Fishing the Tides...Winter Trout

When I first started fishing the tidal marshes I used to plan trips around low tide. I felt more confident that as the marsh drained I could find multiple spots where bait and fish were concentrated. Over the years I learned (and am STILL learning) to fish all stages of the tides. But when winter comes, I find myself reverting back to the periods around low tide. The concentration theory still exist, but water temperature and speed play more of a factor for me. I am looking for long winding creeks and rivers that have protection. Protection in the form of steep bluffs, trees, bulkheads, docks and anywhere that significantly protects these smaller, deeper tributaries. These areas will be a few degrees warmer, and that makes a big difference. When we have midday lows a couple of things happen. First, the last portion of the tide is slower, and of course shallower. This lower volume of water warms considerably more than open water. Trout are already in a stage of lower metabolism, so this little spike in temperature and the slower moving water are what I consider "prime feeding time". (This doesn't mean that right now with the temperature outside 42 degrees, wind 15-20 mph, and the marsh flooding that somebody is not rounding out a limit) The tide height on these midday low tides can definitely lengthen or shorten this feeding period. If we have a slow moving tide in the 6 ft. range, the fish may bite from mid to low and back to mid, for a 6 hour window. If we have tides where 8 foot of water has to move, the current may not slow down until the last hour out and first hour in, creating only a 2 hour window. Once a trout is found, work this area hard. The trout typically school very tight this time of year. Realize though, because of slowed metabolic rates, they won't spend a lot of energy chasing bait, and the ones that ate yesterday may not have to eat today. Concentrating on the fish that are hungry today requires slowing down your baits. Trout like moving baits, but this time of year they generally like SLOW moving baits. I will use a bigger float rig with more weight or a jig and plastic. I'll start fairly close to the bank and work down to the deepest part of the creek. With the jig, I will literally crawl the bait, or use tiny hops, often pausing a few seconds between moving the plastic.

Next time, I'll try to touch on the not so prime times  and higher water winter tactics. (aka, "the land of a thousand cast") ...for now, I am fishing midday lows if I can...

by Tim Cutting

Fishing the Tides

I am working on a series of blogs that will concentrate on a sort of how, when, why, and where to fish in relation to tides. You guys already know most of this, but whatta ya think?

Coastal fishermen throughout the United States are familiar with the influence that tides have on a successful day of fishing. On the Georgia Coast, anglers are exposed to the biggest tides on the East Coast south of Maine. The contour of the Georgia Coast creates a funnel effect that pushes an extreme amount of water into the marshes resulting in tides that can often exceed eight feet. This often can be overwhelming to anglers and boaters alike. Hopefully I can provide a little insight into understanding the tides and its influence on fishing.

It is important to have a working knowledge of the tide tables and how they are affected, particularly by the moon. In the simplest terms there is a tide change approximately 4 times in a 24 hour day. Each tide phase is actually closer to 6 hours and 12.5 minutes. The moon takes about 24 hours and 50 minutes to circle the earth, so the tides are 50 minutes later each day. This pattern will not change, which is why tides are very predictable. (If it is low tide on Monday at 7:00 a.m., it will be low tide on Tues. at 7:50 a.m.)

More importantly is understanding the influence moon phase has on tide height. The moon takes approximately 30 days to circle the earth. During these 30 days, starting with the new moon (moon not visible), will start filling up, or “waxing”. It will go to half visible (1st quarter) to full, (full moon), to last quarter (half visible) and back to new. Each phase takes about 7 days, giving us the 30 day moon phase. While most of this is common knowledge, the key here is to know how each day of the moon phase affects the tides.

Here in the Golden Isles the average tide height is about 6.5 feet. When the moon is directly between the earth and sun (new moon), or directly behind the earth (full moon), the tides are the highest and lowest of the month. This can often mean instead of moving 6.5 feet of water between high and low tide; we may now be moving as much as 9 or 10 feet of water during that 6 hour period. When those large amounts of water are moving in and out, (low to high, high to low), the current becomes much stronger, and the water becomes very turbid. Lack of water clarity can make fishing just plain tough! Conversely, around the 1st and last quarter, the tides will rise and fall at a much slower rate. These two tide stages on the new and full moon are called spring tides and the slower moving tides of the first and last quarter moon phase are called neap tides. There will be two spring tides and two neap tides every month. Naturally, during the slower moving tides, the water will be much cleaner. Fishing the Georgia Coast can be challenging with these wide fluctuations of tides and water conditions and in the next article I’ll actually talk about fishing and what helps me on all 30 days of the moon phase. While we all know you won’t know unless you go, you don’t always have the luxury of picking when you can go.

by Tim Cutting

www.fishthegeorgiacoast.com

St Simons Island Fishing Report June 2013

June brought us the first named storm of 2013 and with it a good shot of rain as well. Nevertheless, the warming waters brought redfish, trout, flounder, tripletails, jacks, ladyfish, bluefish, sheepshead, black drum, King Mackerel, black sea bass, cobia, tarpon and of course...SHARKS! St Simons Island is well known as one of the largest breeding zones for sharks on the planet and makes for some great light tackle shark fishing. Don't be fooled though, often you will need to bring out the big guns as the islands waters are full of bigger sharks in the 100-200 lb. range! The summer months in the Golden Isles may offer some of the best fishing for shear variety on the Atlantic Seaboard. See you on the water!

 By Captain Tim Cutting

What a Great Week! St Simons Island Fishing Report

Despite getting a few trips blown off the water, we got to get out there with family, friends and charters and take advantage of the great fall bite that has been going on. We had a pretty dynamic representation from the states of California, Massachusetts, Missouri, Kentucky, Alabama and New York. For many, it was their first time in our great marshes, as well as first catches of redfish, trout and flounder. Apparently there truly is a fishing gene, as Michelle's sister Kristen hooked up on her first cast and for a while, we didn't know if she was going to let anybody else catch fish. But the redfish were plentiful that cool morning and everybody got in on the action! While we kept a few fish for the dinner table,

we had an amazing number of redfish releases. We ended the week with Charlie and I pitching docks in the rain. Charlie caught fire with a jig and New Penny Gulp! combo and ended up with one of the nicest slams I've seen this year. Here's where it gets a little weird. Moments before Charlie's biggest flattie of the day, I got bit HARD! I came back with no jig, no nothing. Charlie laughed and tried to suggest cut off from structure. When I cleaned the flounder their was a seven inch mullet in his belly!...AND my jig and plastic.

 

 

By Tim Cutting

A Very Special Day

This was a special day for Andrew who was celebrating his 10^th birthday with his dad James and little sister Alex. James, who works a really heavy work schedule, was looking forward to a great birthday for Andrew and some quality time with both children. Andrew

 

is an avid fisherman who had yet to catch a red. The day started very slow when finally a nice red bit…his little sister’s line. After working several oyster beds we only had some croakers, yt’s, and stinkrays…and a red his sister caught. With the tide still low we checked some more spots until we finally got a another red…on his dad’s line. Now the water was creeping in and we were struggling. We spotted some nervous water in between two gnarly oysters and decided to make a few casts. On Andrew’s third cast he connected with a good slot red. And then the god’s of birthday fish sent us reds for the next 90 minutes. It was kinda crazy with the kids netting each other’s fish and going under and over each other fighting reds. Don’t worry; Dad was yanking on his share too! It couldn’t have turned out better, and we even got to catch a few trout as well. To top it off, Andrew picked up a nice flattie

to complete his birthday slam. I have to apologize for the lack of photos, but the camera went dead, and I struggled with my old flip phone. All in all it was an awesome experience to see Pops and his two wonderful kids laughing and sharing high fives. It’s days like those that you (I) will remember forever! Thanks crew, you guys made it happen!

 

By Tim Cutting

Fish Magnets!

I had another great day earlier this week with “fish magnets” Roy and Amanda. It was a nice fall morning with temps down to about 47 and a pretty good breeze outta the ESE at 10-15 knots. The water was crystal clear, so conditions set up pretty good. On our first stop Amanda boats 4 NICE trout in about 4 casts. We figured it was on! And then things went kinda sideways with a severe case of lockjaw developing. From there it was trolling motor, anchor, plastics, live shrimp and we even considered dynamite. With a trout there, and a red here, we started adding a few up. We weeded thru quite a few dinks as well. Heading back to the ramp we were wondering if we’d have enough fish to stink the grease. It was reminding me of a Kenny Rogers song where “you never count your money (fish) when you’re sitting at the table (boat)”. Sure enough, after the land of a thousand casts, Roy and Amanda (fish magnets) had grinded out a nice mess…again! Thanks guys, it’s always a blast to fish with you!!

 

 

By Tim Cutting

(Fantastic) Fishing Report & Forecast

Most of you folks that have been on the water the past 10 days know the fishing has been very good. The bull redfish run has been one of the best that I’ve seen in nearly thirty years. Amazingly enough, the 1-2 year old reds are incredibly thick as well. These fish in the 14-18” range are everywhere! Trout have been thick one day and scattered the next. It may take several stops to locate them but they are here! The trout fishing has also been populated by a large number of yearling specks in the 9-11” range. There obviously has been an amazingly

successful spawn during the last year and a half. Today Charlie and I snuck out during the low and made a few stops only to find very small trout. With the wind honking out of the south-southwest we made a beeline for some calmer water hoping to find some flounder. With the water temps remaining around 70 we were pretty hopeful. We ended up with just over a dozen, including 6 pretty good ones we threw in the box. The amount of smaller flounder also speaks well of things to come with the flatties!

It looks like the tides will swell up a little these next 6 or 7 days and make fishing a little tricky, but starting about the 9^th of November and until the end of the month (maybe 3 iffy days the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th around the full) the fishing should continue to be outstanding! For those chasing the bulls, the tides shouldn’t affect that bite. They’ll leave when they are good and ready. FYI, those wanting to take a dip on our beautiful beaches need to beware the jolt of the jelly!

By Tim Cutting