CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Cordova, AK Daily Water Report — October 4, 2026

Cordova’s water gets a qualified green light today: boating and kayaking are the strongest scored options, but it is a damp, gray, gust-prone day rather than an easy one. Boating rates 7.4/10 and kayaking 7.2/10, supported by roughly 0.9–1.1 m seas and a representative ESE wind near 7 knots. The catch is the gust spread: gusts reach 20 knots around the representative conditions, with the day’s strongest forecast gust near 35 knots around midnight. Treat exposed water with the respect it is requesting. The more useful daylight window is around the morning high tide at 9:29 AM, overlapping the 7:43–9:43 AM solunar major period shortly after sunrise at 7:55. Fishing scores 6.4/10, a step up from yesterday’s 5.3, though the falling 990 hPa pressure and all-day rain keep it from being a full-throttle recommendation. A second worthwhile timing window arrives around the 8:46 PM high tide and the 7:43–9:43 PM major period, but that runs into dusk after 7:53 PM and demands conservative light and route planning. Wildlife also scores 7.4/10, with the afternoon low tide at 2:12 PM lining up closely with the 2:13–3:13 PM minor period. That is useful shoreline timing, not a promise of encounters. Visibility is forecast around 5.9 km in overcast, rainy weather; that is atmospheric visibility, not a read on the water below the surface. Sailing is middling at 5.6/10: there is wind to work with, but the gustiness, cloud cover and short-period sea make it less graceful than yesterday’s 8.2. The 0.96 m representative wave height comes with a 6.85-second period, while the 0.72 m southerly swell is only 4.2 seconds—enough texture to make small craft work for their comfort. No diving score is available today. Conditions should gradually settle after the rain-heavy start to the week. Waves ease to 0.5–0.7 m Wednesday and 0.3–0.5 m Thursday, with the lightest winds forecast Thursday and Friday; rain chances also fall sharply by Friday. Best bet: launch for the morning high-tide/solunar overlap, keep the outing compact, and be back before the gusts turn a decent plan into a wet argument.