CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Portland, ME Daily Water Report — October 8, 2026

A workable but distinctly breezier water day: boating is the strongest fit at 7.1/10, while sailing, diving and kayaking are all serviceable rather than effortless. The morning’s gusts are the main spoiler, with a strongest gust near 24 knots around 8 AM and a brief rain window around 8–9 AM. If you can wait, the later afternoon into evening offers the more civilized outing as the day’s chop eases. Expect SSW wind around 8 knots overall, but with a broad 4–14-knot range and enough gust spread to keep small craft crews attentive. Waves run 0.5–0.8 m, with a representative 0.78 m at a short 4.5 seconds; that is not huge water, but it is busy water. The 0.56 m southerly swell is also short-period, and wind waves add another 0.42 m. Conditions become calmest near 11 PM, when wave height is forecast around 0.48 m, though darkness is a poor bargain for most daytime plans. The useful daylight window is roughly after the 4:04 PM low tide through dusk at 6:42 PM, when the wind-and-wave tradeoff should be more manageable and the tide is building toward the 10:18 PM high. Air temperatures reach about 20 C, but marine SST is only 14.1 C, so immersion protection remains a serious part of the plan. Atmospheric visibility is forecast near 18 km under solid cloud cover; that says nothing about underwater visibility. Diving scores 6.6/10, with surface motion and cool water the obvious compromises. Fishing rates 6/10, with the 9:56–11:56 AM solunar major period arriving near the morning high tide, and another major period from 9:56–11:56 PM. Wildlife scores 7.4/10, helped by low-tide timing and wind in its model, but the score is not a safety declaration. Chlorophyll is reported very high, but it is not a fish or wildlife sighting. Compared with the reconstructed recent run, today is less calm than the notably strong boating and kayaking scores earlier this week, while pressure is recovering from about 1007 hPa toward 1013 hPa. Friday looks smaller, and Saturday is the standout for low wind and very slight seas. Best bet: launch or cast in the late afternoon, when the tide is turning upward and the day’s short, gust-stirred chop should finally start losing its argument.