Best time to fish in Papatowai
Today, Friday, October 30, 2026 · local time (GMT+13) · Otago, New Zealand Today, Fri, Oct 30 · GMT+13- High tides
- 6:41 am and 7:02 pm
- Major periods
- 3:42–5:42 am and 4:14–6:14 pm
- Solunar activity
- Medium
- Sun
- 6:21 am–8:31 pm
Today, Friday, October 30, the best time to fish in Papatowai is 5:50 am to 7:00 am, with the 6:41 am high tide and sunrise, though with moderate wind and rough seas. It's a fair day (4/10). The best day this week is Thursday, November 5, at 7/10.
Your day in Papatowai at a glance
The strip runs from midnight to midnight, local time. Night in gray, daylight in yellow; the blue curve is the tide; below, the solunar periods and the best windows.
Fishing forecast for the next 7 days
| Day | Rating | Best times | High tides | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 4fair day | 5:50–7:00 am | ▲ 6:41 am ▲ 7:02 pm | Waning gibbous |
| Sat 31 | 4fair day | 7:50–9:00 pm | ▲ 7:41 am ▲ 8:04 pm | Waning gibbous |
| Sun 1 | 6average day | 7:50–9:10 pm5:50–7:00 am | ▲ 8:46 am ▲ 9:11 pm | Waning gibbous |
| Mon 2 | 6average day | 2:40–3:40 am5:40–7:30 am | ▲ 9:53 am ▲ 10:20 pm | Last quarter |
| Tue 3 | 5average day | 8:00–9:10 pm10:00 am–12:00 pm | ▲ 10:59 am ▲ 11:25 pm | Waning crescent |
| Wed 4 | 6average day | 5:40–6:40 am5:10–7:10 pm | ▲ 12:00 pm | Waning crescent |
| Thu 5 | 7good day | 5:40–6:50 am9:10–11:10 am | ▲ 12:24 am ▲ 12:54 pm | Waning crescent |
Each day's rating comes from the tide, the solunar periods, the light and, when we have the forecast, the weather.
How we work out the best time
We score every moment of the day, every 10 minutes, with simple rules anglers have used for decades:
- Tide: 2 to 3.5 points in the hour before and the hour after each high and low tide. Spring tides (high coefficient) score more, because the water moves faster.
- Solunar: 2.5 points in the major periods (moon overhead or underfoot) and 1.5 in the minor ones (moonrise and moonset).
- Light: 2 points at dawn and dusk, from first light to the end of the morning golden hour and from the evening golden hour to the end of twilight.
- Weather: falling pressure adds 1 point and rising pressure takes 1 away; wind takes points away from force 4 (about 12 mph), up to 5 points in a gale; waves of 1.6 ft to 4.9 ft add half a point (they stir up the water) and from 8.2 ft they take points away (up to 4).
- Best windows: the stretches of 40 minutes to 3 hours with the most points, at least an hour apart.
- Day's rating out of 10: the best window (up to 5), the moon (up to 2, near new or full moon), the tide coefficient (up to 2) and whether a solunar period lines up with sunrise or sunset (1). Without a tide, we score out of 8 and scale it to 10. Good weather adds up to 1 point and bad weather pulls it down.
Today: best window 3.6 of 5, moon 1 of 2, coefficient 1.5 of 2 and lineup 0 of 1; the weather multiplies the rating by 0.58.
It's a guide, not a guarantee: fish don't read tide tables. Always check the sea conditions and local fishing rules before you go.
Learn more
Fishing rules in Papatowai
Licenses, size limits, bag limits and closed seasons are set by the authorities and change often. We don't copy them here: check the official website before you go.
Questions about fishing in Papatowai
What's the best time to fish in Papatowai today?
5:50 am to 7:00 am, with the 6:41 am high tide and sunrise, though with moderate wind and rough seas. Today's rating: 4/10 (fair day).
What about tomorrow? When's the best time to fish in Papatowai?
Tomorrow, Saturday, October 31: 7:50 pm to 9:00 pm, with a rating of 4/10.
Which day this week is best for fishing in Papatowai?
Thursday, November 5, at 7/10. Its best window is 5:40 am to 6:50 am.
When are the solunar periods in Papatowai today?
Major: 3:42–5:42 am and 4:14–6:14 pm. Minor: 12:18–1:18 am and 8:05–9:05 am. Solunar activity today: medium.
Does the tide affect fishing in Papatowai?
Yes. Today high tide is at 6:41 am and 7:02 pm and low tide at 12:24 am and 12:53 pm, with a tide coefficient of 79 (average tides). The hours around each tide change tend to fish best, because moving water carries food.
How is the rating worked out?
From the tide, the solunar periods, the light at dawn and dusk, the moon phase and, when we have the forecast, the pressure, the wind and the waves. Each factor gives a fixed number of points and the rating sums them up out of 10.
Does it take the weather into account?
Yes. During today's best window: steady pressure (29.32 inHg), moderate offshore wind (13 mph) and rough sea: 10 ft waves. Strong wind and big waves lower the rating; falling pressure raises it a little.
What are the fishing rules in Papatowai?
Recreational fishing rules in Papatowai (licenses, size limits, bag limits and closed seasons) are set by the authorities: Ministry for Primary Industries. They change often: check the official website before you go.
More about Papatowai today
Our own calculation: tide from Waikawa Harbour (LINZ), sun and moon with astronomy-engine and, when available, weather and sea from Open-Meteo (ECMWF, NOAA GFS and Copernicus Marine, CC BY 4.0). This work is based on Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand data which are licensed by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Modified: secondary port of the LINZ Secondary Ports table 2026-27 (https://www.linz.govt.nz/products-services/tides-and-tidal-streams/tide-predictions), computed by TidePlanet with the LINZ method from the harmonic constants of Bluff in the Slackwater database (https://github.com/openwatersio/slackwater-database).