CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Atlantic City, NJ Daily Water Report — September 5, 2026

Today is a diver’s day off Atlantic City. Diving leads at 8.8, in line with the high marks that have held through this stretch, while boating is still useful at 7.3. Fishing, kayaking, sailing, and wildlife sit in the mid-6s; surfing is the softest call at 5.5. Those numbers grade the mix of wind, waves, tide, and sky. They are not a safety stamp. Forecast seas stay in a tight 0.5–0.6 m band, with the calmest water near 19:00 at 0.46 m. A 0.26 m swell from the southeast at 5.4 seconds and almost no wind sea leave little shape, which is why the surf score stays middling. Representative wind is only 6 knots from the north-northwest, but the morning is the tax: the day’s strongest gust, 16.7 knots, is due at 08:00, overlapping the 0.22 m low at 08:13 and the first solunar major window from 06:58 to 08:58. After that, wind stays in a 0.7–7.0 knot range under a dry forecast. Anglers get a second look at the 13:28–14:28 minor as the higher 1.46 m tide fills at 14:52, then another major from 18:58 to 20:58 ahead of the 0.25 m evening low. Pressure is a stable 1010 hPa, a shade lighter than yesterday and well down from the 1019–1024 hPa readings at the end of August. Air runs about 24.4 C under 87 percent cloud, UV a modest 3.85, atmospheric visibility 25.4 km—that last figure is not a view into the water. Marine SST is 25.7 C, about 1.5 C above average. The 0.8 m/s current toward the southwest is the real paddle-and-hull cost, and it helps explain why boating and kayaking sit below yesterday and well below the 9-plus scores of August 30–31. Diving, by contrast, has been 8.6 to 8.8 almost every day in the record. Sunday through Tuesday look similar: 0.4–0.6 m waves, peak winds 8–11 knots, little rain. Wednesday and Thursday the forecast wind jumps toward 19–20 knots and waves build toward 1.1 m. Best bet: take the evening calm near 19:00 for a dive while the swell is still small, and let the bigger-wind days after the 8th wait.