CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Ketchikan, AK Daily Water Report — October 4, 2026

Ketchikan gets a qualified green light for boating and kayaking, but it is a wet, gusty-edged day rather than a carefree one. Boating leads the activity scores at 7.8/10, with kayaking at 7.3/10; both benefit from generally modest seas, though the weather asks for more attention than the representative 7-knot SSW wind suggests. The useful windows are around the morning high tide at 8:18 AM and the evening high at 8:00 PM, which also overlaps the 6:45–8:45 AM and 6:45–8:45 PM solunar major periods. Fishing rates a workable 6.6/10, but the falling pressure—1009 hPa and trending down—plus rain through the day temper the outlook. The evening period has the better water-state angle: waves are forecast to ease toward their calmest level near 10 PM, around 0.38 m, after running roughly 0.4 to 1.1 m through the day. Do not let the small representative wave figure, 0.42 m at 3.9 seconds, do all the talking. Gusts are the catch: the day’s strongest is forecast at 32.5 knots around 4 AM, while winds otherwise range from 4.5 to 11 knots. Short-period wind waves of 0.22 m and steady rain can make exposed water feel more fussy than the headline sea state. Air temperatures hover near 10–13 C, marine SST is 12 C, cloud cover is near-total, and atmospheric visibility is about 8.4 km; that last number is not a read on underwater visibility. Diving has no usable score today, so it is not a recommendation. Compared with the recent CatchWindow record, boating is down from 8.2 yesterday and well below the exceptionally easy 9-plus days earlier in the week. Kayaking has also slipped from 8.1 yesterday, largely a reminder that rain, gust spread, and a falling barometer can spoil an otherwise manageable surface. The next two days remain rainy but carry lower wave ranges, then Wednesday looks notably quieter at 0.1–0.2 m with light peak wind. Best bet: take the evening high-tide window for a well-prepared boat outing, and treat the rain gear and gust forecast as standard equipment, not optional accessories.