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[KarateKick]

I am really confused about the following references to fishing during low tide:

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/articles/region_two/ambleside_park.html
"From sunrise to 8:00am seems to be when the bites are on. Fishing result is usually better if this period coincides with a low tide."

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/articles/saltwater_fishing/beach_fishing_for_pacific_salmon.html
Low tide appears to be very productive for some locations, while a flood tide can push a big school of fish inshore at certain spots.

As a general rule, I have always thought fishing (or crabbing) is better during high tide.  Can someone explain the basic concepts behind how tide affects fishing?

[scouterjames]

Basically, (IMO) the bites are more active during incoming and outgoing tides.  Most literature and posts say 1 hr before high/low and 1 hr after.  Beach fishing at low tide allows you to cast farther out; sometimes you are able to get to the fish travel lanes that would not be reachable at high tide.  The time of day that coincides with these times can have a great effect as well - especially on hot sunny days (they don't seem as willing to bite while they are sun tanning!).

As with anything fishing:
1) you won't catch if you're not putting a line in the water
2) experiment and keep a log of weather, time, tides, locations, species (location is important when beach fishing, as they do have regular travel lanes)
3) have fun!

[TimL]

At Ambleside, the main reason why fishing is more productive at low tide is accessibility to where salmon are staging. In the tidal Fraser it makes sense to fish on an incoming tide as migrating salmon will be moving into the river with the tide. For bottom fish, I've found that I've had good results during both incoming and outgoing tides when fishing from shore (typically 2-3 hours before and after the tide peaks although I have found that this varies slightly with location and fish species)  as this coincides with their feeding times. The speed of the tide also has some contribution- although fish tend to bite when there is some tidal motion,  a fast flowing flood tide seems to deliver poorer results. Again this varies with the target species- I've found that flatfish bite better on a slow-moving tide while sea perch prefer areas with stronger current/upwelling.

[Knnn]

Some also suggest that the sun and moon also influences the fishing.  I'm not sure I am convinced by this however, based on the fishing I have done at Ambleside, the fish appear to be most active within a couple hours of low tide and they are the most accessible.  Like river fishing, coho seem to be easily spooked and are best fished for at first light, or when the dun goes off the water in the evening.

You may or may not find this web site to be off interest:
http://www.tides4fishing.com/ca/british-columbia/vancouveor