Very difficult day yesterday on the estuary (southern end) popping for Yellowfin Whiting, doughnuts for 6hrs fishing across the high tide period. Wind was 16knts or so gusting to 20+ at times, but we have caught fish in those conditions before, on this occasion though, not only didn't we raise a scale, we didn't even sight a whiting. Normally you will see them scuttling along under or behind a lure even if they aren't biting or overly interested, or if you are quiet enough,you will see them mooching around in the next sand patch across, or even at your feet. Yesterday, nothing. Obviously it's getting late in the season, and the water is cooling down, but we got 30+ fish on Friday afternoon (all released), when conditions weren't vastly different temp wise. What I'm getting to, is that yesterday, the High tide should have been around 11am (best guess using known tide times on the coast north and south of our spot and halving it), at a height of 0.9m, then a low just before 6pm of 0.5m. Normally on a 0.9m tide, the flats are full of water, and I have several landmarks on the shore which indicate a normal high tide mark at that height. yesterday, at what should have been the top of the tide, the high mark was nowhere near the markers on shore, and (obviously!) the depth at the area I fish was nowhere near what it usually is on a 0.9m tide. Why didn't the flats fill with water yesterday? Does the wind have some sort of an influence? I recall reading another post describing the concept of "surge" in the estuary. Was yesterday the opposite effect? Would love to hear peoples theories (if not actual factual knowledge!) as to what occurred. Whatever was the cause, no water came up and as a result, the whiting didn't come out over the flats. So in summary, can somebody please explain how the tides and "surge" effect work in the Peel Estuary? Cheers!