Wind first, because on this bay it decides the week. The National Weather Service coastal waters forecast issued at Brownsville on 18 September 2026 has east winds around 10 knots today over the Laguna Madre from Brownsville to Baffin Bay, light chop, calming overnight; then 5 to 10 knots with smooth to light chop through the week. Tuesday breaks the run: 10 to 15 knots, moderate chop, and a chance of showers and thunderstorms.
Water temperature: 86.5 degrees Fahrenheit at the Port Isabel gauge at 2:54 p.m. on 18 September.
Tide: the predictions for that gauge give a high of 1.81 feet at 1:32 a.m. and a low of 0.35 feet at 3:20 p.m. on Friday; 1.83 feet at 2:58 a.m. and 0.38 feet at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday; 1.83 feet at 3:45 a.m. and 0.40 feet at 5:37 p.m. on Sunday. Under a foot and a half of movement each day, and the low falls in the afternoon all three days.
Offshore, the same forecast has seas 4 to 5 feet today easing to 2 to 3 feet by Sunday, with east winds 10 to 15 knots tonight before they diminish.
This is a conditions report, not a catch report. We publish what the public gauges and the forecast office said, with the time they said it, and nothing we did not read off a source. If you want to tell us what the fish were actually doing, the community pages are the place.
Sources: NWS Brownsville coastal waters forecast issued 2026-09-18 18:48Z — https://api.weather.gov/products/38f54625-1203-40c1-9858-4c7f969efd19 · NOAA CO-OPS station 8779770 (Port Isabel), latest water temperature — https://api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/api/prod/datagetter?date=latest&station=8779770&product=water_temperature&units=english&time_zone=lst_ldt&datum=MLLW&format=json · NOAA CO-OPS station 8779770, high/low tide predictions 18-20 September 2026 — https://api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/api/prod/datagetter?product=predictions&application=spi&begin_date=20260918&end_date=20260920&datum=MLLW&station=8779770&time_zone=lst_ldt&units=english&interval=hilo&format=json
