CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Pascagoula NOAA Lab, MS Daily Water Report — August 28, 2026

Boating owns the day. With representative wind holding at 4 knots out of the north and wave heights barely cracking 0.2 meters, the Mississippi Sound lays down like a tabletop. That 8.9 suitability score for boaters is the highest in the region this week and the best your hull has seen since mid-August. Kayakers aren’t far behind at 7.9, and the calmest water arrives near midnight when waves bottom out at 0.1 meters. Diving scores a solid 6.8 thanks to that 31.5-degree sea surface — a degree and a half warmer than the past few mornings — but don’t let the atmospheric visibility of 12 kilometers fool you. Underwater, that chlorophyll reading of 10.77 milligrams per cubic meter signals bloom conditions, which means the green soup will cut your viz short. The westerly ocean current at nearly half a meter per second isn’t helping either. Fishing sits at 7.2, lifted by a full moon overhead and a major solunar window from just before noon through early afternoon, timed neatly around the 11:04 high tide. Conditions stack up well: stable pressure at 1017 hectopascals, a light north breeze, and a dropping barometer that never actually falls. If you’re heading out for the afternoon bite, the ebb off that midday high will pull water past structure and marsh edges until low at 7:30 p.m. The minor period from moonrise at 7:07 p.m. to dusk only adds a bonus window as the tide bottoms out. Compared to the past week, today’s scores beat Tuesday’s 6.6 fishing mark and match or exceed every day since the 25th. Surfing is the weak link. At 4.7, with a swell period under five seconds and wind waves negligible, there’s nothing worth paddling out for. Sailing sneaks above 6.0, but the breeze is light and variable enough that you’ll be babysitting the telltales more than charging. Looking ahead, Friday brings a bump in peak wind to nearly 13 knots and waves climbing to 0.6 meters — a rougher transition for small craft. Saturday carries a 55-percent chance of rain and similar wave heights, then conditions settle again into next week as the swell drops back below 0.3 meters by Tuesday. Wednesday may rival today’s glass with waves as low as 0.1 meters. For now, this late-August Friday is the sort of calm, sunlit day where the only trouble you’ll find is convincing yourself to come back ashore.