by Dan Carns
There is a lot of talk around when should you go fishing. If you ask five anglers the best time to go, you’ll get ten answers that will include always on a dropping tide, never at low tide, only on a rising tide and so on! After 50 years of fishing in salt, I’ve gleaned a little knowledge about tides that I’d like to pass on and one rumor that I want to end.
Tides can be very important to the “bite”, that moment when you’re fishing and it’s kind of slow then all of a sudden you realize that fish are popping on bait all around you. It may be at the turn of a high tide or low tide or just before the tide goes slack, but suddenly after no luck you’re into it and your rod is bent over. Here is a rough description of tidal flow, but in general we get two high tides and two low tides every day, plus forty minutes due to the moon’s influence on the ocean. Ours is a watery world and the moon is so close to us that it is pulling on the water creating a bulge that the earth is spinning under. All this matters because bait is directly influenced by moving water. When the tide is moving in or out the bait schools have no real choice about where to go, as they are being dragged around by this moving water and are vulnerable to predators so they bunch up in tightly grouped schools hoping to avoid being eaten. Those predator fish you’re chasing are just waiting in ambush points like pass openings, pot holes, dock pilings and channel drop-offs waiting for said bait to come by, knowing that they must move with the tide! If you’re patient and observant you may be able to watch a snook dart from his hideout after a passing bait only to return right back to the same spot and repeat this attack method over and over. Grouper, snook, trout and countless other fish employ this hunting method as it expends very little energy chasing food. That being said the reason fishing may slow down during a slack tide (when the tide is not moving in or out) is now the bait is all relaxed, can spread out, and doesn’t present itself as a great target so more energy must be employed by the fish we’re all chasing.
Now for that rumor; don’t stay home and mow because the tide is wrong! You will never learn this important lesson about fish behavior if you don’t see it for yourself and experience that tidal change from slack to moving and vice versa. I have caught some of my most memorable fish on that off time when people said they were staying home due to the tide. When the fishing gets tough learn to make them bite, but don’t stay home! It’s a Wild World-Get Out There! Fishman Dan
Come by the shop at 4120 Pine Island Rd. Matlacha Fl. 33993 (239) 283-1125 and see for yourself what we have to offer as I’m sure you will love our location! It’s A Wild World-Get Out There! Fishman Dan
