some of the elizabeths though it isn't as scary but still can get hairy. Eels........ any time of the day

There was an interesting article in On The Water recently about fishing Noman's Island south of the Vineyard. Got me thinking about next season as a new spot I would like to explore, I try to find one new place each year just to keep things interesting.

Seems like a place where some big swimming plugs cast along the rocks would yield good results. Does anyone have any info they care to share? The run from Bass River is a long one, but it might be fun for a change of scenery!

Nomans is tough. The east and south sides have hitable rocks extending at least 400 yds from shore. Lots and lots of them. Coupled with significant swells and you've got to pick your day. Getting in close can be dangerous and not much fun for the guy responsible for running the boat. The southwest tip is fishable, and the west/north side has some good stretches. Most people, however, fish several small ledges around the island which often hold schools of good sized fish during commerical season. They tend to anchor and chunk (or yoyo). It gets crowded during the commerical season. There is often very good casting for big bluefish in 18 feet plus of water behind the south side (all the way out to the hooter). The bottom fishing is supposed to be great, but I haven't done much of that. If you head out there, there is a small ledge extending out from MV shore about a mile past Gay Head that is worth some casts. Squibnocket can also be plugged, though the rocks extend way out there as well (but are fewer and a bit easier to see). Good luck, but be real careful if you push in close.

Nomans is NOT a place to go unless you have a buddy boat or really REALLY know the area. If you get in trouble out there you are on your OWN. I wish OTW would stress more of this type of stuff they make it sound like you can go out there in a 10' jonboat.

ANY swell can and will suck the water right out from under your boat and it's VERY easy to hit. I have charted rocks beyond the 400 yard point that George talks about.

Bottom line is pick the best fac day you can, do NOT attempt going there in anything less than a 20' boat. It can be a VERY long ride home and it changes VERY quick out there.

I can remember a ride I did with Joe Leclair a few years ago we were white knuckled the entire way back :eek: I still shudder at that day.

we were white knuckled the entire way back :eek: I still shudder at that day.

Yes siree Bob.

Lots of sharks swim those shores at night.

umm Steve they don't go away in the day :D

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Lots of sharks swim those shores at night.

Thanks Guys, I always go with a crew of three on my 23 SeaCraft. We are careful about weather too and opt not to go maybe on days we'd be fine. I have read that the north side of the island gets a lot of pressure during commerical season, but I would guess it would be good in the early season too, May and June?

I fish the Vineyard all the time!!~ But I have not tried Noman's yet, I also want to give it a try.

My boat loves rocks!! Took a nice chunk out the bottom out at Bishop & Clerks getting around the channel marker! :eek:

Hooper I go out Bass river all the time, I have a 20' Wellcraft, Have to hook up some time~!

MacoJoe-

Sounds great! It is always good to have another boat to make a trip like that. I loved your video link too, and what a soundtrack to go with it!

Linking to another related thread regarding Nomans.

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=37685

Aye, Noman's has claimed some of the real good ones, including this unfortunate chapter, as I was on board a Frers46 that was last in site of her when the fog set upon us...

In catastrophic mishaps, a welded aluminum hull's ruggedness can pluck your yacht from the Total Loss category. Visit Palmer Johnson, Incorporated, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and they'll show you pictures of Yankee Girl, the great Sparkman & Stephens IOR racer built of aluminum there in 1971. After a successful racing career, Yankee Girl fell victim to errant navigation and washed ashore on a rocky beach in southern New England, coming to rest in a foot and a half of water and unfortunately drew nine feet. By the time she was dragged off three months later, a large section of one side was nearly flattened from pounding against the rocks at every high tide. But she didn't leak. She was towed to a nearby yard, the damage cut away, new frames welded in, and replated. She sailed away literally as good as new.

Maybe tow an inflatable hardbottom over to get in close......

Great place for Bass, Blues, Bonito, & Albies that can sometimes be unbelievable for Fluke & SeaBass in June. We make the trip once or twice a season from Pt. Judith. One trip produced a dozen doormats between six & nine pounds and a half dozen SeaBass over 4lbs.
Catch'em up,
ThomCat

Tom,
Did you fish through the doggies or stick to the shallower water?

Thom, that sounds amazing. I see on the charts that rockpile or two on the north side of the island, is that a good area for bottom fishing as well as Bass?

Sometimes the doggies are there and sometimes they're not. One time on the east side there were so many dogs we were catching two at a time, one on the bucktail and one on the ThomCat trailer and they had 3 more escorting them on the way up.
As far as the rockpiles, there are a number of them to the north and northeast surrounded by hard and soft bottoms. Quite often the dips and stretches between them hold some nice SeaBas and Fluke. Never tried for Stripers over there but had a blast with the Albies.
Catch'em up,
ThomCat

been there done that ! at nite no lites gps only , 10 18'swell ,all set thank's

Noman's is a very fishy place:hihi: .

I've been biting my tongue not saying anything, but that is difficult for me.

IMO OTW did slight disservice to their viewers/readers with that show. They made it appear like they were fishing in a salt pond...Fun to watch with guys casting eels off the bow and ML hanging off the side in a wetsuit but it was a really nice day, problem is you don't get too many like that, esp in the fall, esp on the weekends. I fish it each year a about a doz times each season and if the wind/seas pick up it ain't like what they showed. Just ask anyone who goes there on a regular basis.

1) If the wind blows decent out of the SW ...you ain't fishin in 13' of water on that side. I don’t care how big your boat is…

2) Those rock piles to the north known as "old man" as you approach Nomans…the seas build and will crest and even break in heavy weather. To feel the boat heave upward like that and come from nowhere is something very weird .
3) The ride home in a CC can be an "experience" in itself, and might add to your list of "have I got a story for you..." tales. While it doesn’t appear that far it can be a long run in bad weather and it can get pretty darn sloppy and passing through devils bridge when the tide is honkin out with a SW sea running in can add some real excitement to your day, esp in a CC. Know what the tide and wind are doing. I am sure there are lots of guys here that have stories of the wall of slop at the bridge.

4) Don't head out there in an 18'er, even if it is calm. I know you could but don’t.

I think they should have stressed how serious and tricky the conditions can get out there. They might have said something but it didn’t stick in my head. There are guys with a lot of experience that have ended up on the rocks and lost their boat and nearly their life. A few years ago a comm. fishermen had his 24'er with twin OB'’s overturned ejecting them both in the water, they had to swim for the beach. There is a lot you don’t hear about too.
If you go for the first time, go on a bluebird day with someone who has fished it and leave before the afternoon wind picks up. My advice is if the forecast has the number 15 or above in it…forgetaboutit.

Here is the globe article about the 24’er..

Then there was the case last August of a fishing boat near Nomans Island (off the southwest corner of Martha's Vineyard) on a day described as moderately inclement with winds between 10-15 knots out of the south. There was a small-craft advisory, but those conditions rarely keep boats from going out.

Scott Terry, a 52-year-old commercial fisherman from Martha's Vineyard and his teenage mate, Mitchell Pachico, left the dock before dawn on a 24-foot twin-outboard fishing boat. As they made their way from Gay Head toward Nomans -- a former Naval bombing target about 3 miles off Martha's Vineyard -- Terry said a ``good swell" began to run, but nothing severe. A lobsterman pulling his traps in the area, says Terry, who added that while he goes to the best fishing grounds possible, he would never test himself, his crew or his boat with conditions he considers dangerous.

Terry and Pachico were bouncing live eels off the bottom to entice striped bass, when, out of nowhere, a wall of water 15-20 feet high rolled into them, lifting the boat to the top just as the wave crested, flipping the boat. Though not a rogue because of its location, the wave did conform to one rogue characteristic: It was more than twice the height of any of the other waves.

Terry and Pacheco saved themselves by clinging to the bottom of the boat as long as they could, then making it safely onto the rocky shore of Nomans, where the Coast Guard picked them up in a helicopter. Luck and clear thinking helped save them, but if the incident occurred farther offshore, the outcome might well have been different.

Some people believe the sudden upheaval of water might have been created by the meeting of a coastal riptide and a large, incoming swell. Terry, an experienced fisherman, told the Globe last August:

``I've seen lots of swells and a lot of big waves. I've fished in a lot of tough conditions before. But I've never seen anything like that. It just came out of nowhere."

ref:http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/06/30/monster_waves_have_been_on_the_rise/?page=full

We fish there a lot, and like Sandman said it can get pretty hairy from time to time. When the wind comes up and you decide it's time to bail and head for home you still have to get through that wall of water standing up at the bridge. It'll definitely keep you focused. But no doubt about it the fishing can be great.

Absolutely in my top 3 of Striper hotspots. It is hairy, more so when the Warthogs guarded it but still hairy.

Thanks for posting Mr. Sandman

I made that run quite a few times this past year, had one day where it was really cranking hard out of the SW, kind of overstayed and when the tide started humping out Had walls of water in every direction. All I could see was water. One out of 2 days in my life that I really had to question myself if I was going to make it back or not....

When you guys talk about the Bridge, are you referring to the area around Gay Head? I am not familiar with that. What about coming in from the NE, by Wasque Point from Bass River, I know that Wasque can be frightening, so I am sure the same applies.

That run is pretty much the length of the island on the outside. On a good day it would be fine, but on a bad day :wavey: . Muskeget Channel has a tendincy for just standing vertical.

:wavey: Hey Alan you mean like the charter you took me on last fall:eek: :eek: . I was also thinking the same thing during that show it was never that calm when I was there.

Nomans land is scary, very scary....