I always find it difficult when Current and Wind are dramatically different - the burley follows the wind on the surface, then as it drops get taken by the current. Really hard to work out how to put your bait in the trail! 

 Warm, clear water. Brings the pelagics down. Snapper bite better in the clear water, as they are very visual. Everything is better. However, when the tide comes from the south, bringing that dirty, cold green water, not so good. 

Ha Ranmar....I thought the opposite for snapper ?

Believed they worked better under cover etc...They love coming closer to shore during the storms as the bottom has been turned up giving some cover as such...easy feed options. Suns up there head to deeper areas.

Or different up North is what your referring too ?

We do have a low tide coefficient atm...meaning more movement I believe which aligns with what your saying, as a general I figure current always comes from the North on incoming....opposite on outgoing ?....No wind or pending wind direction would put the boat in wrong position for the current...pain in the ass, sometimes try having the anchor rope off a rear cleat but this also is a pain with burly rope down as well.

 However, that is more about, IMO, the food that is stirred up and vulnerable during swell. They tend to focus on crabs from my experience, open up a big one caught in close immediately after swell and they are full of sand crabs. And don't they stink!!!! We used to catch them for feed a lot when I had the crayboat, and it was always better when the water was really clear. They stay in shallow, as shallow as 3 metres, all day up here. Pull up on a sandy edge, drop over, and watch them come flocking in. All sizes. 

One time I was diving on a snagged pot, as you did ( or I did anyway) . I would go down the rope and the deckie would drive off a bit to get clear, wait for me to re-surface. And usually drop a line over , we didn't have a shark problem in those days. I was working on the pot and noticed a couple of snapper come right in close to have a look at me. The water was very clear.  Then, suddenly, they bolted in the direction of the boat. I kept watching, and, a few moments later, saw the dim flashes of two pinkies on a line headed for the surface. I couldn't have seen that sinker and two baits come down at that distance, but they could. 

From listening to your accounts from down there, they seem to behave differently, moving into the shallows at night, leaving ( or at least not biting, same thing to a fisherman) as the sun rises. 

The north tide around Kalbarri seems to have no relationship with lunar tides. It's a tongue of Leeuwin Current coming in, and seems more prevalent when the wind goes east, or, better still, NE. Brings in the warmer water and pelagics. Having wind and tide going in different directions is certainly a PITA, and can affect the fishing in that respect, making it difficult to anchor well and get a consistent burley trail going in the right direction. So is it that that aspect of it, or does it actually affect the bite itself?