Tide and Timing

[Mo Fish]

Does any one know when the best time to fish the tide water sloughs in Tillamook?? like incoming, outgoing, slack???

for example on this day when is it the most productive time to fish???

12:53am High 7.7 7:39am Low -0.4 1:52 pm High 7.3 7:45pm Low 1.3

and this day?

5:02am Low 0.1 11:27am High 8.0 5:30 pm Low1.4 11:24pm High 7.7


i have tried to figure this one out for a long time. Tide stuff is not really explained in books or covered by STS at all!!

thank you


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[TheRogue]

My personal preference has always been the last couple hours of an outgoing tide, preferably minus, at dawn. It's pretty universal that chinook bite well in that first couple hours of daylight; add that to a low tide to squish them together in the holes, and you've got my favorite.

The same works for a low tide right at dark.

I vote for a minus 1ft at 8:30am as my first choice.

However, lots of people also do well at high slack, I think RT probably has lots to add here.

T.R.

[Pilar]

Hey Mo! Great name. I'm always wanting mo of whatever.

I don't know jack about Til Bay but the Columbia Estuary has a heck of a bite at the minus low tide. We regularly bag legal sturgeon and sometimes peelers on the Desdemona Shoal from an hour or two before the low slack tide to an hour after.

For some reason the fish seem to be on the move during this time. Especially when it is a big minus, -1 or better. We often start our Salmon trip with an hour anchored in one of the channels on the shoal waiting on some Sturgeon. The bend is your friend!

[smilesforu]

I don't fish the oregon rivers but do hit the coastal streams up here in Washington. I concentrate on the high tide for the moving fish. I recommend you keep a diary of the fish you or others you see caught near the mouth of a river. Put down what the tide was and when. This will help you dial in the times the fish like to move though a specific hole. This also works on some of the upper holes with fresh fish if you know there is a tide in the middle of the night. You can target the run at daylight in the right area of the river. I have been able to target three different runs during the day by knowing what time the fish should be their and caught fish from each run.
Tight Lines.

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Marty M
Steelheader.net (http://www.steelheader.net/)

[Deleted User]

Welcome to Ifish. If you want to catch mo fish in Tillamook tidewater holes you unfortunately must navigate to holes a couple hours before daylight to get a good anchor spot in a productive place. For that reason, and because floods in recent years have made it difficult to access the lower Wilson R., I don't go as often anymore. Sometimes I'll get up at 1:30 a.m. to secure a good place on the Trask, but not often. -For your 2 scenarios the best time would be right from daybreak. The first one is a morning high tide, which means it's not as important to be on a deep "holder" hole as the fish are more on the move during high tide. In addition to bobber & bait at this time it's very productive to retrieve spinners in the holes or travel lanes (you can learn where these are by watching guides and using your FF to map out the bottom on an early season scouting trip). If it's not too crowded you can do very well by trolling Kwikfish &/or spinners up & down long deeper stretches near & thru high tide; especially with an electric OB motor. The second scenario is the one you may need to get up super early to be in position to take advantage of, with fish holding in the deeper holes around low tide. Bobber and egg/shrimp rigs are the rule, but retrieving spinners is always a good followup method to use. - For the ideal scenario I agree with what Rogue posted. However, it's more important to just be there when there is a lot of fresh/biting fish in tidewater. Good luck. - RT