CatchWindow fishing intelligence

Newport, RI Daily Water Report — August 28, 2026

Go early, stay easy. The full summer scene is here, and the water is very nearly as calm as you could ask for. This is a day for flat-water craft and quick dips, not for surfers or sailors looking for a push. The morning is the sweet spot. Winds are barely a whisper at sunrise—around 1 knot from the southeast—and low tide at 8:30 AM leaves you with a rising sea and hardly a ripple. The high tide that follows at 2:12 PM is almost a dead match for the morning’s, only a few centimeters taller, so the tidal exchange is modest and safe. By late afternoon, winds pick up a little, gusting to 8 knots or so, but the wave height stays pinned between 0.5 and 0.7 meters all day. That calmest window around 10 PM, at 0.54 meters, is mostly academic unless you’re night fishing under that fully illuminated moon. Boating scores a 9 out of 10 today, and kayaking hits a full 9. That’s a clear improvement from yesterday’s very good but windier 7.1 and 6 for those same activities. The water temperature is a warm 20.1°C, which is 1.6°C above the long-term average for late August. Diving also lands an 8.7, a repeat of yesterday’s excellent mark, though you’ll have to deal with low visibility from the air—the representative value is only 0.2 kilometers, which is fog, not underwater clarity. On the surface, the wind is virtually absent, so don’t let the fog scare you off; the underwater visibility is a separate story. The fishing score is a solid 6.9, down slightly from its potential because the high-pressure system (1015 hPa and rising) tends to stabilize things. The solunar minor period around 6:18 AM to 7:18 AM lines up nicely with the outgoing tide after the early low, and the full moon will have fish feeding actively through the night. Wildlife watchers get a 6.8—decent, but not the standout 8-plus we saw earlier in the week when winds were a little stronger. Looking ahead, Friday brings a similar calm setup, with slightly lower swell and similar wind. Saturday warms up to nearly 29°C, and by Sunday the breeze picks up toward 12 knots. The end of the long weekend turns less stable, with increasing rain chances and building waves toward Tuesday. Best bet today: grab a kayak at dawn, paddle out past the fog line, and you’ll find glassy water under a rising moon.