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Hampton Fishing Report

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

New Hampshire's eighteen miles of coast, condensed: a working harbor, tide-ripped jetties, and party boats sailing to Jeffreys Ledge.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
High 10:01 PM
Air / High
57 / 57 F
Wind
NNE 6 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8429489, 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.

Hampton feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 6 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 57. Tides: high 9:41 AM and 10:01 PM, low 3:43 AM and 4:07 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 59 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

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 β†’

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 8429489 (Hampton Harbor). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW3:43 AM0.7 ft
HIGH9:41 AM8.4 ft
LOW4:07 PM0.5 ft
HIGH10:01 PM8.5 ft
Sat
LOW4:23 AM0.4 ft
HIGH10:20 AM9.0 ft
LOW4:50 PM-0.0 ft
HIGH10:44 PM8.8 ft

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

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp57 F
High / Low57 / 38 F
WindNNE 6-11 mph
Pressure1027.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:06 / 17:48
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 Hampton this week

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

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

Today, Oct 23 β€” 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 17:48
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 12 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Hampton: 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 Hampton 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 Hampton 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 14 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 57 F, wind to 15 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 65 F, wind to 13 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

NH Recreational Saltwater License (covers coastal fishing; party boats carry blanket licenses). Striped bass slot 28-31 inches (verify current). Groundfish: federal seasons/limits: check GARFO/NH Fish & Game.

Access

Hampton Beach State Pier, harbor jetties and Route 1A bridge, North Beach pull-offs, Seabrook side launches, party boats at Hampton Harbor.

About this water

Beach town on the Hampton-Seabrook estuary, Rockingham County, NH. The Granite State's entire Atlantic frontage, working hard.

Fishing Hampton: the full guide

Small coast, complete fishery

New Hampshire owns the shortest coastline in America and wastes none of it: Hampton Harbor's inlet moves strong tides past fishable jetties, the beaches north and south run stripers all season, and the state pier's fleet sails for haddock, pollock, and mackerel. Everything is within ten minutes: pick the tide, not the drive.

The harbor and jetties

Hampton Harbor Inlet funnels the Hampton and Blackwater rivers' marsh system through one cut: stripers ambush bait on the dropping tide (the jetties and the Route 1A bridge are the stands), mackerel swarm in spring feeding everything, and winter flounder linger in the backwaters. Live mackerel drifted in the current is the local big-bass method: catch bait at dawn, convert it by breakfast.

Beaches and marsh

North Beach and Hampton Beach's groins serve the surf crowd: chunks after dark, metal at first light when bait shows. Behind the boulevard, the Hampton-Seabrook estuary's marsh channels hold schoolies through summer, sight-fishing on big flood tides, and steady flounder in the mud channels: a kayak fishery inside a resort town.

Party-boat tradition

Hampton's head boats run the old Yankee program to Jeffreys Ledge: haddock limits spring through fall, pollock and cusk mixed, redfish on the sharp drops, occasional halibut headlines. Whale watches share the ledge: the groundfish grounds sit inside 20 miles, making Hampton the easiest deep-sea day between Gloucester and Portland.

Common questions

When do stripers arrive in New Hampshire?

Mid-May behind the mackerel and herring, peaking June-July in the harbor currents: fall's southbound push runs September into October. The dropping tide at the inlet is the metronome all season.

What do Hampton party boats catch?

Haddock is the staple (spring through fall), with pollock, cusk, and redfish filling boxes on Jeffreys Ledge: half-day and full-day sailings run daily in season. Family-friendly and license-covered: bring layers, even in July.

Is fishing good at Hampton 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

Plum Island6 miGreat Bay12 miMerrimack River30 miCharles River42 miMerrymeeting Lake45 miLake Winnipesaukee56 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8429489 β€” Hampton Harbor
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 42.8980, -70.8120 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.