Tidal graphs

[wildcard]

Many small boat anglers are unaware of tidal graphs.
BBC - Weather Centre - Coast and Sea - Tides Hartlepool - 07/05/2010

They can tell us a lot of things at a glance, ie direction of tide at any given hour, depth of water underneath the boat, what tactics and baits to fish at given times, which way the boat should drift, route planning, launch and recovery etc.

If anyone dosent understand any of this just ask.

[oldessox]

I use this one EasyTide - on-line tidal predictions from the UKHO it's handy for looking forward to a few days in advance , at a glance I can tell that on Sunday for instance I don't have to get up particularly early to be able to catch the morning flood tide and that there will be enough water over the marina bar all day long to come and go whenever I want and that looking forward to next weekend , the spring tides will be back and careful planning might be necessary.
Still have to watch the wind and weather forcasts of course.

Ray

[northeast1]

I mainly use them when checking out the difference between high and low tide so i get an idea of tidal run etc. Having on this info on te net in easy reach is great to plan a trip out, just a shame we cant ell the weather better....it is wils at the coast today as expected.

[lingking]

tidal graphs

cracking bit of info there for the small boat lads,looks like a bit of better weather by next weekend, i hope

[wildcard]

cracking bit of info there for the small boat lads,looks like a bit of better weather by next weekend, i hope

I use the day to view ones. Find the one for the day in question, right click then save to computer. Then increase its size so that it is useable;



I then print it, laminate and add 1hr for BST and insert the launch time with a waterproof felt tip pen.

At a glance I know if the graph is rising then the tide is flooding and moving in a SSE direction, so I would plan my fishing to be heading in that direction. Better to save fuel, increase speed and go with the flow.

Of course if the tide is ebbing it is reciprocal and will run NNW and the peaks and troughs represent slack water high and lows whereby the tide moves very little.

They are also useful if launching a small boat from a beach or slipway. Inexperienced anglers should launch and retrieve from a beach when the tide is ebbing. If you get stuck in the sand the tide is going away from you in both instances, giving you time to get sorted.

You can mark the graph when fish are coming aboard and it can give a good understanding of which areas fish best at which state of the tide.

You can soon build up a decent knowledge of the areas you fish and by keeping these graphs in a ring binder they are there for future reference - knowledge is power.

Tide graphs for the full NE coast can be found here;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides/northeast.shtml

Alan

[willywetegg]

Some excellent ideas there Alan, very informative, and good reading too mate, cheers.

Jim.

[PAUL]

I have seen those charts before alan,but never could figure them out,how does that chart tell you all the info you described as in the drift and bait to use etc?

(I KNOW LOADS OF PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN WANTING TO ASK THE SAME QUESTION BUT PROBALLY DIDN'T WANT TO SOUND THICK . BUT IF YOU DON'T ASK YOU NEVER LEARN SO I DON'T MIND BEING THE THICK ONE ON THIS OCCASION )

CHEERS
PAUL

[mark]

if any of you have got iPhones or iPod touch there's quite a few tide apps for em. Some of the better ones are free as well. the iphone one uses the gps to give you a tide calculated for right where your stood

[wildcard]

I have seen those charts before alan,but never could figure them out,how does that chart tell you all the info you described as in the drift and bait to use etc?

(I KNOW LOADS OF PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN WANTING TO ASK THE SAME QUESTION BUT PROBALLY DIDN'T WANT TO SOUND THICK . BUT IF YOU DON'T ASK YOU NEVER LEARN SO I DON'T MIND BEING THE THICK ONE ON THIS OCCASION )

CHEERS
PAUL

Hi Paul,

They give a good indication of the run of tide per hour. A good subject to google would be 'the rule of twelfths'
File:Rule of twelfths.PNG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rule of twelfths - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The graph I posted earlier clearly shows the rule.

The sequence of tidal speed is 1:2:3:3:2:1 after slack water. So in the 1st hour the tide will run 1/12th of its total, the 2nd hour is 2/12ths and the 3rd and 4th hour are both 3/12ths. So the 3rd and 4th hour give 50% of the run in total. This gives a good indication of the drift speed and therefore tactics to use during the day.

At slack water and 1: I would be bait fishing, at 2: shad/lure fishing with a touch of bait, at 3: bare shad/lure fishing. Of course we have not taken into account the wind in any of this, but it would be my base plan.

Alan

[PAUL]

cheers Alan will have a look at those links see if i can get me head around it.