Rising and falling tides heavily influence the locations and feeding behavior of most gamefish and therefore should play an important role in coastal fishing strategies.
Shifting tides create constant change in the character of coastal waterways and largely dictate where predator fish species position themselves and how they behave. Understanding tides and their impact is critical core knowledge for consistent success with many types of coastal fishing.
I have been able to spend quite a few days fishing with Capt. Chris Holleman of Blue Cyclone Inland Fishing Adventures in Jacksonville. We’ve fished together for speckled trout, redfish, striped bass, snook, tarpon and more and have fished many types of waters and at various times of the year. Overall approaches have varied immensely, but tide stages are ALWAYS a major factor.
Virtually every time I’ve fished with Holleman he has shared a working plan that went something like this. “At daylight we’ll have a ___ tide, which will be ideal for ___ in ___ area; and timing should be perfect to then hit ___ on a ___ tide; and then….” The specifics vary by the targets and the day’s tide chart, but the concept stays the same. Most recently, the slack tide at daybreak looked perfect for targeting big redfish to start the day, and that went exactly as scripted.
Tides are complex. There is no way around that, and there is no single, simple answer to the best tide to fish or how to fish tides effectively. That said, tidal movements have a profound impact on the locations and behavior of most inshore saltwater and brackish water fish. Understanding the impacts of a few key variables and intentionally considering those variable as you fish can provide a major boost to your success rate in a range of coastal fishing situations.
The degree of tidal impact varies significantly by location as some areas have severe tidal swings and two full cycles per day, while other areas have more moderated changes and only one full cycle per day. The extremity of the tide range also varies according to the moon phase and by season, but the concepts remain the same. Three critical considerations are tide direction, level and strength.
Rising, Falling or Slack?
The fist consideration is the overall direction of the tide. No matter the water level, the fish behave differently depending on whether areas are being drained or freshly flooded and according to which way the water is moving as the river bends or the water sweeps over a sandbar or past a point on a sandbar.
As tides rise, fish tend to move onto newly flooded areas and to freshly created current lines, rips and eddies. Falling tides concentrate fish around drain points, where ditches, creek mouths, and breaks in bars create forage-rich current lines.
Fish orient to face upcurrent, no matter which direction the current is moving, so that impacts boat positioning and preferred casting angles.
At the top and bottom of every cycle, a brief transition time called “slack tide” occurs, with little to no tidal movement. For many situations, this is a slow fishing period because tidal flow creates ambush points and triggers feeding. However, there are certain spots where either the fish bite best while the tide is turning, or where you can only make effective presentations during slack tides because of depth, snaggy cover and/or the strength of the current once it gets moving.
Level High or Low?
The actual level of the water obviously impacts fish locations because some of the best high-water spots are completely out of the water when the tide is low. When the water has dropped a bit, by the way, that creates an outstanding opportunity to look at high-tide hotspots and really see contours and cover to be able to fish that area more effectively during future high tides.
Fish tend to push closer to edges, up into the marsh, and higher on sandbars on high tide and farther down slopes and into ditches, channels and troughs toward low tide. Those are huge generalizations and not always even the case, but the concepts are important considerations as you look at the stage of the tide.
It’s also important to note that there are eddies and ambush points at every level of the tidal cycle that only form at a very specific level – maybe when the water is just sweeping over a low spot in a line of rocks or across the top of an oyster bar. Too low, the current doesn’t exist. Too high, it isn’t concentrated enough to create a good ambush point. Those spots can be gold mines if you hit them at prime time.
Strong or Weak Tidal Flow?
A final variable that’s easily overlooked is the relative strength of the tidal push and how it impacts spots. Many areas, such as where a main river sweeps past bridge abutments or where a creek channel narrows, get too swift for fish to hold position or for anglers to fish effectively when tidal currents peak. Other areas only get enough water movement to ignite a bite during the strongest part of the tide.
Like most aspects of tidal fishing, there’s no “one size fits all” answer to the ideal tidal strength, but it’s vital to understand that the speed of the water movement varies, and this impacts fish behavior. Tidal current starts slow, right after the shift from incoming to outgoing or the opposite. The strength gradually accelerates through around the midpoint of the tide and then gradually decelerates until it turns again.
3 Tidal Strategies
Running a Tide – If you look at tide charts for a region, you’ll see that highs and lows are staggered as you move up and down the coast or farther inland. If there is a quality bite on a certain tide, whether that’s drain areas on a hard outgoing tide, or the rips atop oyster bars on an incoming tide, an excellent strategy can be to study charts and work methodically through an area to stay at the ideal tidal stage, hitting the same kinds of spots as you go. Similarly, many anglers simply prefer a specific tide stage because it favors how they like to fish and will time trips and plan routes to keep them fishing the condition they like best, as much as possible.
Timing Hotspots – Timing hotspots is Holleman’s normal strategy, and it is incredibly effective for anyone who can execute it. He’s always thinking about how spots relate to one another, geographically, and which he prefers to hit at a specific tidal phase. His working plan, which is ever changing based on how fish respond, how long he stays in spots and other observed conditions, keeps him hitting key areas at optimal points in the tidal cycle. Maximizing effectiveness with this approach requires solid knowledge about an area, how tides affect specific spots and how the tide cycles vary throughout an area.
Adjusting with the Tides – A good overall strategy for many anglers who don’t know the ideal timing of hotspots or know the area they are fishing well enough to truly run a tide is to simply adjust pattens within a broad area based on the tide stage, moving toward channels and drops on toward low tide and pushing onto shallower flats on higher tides and focusing on drains during outgoing tides and rips the form with incoming tides.
Practical Tidal Considerations
Beyond fish-catching implications, it’s important to think about tidal changes for the sake of safety and other practical matters. Specific concerns vary according to your means of accessing fishing areas.
For many boating anglers, the most important thing to be aware of is the risk of getting trapped. A backwater that’s flanked by a sandbar or a creek with shallow sections might get isolated from the main waterway at low tide leaving no option except to wait out the tide cycle for the water to return. At the extreme end, a boat can get trapped on a flat that loses water on low tide and literally be left high and dry for hours.
Other important considerations for boating anglers are that oyster bars and other underwater hazards become greater threats to motors at lower water levels, and water can become more turbulent when tides push hard in certain areas.
For non-motorized watercraft, the biggest tidal navigation consideration is that current can be powerful, both in larger river areas and in tight creeks spots or shallow areas where the moving water gets concentrated. Fast-moving water affects how effectively you can fish many areas. More significantly, you could essentially get trapped through a cycle of the tide because the tidal current is simply too strong go get back to where you came from.
For wading anglers, one practical consideration is that at lower tide levels, the best waters to fish can be a long walk from an access point. Most importantly, moving tides can create strong currents where no current existed previously, and areas can quickly become too deep for wading. If you’re fishing the surf or somewhere else where the bottom gradually slopes down, you can simply move back as the tide rises. However, in many areas, it’s critical to pay attention to areas you cross. The waist-deep trough you easily waded through to get to a shin-deep sandbar could turn shoulder-deep with pushy current in less time than you might expect.
