Outgoing or incoming?

[ronaultmtd]

I always like fishing the outgoing tide- just seem to do better although I have also caught fish during incoming tide...when I find structure that accelerates the water flow, I try to find eddies and confused water to cast my lures into...fishing from the surf,it seemed like we did better on incoming tides...so what is your preference and why?

[jsnyd86]

Mine used to be outgoing also because I seemed to catch more fish, but for me i think that was mainly due to the fact that I didn't understand what was turning on the fish and how bait was affected by it.
I think I still have a slight preference over a falling tide. Generally that usually creates the most moving water and now I know that's what draws a bite.


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[Mark]

I find tides confusing. Here in the mid-Bay region the tidal change is often not large from high to low and vice versa. And then the wind can counter the tide. I recall a breezy day this spring on the Severn when more beach and shorelines were exposed precisely at high tide than during some of the lowest tides I’ve seen there.

I fish when I can with no mind to the tide. Often I don’t know what the tide is until I get to the launch. And then, as I described above, the actual scene can belie the tide chart prediction.

As an example, this is a tidal pond on the Severn at high tide -- at least that's what the tide tables said:

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Normally I float into this area between the PVC pipes. However, sustained high winds for consecutive days had pushed water from the Severn and even a high tide could not compete with the wind.

If I had a choice I’d fish when the water is high and falling. I like it high because it gives me more water and more places to cast in some of the tight quarters I like to fish. I like it falling because I surmise bait is being pulled by the moving water from its hiding places in structure into the waiting mouths of predators. My lures and flies can mimic that scenario as I retrieve them on paths near and then away from structure.

[jsnyd86]

Outgoing or incoming?

Mark, I think the difference in water level is mostly due to the lunar phase. I'm still figuring out exactly what phase does what, but usually tides are biggest during a full moon. I think. The current may not be as strong in some areas but the water level can drop or rise by a couple feet around here.


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[Mark]

Mark, I think the difference in water level is mostly due to the lunar phase. I'm still figuring out exactly what phase does what, but usually tides are biggest during a full moon. I think. The current may not be as strong in some areas but the water level can drop or rise by a couple feet around here.


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Yes. The orbiting moon and how it and the earth line up with the sun have a predictable impact on our tides. That's how our tide charts are created. That calculus is well beyond my mathematical and astronomical understanding. Thank goodness there are smart people to reduce it to two predicted highs and lows for Annapolis and other key spots on the Chesapeake each day. But my point is that surface weather that happened days before like pervasive wind or even flooding rains can significantly alter the predicted highs and lows.

That's one reason I do not plan my fishing on the tides. I go when my schedule allows and I deal with the conditions I find when I get there.

But in my perfect fishing world the tide would always be high and falling. I like those conditions the best.

[bignose]

Tides are the crest or trough of a body of water as it moves up and down in reaction to the interaction between the earth and the moon's gravity.

Current is the actual flow of the water, as it's height rises or drops.

For example, let's use the Bay Bridge as a very generally reference point.
Say, a high tide is predicted to be at exactly 12:00 noon, there will still be incoming current for about another hour or so after noon. Same with an outgoing tide, the water will still be flowing out for some time after the actual "low tide."
And the Bridge is tricky, as an outgoing tide's current actually flows at a slightly diagonal to the Bridge-the East side towards the West.

Tidal height is based on a two week cycle. During a full or new moon we experience "Spring "tides that are higher, and at the quarter moons we have "Neap" tides that are smaller.
This can be exacerbated by the lunar phase, last summer during the "super moon" in mid summer (the full moon is at it's closest point to the Earth), the flow out on the main stem of the Bay was almost river like, nearly 5 knots!

And as mentioned before, the tidal current can pretty much be negated by a strong wing blowing and pushing the water in the opposite direction. Several days of a strong South wind can cause coastal flooding, as the water piles up, or conversely, a "blowout" as the North wind pushes the water out of the Bay. John Veil has posted some pictures he took a few years ago on Weems Creek under blowout conditions, you could see all of the fishing structure near the shore line.

Some tidal Creeks, Mattawoman, comes to mind, has a pretty good flow of current when the tide goes out. Some creeks, like Weems, are much less obvious.

All that being said, like several of the earlier posters, I prefer the last hour or two of an outgoing tide (current flowing outwards), but I fish when I can, and just deal with it if it isn't what I prefer.
Why is an outgoing tide better?
The fish are able to feed on bait that gets washed out.