CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Pascagoula NOAA Lab, MS Daily Water Report — October 4, 2026

Pascagoula gets a qualified green light today: boating and kayaking are the strongest plays, while fishing has two useful timing windows—but rain, low visibility, and a modest short-period swell keep this from being a carefree all-day outing. The water is comparatively manageable, with waves running 0.5 to 0.9 m and a representative 0.64 m at 4.75 seconds. Most of that is 0.62 m of swell from the south-southeast, rather than locally driven chop; wind waves are only 0.14 m. NNE winds are light overall, near 5 knots, though gusts could reach 12.2 knots around 10 AM. Boating rates 7.6/10 and kayaking 7.4/10, both down from the notably easier recent stretch, when boating reached 8.8 yesterday and 9-plus earlier in the week. That is not a dramatic deterioration, but it is enough to make the open-water ride less polished. The best daylight fishing window is around sunrise through 8:48 AM, coinciding with the 6:48–8:48 AM solunar major period. A second major period runs 6:48–8:48 PM, beginning just after sunset and extending into dusk. Fishing scores 7/10, helped by light wind and steady 1015 hPa pressure, but the day’s tide falls from a 0.67 m high at 3:43 AM toward a very low 0.06 m at 4:27 PM. Plan shallow-water access around that falling tide rather than discovering the hard way that the water has moved the parking lot farther offshore. Wildlife earns the day’s highest activity score at 7.8/10, with the low-tide period and light wind offering the better shoreline-exploration setup. Still, visibility is forecast at only 4.4 km under full cloud cover and rain is possible throughout the day, so keep navigation conservative. The reported visibility is atmospheric, not a read on underwater clarity. Diving has no usable score today. The marine outlook improves Monday and Tuesday, with waves mostly 0.4 to 0.6 m, then gradually builds later in the week; Friday and especially Saturday look rougher and wetter, with Saturday winds potentially nearing 19 knots and waves up to 1.6 m. Best bet: launch early for the sunrise solunar window, enjoy the light wind before the late-morning gusts, and be back with a dry bag before the gray sky decides it has a point to make.