Offshore Navigator

Texas Gulf · free NOAA & NASA data

Home port

Ranges from the jetties. Magnetic variation 2.2° E (approx.).

Best spots now

WhenNow

Wind forecast not loaded: seas aren't factored in.

Species

RangeShow

Billfish guide: reading the charts for marlin, sails & swords →Wahoo guide: the winter run at the Flower Garden Banks →

Range from Freeport (change the home port above). 0 spots on the map; diamonds are open-water edges from satellite data. Mexican waters (south of the US–Mexico line, about 26°N) are left out: fishing there needs Mexican permits.

How the picks are made

Every rig, deepwater floater, TPWD reef, reefed rig, wreck and natural bank, plus open-water edges and deep drop-offs found in today's satellite and depth data, is scored for each species: depth and structure it prefers, season off Texas, water temperature and temperature breaks, water color and color changes, altimetry (warm and cold eddies and their edges), Sargassum, current, bottom relief and recent reports. A closed season doesn't lower the score (the fish still bite); the spot is marked C&R only, and in Best of all a species you can keep wins ties. So the map shows more than one fish, each spot is labeled with the species it is best for compared with that species' other options today (the coast's best amberjack rig reads amberjack even if snapper scores a few points higher there); a label still has to be at least Fair and within 70% of the spot's top bite, and the popup lists every species. Top picks list each species' best spot first.

The hour you pick adds daylight (trolling species are daytime fish; swordfish switch from daytime deep drop to night drift) and the forecast wind, turned into an estimated sea height for the run (no swell included). Satellite layers are the latest available, not a forecast.

Swordfish: zoom in (level 10+) on a swordfish pick and up to 3 numbered pins mark the top of the walls and ledges in 1,100–2,000 ft from NOAA's hi-res bottom, with a drift plan from the current and night bait depths from the moon.

Season rules checked 2026-10-16; they change, so verify with TPWD and NOAA before keeping fish. Positions are approximate: check your chart. A starting point, not a guarantee.

Satellite layer

Seafloor detail like a chartplotter: depth shading and shaded relief from NOAA's best-available elevation model (down to ~3 m near the coast). Zoom in for detail.

Source

NOAA NCEI DEM Global Mosaic: one seamless model of NOAA's best data, to ~3 m near the coast, coarser offshore.

Switch to NOAA surveys when zoomed in (where surveyed)Depth shadingShaded reliefRelief ×6

Opacity

Date

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Type a position

About this data

SST, chlorophyll, altimetry, currents: NOAA CoastWatch (VIIRS, Geo-Polar Blend, Jason/Sentinel altimetry), with backups on other NOAA servers when it is down: NASA MUR SST and Aqua MODIS chlorophyll (NOAA PFEG), altimetry and geostrophic currents (NOAA AOML). Salinity: SMAP/SMOS satellites (NOAA CoastWatch, OceanWatch). Seaweed: USF/NOAA AOML. The date line under Best spots shows which day each layer is from.
True color and IR: NASA GIBS (NOAA-20 VIIRS, GOES-East). Radar: NWS NEXRAD via Iowa Environmental Mesonet.
Platforms: BSEE. Buoys: NOAA NDBC. Drifters: Global Drifter Program via NOAA OSMC. Seafloor: GEBCO 2026 grid (built on Scripps SRTM15+) and NOAA NCEI multibeam. Depths: Esri Ocean basemap (GEBCO, NOAA).
Not for navigation. Satellite products lag a day or more and miss what's under clouds.

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