Last year I left Falmouth for the Hooter Buoy, as I approached the Vineyard, heavy thunder storms forced me to take shelter in Chappaquid#^&#^&#^&#^& once they passed I continued towards the musket channel. That place was pretty nasty, like a big washing machine. I think even without the heavy thunder storms... going through the channel still to risky for a 18' bay boat.

I can't tell by looking at the charts, is there a passage way or safe water to stay along the island then head south the Hooter?

been wondering the same thing

The issue with the hooter is swells.

The current dumping out of Nantucket Sound has built a huge delta of sand and shoals, the apex of which is the hooter. Any swell from an easterly or southerly direction is coming across the Atlantic then hitting these shoals. Particularly when the tide is ebbing this can get nasty, even on days with no wind. A 3-4 foot swell at sea can become 8-10 feet very quickly.

In contrast, the inner shoals at Wasque are more wind and current affected. This can get very messy, but only for a mile or so until you are across them and into Muskeget channel proper (which dumps between the inside of Mutton and skiff island). Once you are past skiff island the channel is more a series of big up and down swells than rough washing machine stuff like inside Wasque. As you come past Tom shoal if you stay to the east a bit and head for the Muskeget bell rather than Wasque can you can miss the worst of Wasque's tide rips but you still will have to put up with a mile of misery if the tide is ebbing and wind SW.

You can also access the hooter from the east if you run down the channel between outer Mutton shoal and Muskeget Island (stay close to mutton shoal). As you pass the SE end of mutton you can turn S and hit a shoal called paradise (no name on map however) that runs from Muskeget Island towards the hooter. This is often a very good place to target bonito and albies, often better than the hooter which is often crowded. Between Mutton and paradise is a lot of shallow water that can pop up breakers, but you can usually see and avoid these. Also you are running more quarter to the swells which makes the ride easier.

All this said, a bay boat with shallow freeboard is a risky proposition for fishing the junction between the Atlantic ocean and shallow shoals. Many years ago, after fishing the night on Tuckernuck, I ran my 20 seacraft to Old Man shoal (a place I'd spent many hundreds of hours fishing in a Dyer) on a glass calm morning. I put a line into the rip, swung my stern to it, looked at the rip towering above my gunnel, realized I could die, reeled in and ran the 40 miles home. Lesson learned. The hooter is no where near as hairy as Old Man, but respect it if your boat is small.
If you decide to go pick a day with minimal wind, try to make your run out on the incoming or slack tide, and check the swell height forecast.
Better yet, hit up Sandman and have him take you.

great info, thank you

Thanks for the water wisdom.

I been there 2X and no problems IF you choose the right conditions!

Spent a summer out there as a mate on a 26 fortier. Mostly on the inner shoals off waske but made the occasional venture farther south. The big thing to remember is that it can change in a hurry out there and you have to watch it constantly. If after the slack, things start to hump up quickly and you're in a small boat, get the hell out quick because within an hour, it can go from basically flat to 6-8 and very steep.

I was leaning over the transom grabbing a short bass by the jig and the angler backed into the controls at the stern and pushed the throttle up by half. If it weren't for the rudder, i'd have been a goner. We were backed into a rip with about 6-8 foot waves about 6 in a row. I watched a small lobster buoy float by the boat one day into that rip. It went over the first wave and then under came up after the last wave. Not a place to just go on a whim.

When do you want to go? :)
When I first came to MV I had a 23 seacraft and running to the hooter in any kind of wind was always always a white knuckle drill esp thru muskeget channel. Numby gave a good description of the situation. Let me add that the forces at work here are incredibly strong currents and large natural depth changes. Once you get out by the hooter the water depth drops off and it is just a swell. I think the hooter is in water near 100' but it meets shoals that are in as little as 10' in places. When you fish the area known as paradise they build really fast when it is big. You can hear them even cresting at times. However on a flat day you can do it without much worry. The bottle neck is muskeget, it can still be ugly and force you to slow down on a calm day but once you get a mile or so past that it will lay down. Just pick your day (IMO it has to be <= 5 to 10 bluebird day to do this in a small boat). Any signs of a blow get your ass out of there. Nowadays I will go in just about anything but my current boat is a lot more sea worthy.

If you are looking for bones...you will see the fleet (s), there are a number of regular charter guys that go there 2X per day every day out of edgartown. Most of the boats are 30'+ . Just don't fight the weather and you will be ok and do not go when some storm is way offshore either..the swell will be too big and don't go when the fog is so thick you can't see squat, you will not be seen on radar as you will be hidden from view of others behind the swell. (I almost ran into a 16' flats boat in dense fog one day, never saw him until I was almost on top of him) You need to be able to really see what is going on so don't go in fog.

But the fishing can be really good. (It is OK right now, a pick of bones and bluefish was the last report I got)
catchem up.

All good info and advise above. I was out there last Friday fishing the Jimmy Fund tournament out of Osterville. The weather was calling for the wind to pick up which it did, but after I left. There was a guy fishing near me solo on an 18-19 foot flat bottom skiff. My mate said to me..."well there's a guy with either a lot of balls, or no brains" I agreed. We left right at the tide change and I was hoping that guy was going to do the same, or he was in for a hell of a ride home.

There can be some great fishing out there, but be careful.