One honest number, built from everything we can read about the water
A good captain reads a handful of signs. Fish or Pass reads all of them — decades of ocean records, the fishery’s history, live satellite and buoy data, the seafloor, and how each species actually behaves.
What every Bite Score weighs
Tap any area on the chart to see which of these are driving today’s read. We never hide the ingredients.
Recent activity
How the fishing’s been going lately in water you can reach — one signal of six, a nudge on the score, never the whole story.
Water temp & breaks
Ocean temperature against each species’ comfort zone, plus the sharp temperature edges pelagics stack on.
Structure & depth
The seafloor a species lives on — banks, canyon edges, and the depth band it holds in.
Kelp & bait
Standing kelp, paddies and bait marks — where calico and yellowtail set up.
Sea conditions
Swell and wind scored for your hull — a snotty day is a lower score for a small boat than a big one.
Moon & tide
Phase and exchange for the region — the small, steady nudge on the bite.
Three words, so you can decide in a glance
The 0–100 Bite Score rolls up into one call for the water you’re looking at.
The water and the day line up — strong conditions in reach. This is a go.
Workable. Some things line up, some don’t — a grind-it-out, earn-your-fish kind of day.
Conditions are working against you. Often the smart money is to save the fuel and the alarm.
…and a confidence, so you know how much to trust it
Every read also carries a confidence — how much real data stands behind it. Fresh reports and clear satellite passes close to port read high; thin data far offshore reads low. Confidence never inflates the score. It just tells you how firmly to lean on it.
Real sources, refreshed daily
We ingest the ocean
Sea-surface temperature and breaks, chlorophyll, swell and wind, tides and moon, real bathymetry, kelp canopy, and the day’s dock reports — from NOAA, CoastWatch, CDFW, Open-Meteo and more.
We weigh it per species
Bluefin live on the break; calico live in the kelp; rockfish are about structure. Each species has its own temperature band, depth and structure weighting, tuned against years of how this coast fishes.
You get one read, by area
Every patch of water gets a Bite Score, a verdict and a confidence — tuned to the range you can actually reach and safely fish today.
What the score can’t know — and we’ll tell you
A satellite pass can be cloudy, reports lag, and fish move — so Fish or Pass is a conditions report card, not a guarantee, and not a safety or navigation tool. Every read carries a confidence indicator; always check official NOAA marine forecasts and use your own judgment before you head out.