Effects of Wind and Tide

[Gerry Zagorski]

The Effects of Wind and Tide.
When the winds from the West fishing is best
When the winds form the East the fish bite the least
When the winds from the South it blows the bait in their mouth's
When the winds from the North do not go forth

These are some good general rules but wind direction is only a piece of the puzzle. You need to understand the combined effects of wind and tidal direction in order to improve your odds of catching fish…

Fish are lazy and opportunistic. This is especially true of larger fish. As Richard Pryor once said, "You don’t get to be old being no fool". Unless they are chasing a pod of bait, fish tend to lay in wait pointed into the current or tide and have Mother Nature bring bait to them. If you believe this then it only stands to reason that you want to present your bait in a way the fish are expecting to see it. That means that your drifting bait and boat should be moving in the same direction as the tide.

Let’s use the Raritan Bay area as an example… When the tide is ebbing (or outgoing) the water in the bay for the most part is moving east, towards the ocean. If you have an east wind, which means the wind is coming out of the east, it will want to push your boat and baits west. So in this case the boat and your bait are being pushed west against the east flowing water…This is not a natural presentation of your bait since the fish are expecting the bait to be flowing with the tide. In wind against tide situations your bait comes up from behind them. So, the first and perhaps the most important principle is to try and drift where and when the wind and the tide are running in the same direction.

Now that we got the wind and tide thing figured out let’s talk about how to pick a spot to drift…..

Once again you need to find a spot where the water is moving in the same general direction as the wind. Best way I have found to do this is with a tide chart and a paper chart of the area you will be fishing. By looking at the tide chart you should be able to tell if the water is incoming or out going. One important thing to remember here is that the tide direction (e,w,n,s) varies based upon the tide stage and location. An example I will use here is in the Sandy Hook area. If you’re out in the middle or Raritan bay and you have an outgoing tide it generally runs east toward the ocean. Inside the Hook however the tide is coming out of the Shrewsbury River which makes it run north since that’s the outgoing path it takes to get to the ocean. If you envision or mark the chart with arrows in the direction of the tide then determine which way the wind is blowing you’d want to select and area where the arrows are in the same direction. Make sense?

Like most things in life there are exceptions. If the wind is light don’t worry about its direction. Wind against tide situations only occur when the wind is blowing in the opposite direction and is stronger then the flow of the tide. As a general rule this only happens when the wind us above 10MPH. So, if you’re fishing in 5-7 MPH wind don’t worry about its direction. You can fish just about anywhere you want because the tide will have more influence on the direction of your boat.

Now for some tips….. A great way to reduce the effects of the wind is to use land as a natural barrier. Here’s an example… You’re fishing out in the ocean and you have an incoming tide (towards the beach) and some pretty swift winds out of the west coming off the beach. Your best bet here would be to fish tight into the beach since the land will be blocking some of the wind. The further from the beach you are the more the wind will effect your drift direction. Or, let’s say you have a strong east wind. You may just want to run around the inside of Sandy Hook and use the land there to break the wind and fish close to shore.

Another tip is to power drift. Let’s say you have slack tide and no water movement. What you might want to do is bump the boat in gear every so often to create movement. Or let’s say there is a spot where you know there are fish but the boat won’t drift in the right direction. What you can do here is leave the boat in gear to make it run along with the direction of the tide. One other way to make the boat drift more with the tide or current is to use a drift sock. Once you get the sock in the water and see which way it pulls the boat tie it off to a cleat where it won’t get in your way. Since the sock will be drifting with the current it will pull your boat along with it. I have also seen people in small boats use a 5-gallon bucket in the same manner.

It took me years to understand the effects of wind and tides. When I applied them to choosing locations and different methods to get a proper drift, it increased my results dramatically and can do the same for you.

[truthyone]

http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ofs...w_cg_cur.shtml
This is a link to currents in NY Harbor including Sandy Hook.