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Nawiliwili Bay Fishing Report

Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Nawiliwili Bay: Kauai's Lihue harbor, with a state fisheries management area inside the piers.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 2:52 PM
Air / High
76 / 78 F
Wind
NE 15 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 1611400, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Monday
9
November 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.

Nawiliwili Bay sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 15 mph, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 78. Tides: high 3:56 AM and 2:52 PM, low 10:51 AM and 8:45 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:29 PM-1:29 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Giant trevally (ulua)Fair

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.

Mahi-mahi (dorado)Fair

This band covers much of the season off the Southeast and in the Gulf. Search Sargassum lines and current edges, where bait collects.

Tomorrow: Similar at 79 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Tue, Nov 10, 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 1611400 (Nawiliwili, Kauai, HI). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Mon
HIGH3:56 AM2.3 ft
LOW10:51 AM0.6 ft
HIGH2:52 PM0.8 ft
LOW8:45 PM-0.1 ft
Tue
HIGH4:30 AM2.2 ft
LOW11:38 AM0.6 ft
HIGH3:16 PM0.7 ft
LOW9:12 PM-0.0 ft

KauaΚ»i tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp76 F
High / Low78 / 73 F
WindNE 15-30 mph
Pressure1017.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain14% cloud, 47%
Sunrise / Sunset06:45 / 17:56
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 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 Nawiliwili Bay this week

The best day on Nawiliwili Bay this week looks like Saturday Nov 14, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Nov 14 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Nov 9 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
11:29 PM-1:29 AM and 11:51 AM-1:51 PM
Minor period
6:53 AM-7:53 AM
Sun
06:45 to 17:56
Moon
New Moon, 0% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 16 mph
Rain chance
47%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Nawiliwili 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.

Mahi-mahi (dorado) illustration

Mahi-mahi (dorado)

Follows warm water; spawning timing varies by latitude

Mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), also called dolphin or dolphinfish, is a fast-growing open-ocean fish of warm water, caught in US waters from Massachusetts to Texas, around Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and from California to Hawaii. This band covers much of the season off the Southeast and in the Gulf. Search Sargassum lines and current edges, where bait collects.

When to come: the Nawiliwili 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)
Mahi-mahi (dorado)
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

7080JanMarMayJulSepNovNov, ~78 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 Nawiliwili Bay today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Sun, Nov 8

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Giant trevally (ulua) led the card at good. High of 80 F, wind to 17 mph.

Sat, Nov 7

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Giant trevally (ulua) led the card at good. High of 79 F, wind to 17 mph.

Fri, Nov 6

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Giant trevally (ulua) led the card at fair. High of 81 F, wind to 17 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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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

Residents: no marine recreational fishing license. Nonresidents aged 15 and over: Nonresident Recreational Marine Fishing License, sold only online (HAR 13-74-11, in effect since May 2, 2024). Nawiliwili Harbor Fisheries Management Area: no nets except a landing net up to 3 feet, no snagging, akule limited to 75 per person per day. Statewide DAR size, bag and season rules also apply.

Access

Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor (DOBOR); the Kauai District Office and harbor office close at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesdays.

About this water

Nawiliwili Bay and Harbor at Lihue on Kauai's east shore, Kauai County, Hawaii.

Fishing Nawiliwili Bay: the full guide

A regulated harbor

Part of Nawiliwili Harbor is a Fisheries Management Area under Hawaii Administrative Rules 13-49.6: inside a line from the southernmost tip of the western pier northeast to the corner where pier 1 meets the eastern pier. There, the Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) bans any net except a landing net no more than 3 feet across, bans snagging, and limits akule to 75 per person per day.

Licenses for visitors

Hawaii has no marine recreational fishing license for residents, but DAR requires nonresidents to carry a Nonresident Recreational Marine Fishing License. Statewide minimum sizes, bag limits and closed seasons cover many marine species; DAR lists them in its Marine Fishes and Other Vertebrates table.

Harbor and tides

Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor is a state facility of DLNR's Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR); its harbor office closes at noon on Tuesdays until further notice. Tides on this page come from NOAA station 1611400, Nawiliwili, inside the harbor.

Common questions

Do I need a license to fish Nawiliwili Bay?

Residents do not. Nonresidents need DAR's Nonresident Recreational Marine Fishing License.

What rules apply inside the harbor?

In the Fisheries Management Area between the piers: no nets except a small landing net, no snagging, and no more than 75 akule per person per day.

Is fishing good at Nawiliwili 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

Hanalei Bay20 miWaianae Coast83 miWaimea Bay86 miWahiawa Reservoir91 miKaneohe Bay106 miKewalo Basin106 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 1611400 β€” Nawiliwili, Kauai, HI
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 21.9540, -159.3560 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.