a combination of moon phase, wind and other factors can combine to prevent the water from flowing. You may want it high and it stays low, or exactly the opposite. Alternatively, there may be adequate flow, but you might not be on the water when it’s headed in the direction that you want.
What constitutes a “bad” tide may depend on where you are. During this year’s Elite Series event on the California Delta, most anglers preferred the higher levels, which were elusive, over the lower levels, which were easier to access, but which made the fish more skittish. On many east coast rivers like the James and the Potomac, low tide is considered optimal; because, it pulls the fish out to the ends of the cover and conditions them to feed.
“The Delaware River is probably the most extreme situation we’ve seen like that,” Tharp said, noting the river’s seven foot swing.
When the tide is sub-optimal, Chad Morgenthaler, formerly of Illinois, now living in Missouri, neither of which has tidal water, simplifies his game plan: “I go to the area that I believe has the most fish and try to grind it out,” he explained.
For other anglers, the decision as to whether to run the tide or camp out depends on the particular waterway. For example, Tharp said that on the Potomac a run of 10 miles might provide a different enough scenario to justify a move, even in bad conditions, while on the Delta the same tidal difference might require an hour’s run.
Kurt Dove, who learned to fish on the tidal rivers of the mid-Atlantic, agreed with Tharp and Morgenthaler about generalities, but then broke down tournament strategies even further. “If you don’t have intimate knowledge of a fishery and you get a bad tide, just get in an area with a concentration and adjust to them,” he said. “For example, if it’s high, you might want to focus on flipping hyacinths. If it stays low, you might want to fish a Chatterbait on the outside edges.
If you look at someone like Jacob Powroznik on the James or Terry Scroggins on the St. Johns, they understand the key areas for certain tides, so they can move around, but typically in a national tournament 85 percent of the field doesn’t have that kind of knowledge.”
Dove said that the only rule when tides are exceptionally high or exceptionally low is that there are no rules – the fish may be as confused as you are
– but once again he has a general game plan to
salvage a tough situation that confronts all
tidewater anglers eventually.
If it’s super-high, his “initial process
is to stay closer to the bank and tighter
to the cover on the shoreline.” If that
produces few or no fish, he’ll then move
out to the original shoreline cover. ”Just
because a grass line used to have 1 to 2
feet of water and now has 4 or 5 feet,
you can still focus on that grass edge,”
When Chad Morgenthaler is confronted with a bad tide, his
preference is to camp in one place and methodically flip to
available cover.
Photo credit Pete Robbins
SUMMER 2015
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