Let’s look at the enclosed chart.  The best time to catch fish is when the current is moving the fastest.

My example is a city street between to stop light intersections. Let’s say we are stopped at a light. We begin to move forward. Our speed is very slow (unless you jump rabbit start) but normally it 5 mph. As you begin to reach the middle of the two stop lights, your speed is up to 30 mph or the fastest you can travel.

As you approach the next stop light, your car begins to slow until you stop at the next light.

This is how the tides work. Fish typically feed when the tide and water is moving at it fastest. Bait fish and other targets get tumbled and confused in the current and won’t get back to normal until the current slows.

The best time to fish is not at high tide or low tide, its 2 hours after high tide and 1-1/2 hours before low tide.

So next time you look at a tide chart, focus on the “between times” and you will increase your success rates.