Tide Directions
Submitted by snuffs on Tue, 2018-02-06 14:51
Been doing some night anchoring and burleying around the 3 mile of late ... usually tide and wind direction have been reasonably correlated making for productive results.
BUT on Saturday evening we were met with a SW wind and an opposing Northerly tide ... which made it a little more challenging as the burley trail was going upwind of the boat. Still managed some good fish, but was very awkward and less productive than normal.
My understanding is there are too many variables to forecast tide direction in advance (beyond just knowing whether its an ingoing or outgoing tide). Does anyone have a secret formula to deal with this? :)
Anyhow, interested to hear thoughts.
Cheers
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
One of the banes of anchoring
Happens to me all the time, at Kalbarri and further north. You just have to go with it. You can affect the way you hang a bit by having the motor up or down--down means the tide drags more, up means the wind might affect more. . I ve gone so far as to hang the sea anchor over the stern, so the tide holds the boat straight. if your target fish are near the bottom, and you are using lightly weighted baits, it can help to cast up tide and upcurrent, and have it come back towards you. It will sink a lot quicker if th line is slack.
You can also bridle your anchor so the boat is tied to the anchor rope at two points, holding it more across wind. You can only do this, of course, if the wind is not too strong.
snuffs
Posts: 140
Date Joined: 06/08/12
Thanks Ranmar, some good
Thanks Ranmar, some good advice & useful comments. As you suggested, "you just have to go with it".
Can fiddle around the edges as noted, but unfortunately from past experiences they come with their own problems:
(1) Motors up vs. down: I find if I don't have mine down the boat swings too much, plus I find its harder to fight a fish at the back of the boat with them up (as I have twin outboards)
(2) Sea anchor or bridle means boat is side on to the wind and swell, which generally has resulted in a really rough anchor for me ((I anchor in high swell areas unfortunately)
(3) Similarly, casting up tide for me has resulted in unweighted baits snagging on the bottom, and less productive as working away from the burley trail.
I'm thinking casting from the front of the boat or out the side may be beneficial... but runs the risk of a big fish getting caught around the anchor. And its cold out front :)
Cheers