Bite forecast
Where the bite is strongest right now
PierCast scores every pier from 0 to 100 by blending tide stage, solunar period, barometric trend, water temperature, wind and time of day. Higher is better — but the fish have not read the model.
Top pier right now
- Water
- 82.2°F
- Wind
- 7 kn
- Tide
- Rising
Why Cherry Grove Pier scores 76
Each factor contributes points to the 0–100 total. Tide stage carries the most weight, then solunar period and time of day.
Tide
Rising
25 pts — helpingSolunar
Rating 4/5 (Minor Period)
15 pts — helpingWater Temp
82.2°F
10 pts — neutralTime of Day
Early Morning
12 pts — helpingWind
7 kn
10 pts — helpingPressure
Rising
4 pts — hurting
Computed 1 day ago from NOAA CO-OPS and NWS data.
Today
Best fishing windows
Stretches of the day when tide, light and solunar period line up. Times are Eastern.
No windows left today
Either today's windows have passed or the forecast has not been generated yet. Tide-driven windows usually open on the two hours either side of a tide change.
11 piers ranked
The rest of the Strand
Scores within a few points of each other are effectively a tie — pick the pier you can park at.
Read this before you trust the number
How the score works
The bite score is a weighted sum. Tide stage contributes the most — moving water, especially the first two hours of an incoming tide, concentrates bait against the pilings. Solunar period and time of day come next, then pressure trend, water temperature and wind.
It is a heuristic built from the same observations you can see on the conditions page. It does not know about a bait school that showed up an hour ago, a red tide, or the fact that someone chummed the end of the pier at dawn. Treat a high score as a suggestion about timing, not a guarantee about the cooler.
Inputs: NOAA CO-OPS (tides, water temperature), National Weather Service (wind, pressure, air temperature), and computed solunar tables.