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Kailua Bay Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Kailua Bay: windward Oahu water off Kailua and Lanikai beaches, with two state seabird sanctuaries, Popoia and the Mokulua islets, offshore.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 1:33 AM
Air / High
82 / 83 F
Wind
NE 9 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 1612480, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Kailua Bay lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 9 mph, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 83. Tides: high 12:56 AM and 12:27 PM, low 6:33 AM and 6:54 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 79 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:16 AM-11:16 AM and 9:42 PM-11:42 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Giant trevally (ulua)Good

This band covers Hawaii's water for most of the year. Work rocky shorelines and outer reef drop-offs with bait at night or surface lures at first light; tracking shows ulua keep to small home ranges.

Tomorrow: Similar at 82 F with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Hawaii requires a fishing licence from age 9, from $5.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Hawaii licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing giant trevally (ulua) here? Check the size and bag limits with DAR before you keep anything. The season dates for Hawaii, read off the agency, are on the Hawaii seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 1612480 (Mokuoloe (windward Oahu)). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
HIGH12:56 AM1.8 ft
LOW6:33 AM0.7 ft
HIGH12:27 PM2.0 ft
LOW6:54 PM0.1 ft
Sat
HIGH1:33 AM2.1 ft
LOW7:18 AM0.8 ft
HIGH12:47 PM1.9 ft
LOW7:16 PM-0.1 ft

Kailua tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp82 F
High / Low83 / 71 F
WindNE 9-23 mph
Pressure1016.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain24% cloud, 82%
Sunrise / Sunset06:30 / 18:00
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~79 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Kailua Bay this week

The best day on Kailua Bay this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:16 AM-11:16 AM and 9:42 PM-11:42 PM
Minor period
3:39 AM-4:39 AM
Sun
06:30 to 18:00
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 11 mph
Rain chance
82%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Kailua Bay: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Giant trevally (ulua) illustration

Giant trevally (ulua)

Best: night and low light (IGFA)

Giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis), ulua in Hawaii, is the largest of the Indo-Pacific Caranx jacks, a reef predator that in US waters is fished mainly around the Hawaiian Islands, from shore and from boats. This band covers Hawaii's water for most of the year. Work rocky shorelines and outer reef drop-offs with bait at night or surface lures at first light; tracking shows ulua keep to small home ranges.

When to come: the Kailua Bay calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Giant trevally (ulua)
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 79 F (estimated, not a reading).

7080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~79 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Kailua Bay today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Giant trevally (ulua) led the card at excellent. High of 83 F, wind to 9 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Giant trevally (ulua) led the card at excellent. High of 82 F, wind to 13 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Giant trevally (ulua) led the card at good. High of 83 F, wind to 16 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Hawaii requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Statewide DAR rules apply. Nonresidents 15 and older: Nonresident Recreational Marine Fishing License; residents need no marine license. Popoia and Mokulua sanctuaries: stay below the high water mark, closed sunset to sunrise.

Access

Shore off Kailua Beach and Lanikai Beach; Popoia and the Mokulua islets are restricted state seabird sanctuaries.

About this water

A bay on Oahu's windward coast off Kailua and Lanikai, Honolulu County, Hawaii.

Fishing Kailua Bay: the full guide

Seabird sanctuaries in the bay

Hawaii's Division of Forestry and Wildlife describes Popoia Island, also called Flat Island, as a 3.67-acre seabird sanctuary off Kailua Beach and Lanikai Beach, used mainly by wedge-tailed shearwaters and Bulwer's petrels. The Mokulua Islets Seabird Sanctuary is made up of Mokulua Nui, the larger northern islet, and Mokulua Iki to the south; both host nesting wedge-tailed shearwaters, and DOFAW lists the Hawaiian monk seal among the native animals associated with the site.

Rules on the islets

Both sanctuaries are restricted under the state's wildlife sanctuary rules (Chapter 126): visitors must stay below the high water mark, the islets are closed from sunset to sunrise, and fires, dogs, camping, tents, tarps and other structures are banned at all times. Commercial activity needs a DOFAW permit, and on the Mokuluas it is possible only on Mokulua Nui.

Fishing rules and license

DAR's list of regulated fishing areas on Oahu has no entry for this bay (the Kailua Bay on that list is on Hawaii Island), so statewide size, season and bag rules apply here. Nonresidents 15 and over need DAR's Nonresident Recreational Marine Fishing License for ocean fishing.

Common questions

Can I land a kayak on the Mokulua islets?

Access is restricted: DOFAW allows visitors only below the high water mark, and the islets are closed from sunset to sunrise. Seabird nesting areas are off-limits.

What is Flat Island?

Popoia Island, a 3.67-acre state seabird sanctuary off Kailua and Lanikai beaches with the same restricted-access rules as the Mokuluas.

Is Kailua Bay a regulated fishing area?

No. DAR's Oahu list does not include it, so statewide fishing rules apply; the Kailua Bay on DAR's list is on Hawaii Island.

Is fishing good at Kailua Bay right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Kaneohe Bay5 miKewalo Basin11 miWahiawa Reservoir20 miWaimea Bay26 miWaianae Coast29 miKaunakakai51 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 1612480 β€” Mokuoloe (windward Oahu)
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 12 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 21.4128, -157.7381 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.