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Great Bay Fishing Report

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

New Hampshire’s tidal estuary: Great Bay holds stripers, flounder and one of New England’s wildest shorelines.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 9:53 PM
Air / High
58 / 58 F
Wind
N 8 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8423898, 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.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Great Bay is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 8 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 58. Tides: high 9:34 AM and 9:53 PM, low 3:17 AM and 3:41 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 64 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:16 AM-11:16 AM and 9:46 PM-11:46 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Spring and fall are the shoreline seasons: ODWC points to windblown points, riprap and dams during the May shad spawn and the pre-winter feed.

BluefishExcellent

Fall turns the migration south toward the South Atlantic Bight, and fish feed along beaches and inlets on the way. Follow the bait and the birds.

Tomorrow: Similar at 61 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

New Hampshire requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $45.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a New Hampshire licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing striped bass here? Check the size and bag limits with NHFG before you keep anything. The season dates for New Hampshire, read off the agency, are on the New Hampshire seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8423898 (Fort Point). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW3:17 AM0.8 ft
HIGH9:34 AM8.8 ft
LOW3:41 PM0.6 ft
HIGH9:53 PM8.8 ft
Sat
LOW3:58 AM0.5 ft
HIGH10:13 AM9.3 ft
LOW4:25 PM0.0 ft
HIGH10:38 PM9.1 ft

Portsmouth tide chart: the week and the month →

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp58 F
High / Low58 / 37 F
WindN 8-12 mph
Pressure1027.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:06 / 17:47
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~64 F est.

Bite planner

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

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Great Bay this week

The best day on Great Bay this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:16 AM-11:16 AM and 9:46 PM-11:46 PM
Minor period
3:38 AM-4:38 AM
Sun
07:06 to 17:47
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Spring and fall are the shoreline seasons: ODWC points to windblown points, riprap and dams during the May shad spawn and the pre-winter feed.

Bluefish illustration

Bluefish

Peak harvest: May-Oct, most in Jul-Aug (NOAA)

Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) are sharp-toothed schooling predators that move up and down the Atlantic coast with the seasons and feed in surface blitzes on menhaden, silversides and squid. Fall turns the migration south toward the South Atlantic Bight, and fish feed along beaches and inlets on the way. Follow the bait and the birds.

When to come: the Great 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
Striped bass
Bluefish
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 64 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~64 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 Great Bay today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 15 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 60 F, wind to 11 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 14 mph.

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

License

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

Regulations

New Hampshire saltwater license or registration. Striped bass slot limits and seasons change annually: check current Fish and Game rules.

Access

Ramps at Newmarket, Durham, Greenland and Portsmouth; extensive kayak access on the tributary rivers.

About this water

A tidal estuary reaching seven miles inland from the New Hampshire coast, Rockingham and Strafford counties.

Fishing Great Bay: the full guide

An inland estuary

Great Bay reaches seven miles inland from the New Hampshire coast, a tidal estuary fed by seven rivers and connected to the Atlantic through the Piscataqua at Portsmouth. Tides move enormous volumes of water through narrow channels, and the bay holds striped bass, winter flounder, mackerel and, in the rivers feeding it, seasonal runs of river herring and the occasional shad.

Stripers on the tide

Striped bass are the main target: they follow bait into the bay from May through October, holding on the channel edges, oyster beds and the current seams near the narrows. Fish the moving tide with soft plastics, plugs and flies, concentrating on the last of the incoming and the first of the outgoing when bait flushes through the constrictions.

Rivers and the flats

The Squamscott, Lamprey, Oyster and Bellamy rivers all feed the bay and hold stripers on the tide, offering protected fishing when the bay is rough. Extensive mudflats emerge at low tide, limiting navigation but concentrating fish in the channels. Kayaks and small boats are ideal; the bay is not big-boat water.

Seacoast logistics

Ramps at Newmarket, Durham, Greenland and Portsmouth serve the bay and its rivers, with the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve protecting much of the shoreline. Tides run hard: plan launches around them, since low water strands boats on the flats. Portsmouth is minutes away with full services.

Common questions

When are stripers in the bay?

May through October, following bait on the tides, with the moving water around the narrows the most productive.

Is it good for kayaks?

Ideal: shallow, protected and full of channel structure, though the strong tides demand planning.

What about low tide?

Extensive mudflats emerge, stranding boats and concentrating fish in the channels: plan launches around the tide.

Is fishing good at Great Bay right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Hampton12 miPlum Island18 miMerrymeeting Lake32 miMerrimack River36 miLake Winnipesaukee44 miLake Winnisquam45 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8423898 — Fort Point
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 43.0700, -70.8700 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.