Timing the tide

[Fish mojo]

http://www.fishingworks.com/Images/Tides/0-1038-3098-04_05_2002-04_06_2002_LEN.jpg What is the best time to time the tide for anchor fishing? I asume you want low tide for maximum runout. The low tide looks like an inverted bell. How soon before max low til how long after is it good?

[Thumper]

Anchor fishing requires current. Current exists from high to low.

[Orca]

At your high tide at 8:15 pm and the low tide at 4:51 pm, there will be little or no current running. After 8:15, the current will start to pick up and run to sea. It will start slow, and get faster and faster. At about the half way point between the high tide and the low tide, the current will be the fastest. Then, it will begin to slow down and will be gone at the 4:51 low tide.

This is a generalization and doesn't always hold true for all locations, but it is generally true for as much as we care (except of the Columbia mouth - see below)

I have never fished on anchor in any tidal zones, but crabbers will often say to crab 2 hours before and 2 hours after high tide. This is because there is very little current running in the 4 hour window around the low or high tide. So, in your example, you might not have much current until about 10:15 am and it will be pretty well gone by 2:51 pm.

The 2 before/2 after rule works pretty good on the coastal bays, but the mouth of the Columbia is a different story. Once the tide gets high and begins to go low, you will get significant current within 45 minutes to an hour. The wind coming down the river, combined with the quick current pickup, makes things pretty messy in a hurry.

[fishbait]

Mojo,

also consider that the farther up river you are the more the river flow will have an impact. Also, the size of the tide or amount of water change is also a factor. Take a few notes every time you are out and then you will be able to create your own specific adjustment tables for your spot. Time, river flow, tide height. I do this in tidewater in the fall and it helps.

[Pitch Pocket]

There are current stations as well as tide stations. The high tide is measured by the maximum height and the current is measured by the actual flow. Generally, the slack current happens a short while after the maximum tide.

For instance, at Barview today, low tide is at 12:31 pm. Low slack current is about 1:08 pm. About a 35 minute lag time at the quarter moon. During full or new moons, the lag time is closer to one hour. On March 28 (full moon), High tide was 11:49 am and high slack current was 12:55 pm. A little over one hour.

If the river is blowing high, all bets are off on predicting current flow. I've fished sturgeon in the winter at Astoria with the river at 12' where the incoming tide barely stopped the river at all just before the ebb. That's the extreme. You have to adjust your calculations based on the amount of water in the rivers.

I use Tides and Currents Pro from Nautical Software. They show both tide and current predictions.