CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Port Orford, OR Daily Water Report — August 23, 2026

Sailing owns the water at Port Orford today. A 9.2 score makes it the standout, with diving close behind at 8.2 and fishing and surfing both holding a useful 7.7. Those numbers are suitability ratings, not safety declarations. Kayaking is the miss at 4.2, and boating only reaches 5.7, a fair warning that wind, waves, and current are stacked against small craft even on a dry, nearly cloudless day. The northerly is doing the work. Open-Meteo has a representative 14 knots from the north, gusting to 22, inside a day range of 2.0 to 15.3 knots, with the strongest gust of 25.3 knots timed near 17:00. Cloud cover is just 1 percent and no rain is indicated, which is the clean, consistent breeze sailing’s score is built on. Marine seas run 1.0 to 1.4 meters, calmest near midnight at 0.96 meters, so the afternoon is the livelier half. Swell is a modest 0.88 meters at 7.2 seconds from 301 degrees, with shorter wind waves near a meter at 3.75 seconds — enough shape for a board, less kindness for a paddle. A 0.6 m/s current toward 198 degrees adds another tax on anything underpowered. Fishing’s 7.7 leans on the morning solunar major from 08:29 to 10:29 as the tide climbs toward the 1.51-meter high at 10:57, then a second major from 20:29 to 22:29 around the 1.97-meter high at 21:08. Pressure is 1017 hPa and falling. Do not treat the moderate chlorophyll reading of 0.65 mg/m3 as a bite signal; it only marks normal coastal productivity. Atmospheric visibility of 23.4 kilometers under a UV near 7 says nothing about underwater sight. Diving’s 8.2 comes from the orderly sea state, available clarity inputs, and a marine surface temperature of 12.6 C, about two degrees above average and still thoroughly cold. Wildlife sits at 6.6, limited by the wind even with a 0.12-meter low at 03:47. Yesterday’s reconstructed scores tell the flip: wind was only 5.9 knots and air nearer 15 C, so sailing lagged at 6.1 while kayaking and boating ran higher. Today’s fill-in reversed that trade. The coming week eases. Monday through Wednesday peak under 10 knots with waves settling toward 0.8 to 1.0 meters and almost no rain; Thursday and Friday bring a bit more breeze again near 12 knots. Best bet: take the morning high and that clean northerly under sail, and leave the kayak racked until the lighter midweek pattern arrives.