CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Clayoquot Sound, BC Daily Water Report — August 28, 2026

Clayoquot Sound is serving up a classic late-summer mixed bag today—good for some pursuits, marginal for others, with a full moon pulling the strings beneath a mostly grey lid. The verdict: wildlife watchers and surfers have the best hand, anglers are in a solid second tier, and paddlers should probably sit this one out. Let’s start with what’s working. Wildlife scores an 8 out of 10, and that’s the headline. A full moon, a low tide just before 11 a.m., and northwest winds that stay manageable through the morning all line up to concentrate activity along the tidal zone. The early outgoing, from dawn around 6 a.m. until about 10:30, is your window. You’ve got a minor solunar period at 7 a.m. and a major one starting just after noon; the morning low-tide draw should be the real driver. The catch: visibility is only 12.2 km under overcast skies and 98% humidity, so bring binoculars, not a telephoto lens. Surfing holds at 7.4, nearly matching yesterday’s 7.5. The swell is a modest 1 meter from 252 degrees with a short 4.9-second period, which means it’ll be soft and crumbly rather than powerful. Wave heights bottom out near 0.94 m around 5 p.m., and the wind stays under 10 knots all day with only occasional gusts to 14 in the late morning. That’s clean enough for a longboard session, especially if you pick the afternoon ebb when the tide pushes back out. Don’t expect yesterday’s 8.8—that was a different swell train. Fishing comes in at 7.2, a tick down from yesterday’s 7.7 but ahead of the 6.4 on the 27th. Solunar timing is strong with a major period overlapping the afternoon high tide at 4:57 p.m. and a minor window at 7 p.m. The barometer is stable at 1018 hPa, and the chlorophyll reading is very high at 6.87 mg/m³—this is a bloom-level signal that points to plankton-rich water, which in turn draws the smaller stuff. The tradeoff: northwest wind at 8 knots with gusts to 14 may put a ripple on the surface by midday, and the outgoing tide runs hardest from about 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. If you’re in a boat, factor in that boating scores only 5.6, dragged down by the wind waves and a 1 m/s current. This is a day for a stable anchored position, not a drift or a run to a distant reef. Diving is a 6.4, essentially flat with recent days. Water temperature sits at 14.8°C, a full degree above average for late August—that’s pleasant on the skin but doesn’t erase the need for a 7 mm suit in this part of the coast. The 1.22 m swell with 8-second period won’t hammer the surface, but the short-period wind chop from the northwest breeze could reduce underwater visibility. Go early, before the wind picks up. Kayaking scores a 4, and that’s honest. A 2