Tides and Stripers

[OTTER]

I want to introduce a thread on Striper fishing and look forward to other contributions.

I used to think that there was low tide and high tide and that was pretty much it. But low tide can be so different from day to day. For example if you look up the Tide Charts at Seavey Island for early September; http://www.maineharbors.com/nh/tidenh.htm
You will notice that the low tide on the afternoon of Sept 3rd is plus 1.3 feet. This is called the Neap Tide.
Exactly one week later the low is minus 1.4 feet called the Spring Tide. ( This has nothing to do with the season of spring). That is a total difference of 2.7 feet or about 32 inches lower. So wherever you were standing on land the first date, you are now up to your waist. ( Or is it waste ??? OK crotch.)

This suggests a couple of things:
1) Scoping out structure as well as soft mud flats is best done during a low spring tide. I saw a wading angler two years ago who had to be rescued because he stepped into soft mud and he could not get out. This situation was close but not as bad: The fellow stuck in the mud is a long legged 6' 6". He got out OK.
http://flyfishinginnh.com/vforum/picture.php?albumid=122&pictureid=1603

2) Structure that holds fish which can be reached with a fly rod during a "Spring Low", often cannot be reached during a "Neap Low"

There are so many ways to fish for stripers. Each has very different techniques and equipment. Even sticking with one method (fly casting) there is a difference between wading mud flats, fishing off bridges or coastal rocks, to kayaking or off a big boat in Boston Habba. Whether Neap or Spring probably matters little in the middle of Boston Habba. But it can make a BIG difference when wading flats..... Both in safety and in results.

I have a favorite spot that I wait to fish for only several days per month when the "Spring" low coincides with first light. Fishing then is generally great. It often tails off with higher sun and the higher "Neap"lows. Most of these other times it is impossible to reach the holding structure. I have learned not to go there and almost surely be skunked.

Some months even the "Spring" low is too high to reach the structure or channel, I wish to fish and I lose an entire month.Which is why I have accumulated so many "go to" places to fish.

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[Achigan]

Nice post Otter, thanks for sharing.

[clearstream]

Otter, great start to what I hope is a long post. I would challenge the thought that sring low doesn't matter in the harbor, as I have seen great fishing over big rocks that is totally dependent on the tides. Seal Rock, off of Quincy in Boston Harbor is the spot I thnk of. For those with a boat and access to this spot, give it a try on the falling tide.

[browntrout]

Otter & Clearstream,

I would agree with both of you as the area you are fishing has much to do with the overall importance of the tides. I tend to think tides are much more critical if you are working a beachfront, or wading a mud or sand flat, versus fishing from a boat and working a rocky coastline or fishing sinking lines out in deeper water. Albeit both do need to have water movement.

When I wade fish for striped bass its always been about moving water and the persuing bait activity it produces which helps get the feedbag going for the big guys.

Certainly the best time to learn the structure of these flats or beachfronts is at a deep low.
-BT
http://flyfishinginnh.com/vforum/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=1609
http://flyfishinginnh.com/vforum/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=1610

[OTTER]

Yes, You got to know what is happening when and where you fish. Every place has its own requirements. This evening around 6:00 PM, Rainbow and I fished an area at dead low; no water movement at all. But it was cloudy and very windy. We each had about 20 shad on in about an hour; no stripers. Shad that were actually landed ranged from 13 to 22 inches. Most got off by the third leap.

If a person set out to catch shad and used a 5 weight instead of an 8 weight, these fast swimming and leaping fish are every bit the equal to Merrymeeting River LL Salmon IMHO. (I hope that means what I think it means.)

I'll be out there at dawn tomorrow morning with a 5 weight IF the wind dies down overnight.

[browntrout]

Otter,

Back in 1999 on Columbus Day weekend I hooked and landed a 33" shad that was dropping back down out of the Merrimack River. I was fishing off a sandbar with a friend at the time and we were picking up mostly schoolies using 8 weights. As the outgoing picked up, the line of other guys fishing along the edge grew. When I hooked this fish, you would have thought it was tarpon the way it went airborn several times. Eveyone on the bar just stopped and watched. After 4-5 big jumps and several runs I managed to bring it in. What a fish, I only wish I had a camera at the time... They can be alot of fun on the flyrod for sure. That is one of the fish I'll never forget.
-BT

[OTTER]

A few things can be pointed out from this photo taken this morning at a dead low of plus 0.3 at 6:00 AM.

http://flyfishinginnh.com/vforum/picture.php?albumid=122&pictureid=1611

If one chooses to fish at half tide (coming in or out), it would be nice to know where that mound of hard sand is. Not only is it higher than the foreground but the foreground is becoming sticky soft mud. So wading out at half tide one would like to find this mound underfoot.

Also, one might not like to trip on the row of old weir sticks or get hung up on one. The protruding sticks do give an indication of the tide hight, direction, etc. better than a chart. Since tide heights are influenced by wind and the direction of the wind possibly by a half foot up or down depending on the place and the force of the wind. (Think Tsunami or rogue waves.) Then there are the weekend boaters with their wakes.

Way off to the left is a deep channel. Unfortunately, no matter how far you can wade out, it is beyond fly casting range. But the flat goes out so gradually, that with a spring tide of minus 1.4 feet one can wade out 50 feet closer to the drop off. Then for a few days the it is within fly rod casting range.

Fish can occasionally be caught at all tides and time of day on occasion. But it is good to know when the odds are in my favor. Because the low this week aound plus 0.4 is not low enough for me, I found it best to get out at first light and a cloudy sky to have a better chance. Unfortunately the stiff NE wind was in my face which did not help. I pray for a SW wind at this location.

Turns out the stripers were not around in the shallow flats this morning either but the shad were. Using an 8 foot light weight spinning rod (almost like a fly rod), I was able to manage the wind. The shad were accomodating as they were last evening.

http://www.flyfishinginnh.com/vforum/picture.php?albumid=122&pictureid=1612

[OTTER]

Just draw a 5 mile radius around Pierce Island in Portsmouth. There are a hundred microspots within that radius. Been having some good action about every other day. I limit myself to very small areas of coast in Maine and NH and get to know those few spots "intimately". There are so many possibilities but nobody has the time or energy to check them all out.

Not in the photo above but at Odiorne there is a special boulder. I start fishing there on the outgoing tide when the top of the boulder first shows and stop when the water is down to the bottom of the boulder. I speculate; that is the time when the stripers move out. It helps concentration to believe something even if it is not true. Expecting to catch a fish helps maintain alertness and that means not missing a subtle strike. Caught many a striper dead drifting a streamer as in trout nymph fishing.

[Ksyrium]

Otter and co. thanks for the info. As a relatively inexperienced fly fisher and absolute novice when it comes to the salt, I appreciate whatever little tidbits of info you guys have picked up along the way that you choose to share.

[lowwall]

Playing the tides are the key to success but for the working stiff you have to go when you can and make due.

Even in a boat ( Yes Even in Boston Haba!) the tides play a big role in fish activity. There are times especially early spring and late fall when it does not matter and there always seems to be a surface feed somewhere but generally if the water is not moving the fishing is slowwww. I cover allot of water where I fish and know spots where the water gets moving first , these spots are where I go at slack.

This seems to go for all fish species it seems. I tried to fill the few hours of slow slack tide fishing this season targeting flounder. What I found was the flounder do not move around to much during slack either and did not start biting until the water moved. I had a family fishing outing in between two slack tide flounder attempts. My Daughter caught around 30 flounder during the dropping tide, during slack I could muster only 2 or 3 between 3 guys fishing. The tide played a big role for sure.

I like the dropping tide in the haba and on Joppa, the rising tide is a little safer in the boat on joppa for the opisite reason it is not for the wade fisherman.

Clearstream I know that rock! I used to Kayak and canoe Quincy bay for stripers allot. Hedgehog rock is another good rock pile out there. Pretty much if you see lobster pots there are bass around in the bay. I used to troll for stripers and blues out of a radison with a 2 ½HP before I started fly fishing, got a few strange looks from the big boats out there for sure .I actually rescued a couple in a canoe out there a month ago, small craft advisory 25 mph with and they were stuck in the channel between spectacle and Thompsons island, lucky they did not flip\drown out there. They were a couple of crunchy teachers living in the berry; I should have let them paddle for it.