Free Glide

A characteristic many wadefishermen share is an intimate
knowledge of the underwater environment they tread. It’s
easy to think of a flat as a long stretch of sand or mud but
the feet tell a different story. With feet shuffling along the
bottom, waders find shorelines littered with fish attracting
structure and characteristics that entice fish to hang around
for a meal. Abandoned crab traps, old tires, oyster reefs,
marsh grass, sloughs, troughs and depressions, hard
bottom, soft bottom and potholes are a few of the puzzle
pieces collected from each trip that will eventually reveal
where fish are more likely to be found on a particular piece
of bayside real estate.

The key element that brings all of the structure pieces into
play is the role of tidal currents. During periods of slack and
minimal currents, bait fish retreat to structure for safety.
Later, when current strength accelerates and the horizontal
speed reaches .3 knot, the current has reached its “forcing
power” and hiding bait fish are flushed from structure,
congregate and are forced along with the current, becoming
easy targets for hungry gamefish. Sometime after reaching
its peak speed the current will once again slow below .3
knot and bait fish will retreat to structure until they are forced
from hiding once again.

The Wells Daily Fishing Forecast has been used by
fishermen on the Gulf Coast since 1957 to choose the best
days and times to fish in advance based upon the
movement of tidal currents. Along with the current
movement daily predictions a Monthly Fishing Calendar is
provided to ease in the identification of better fishing days.
Days classified in the Wells Daily Fishing Forecast as “XXX”
will most often be days with long and consistently strong
current movements.

The days each month that generally have the strongest
currents overall are those around the new and full moon.
Conversely, the days with the weakest currents overall will
be days near the first and last quarter of the moon. These
days will have “Poor” and “Fair” rated days in the Monthly
Fishing Calendar.

A day that has extra strong currents may be rated less than
XXX if the current movement occurs before daylight or
begins in the very late afternoon when most fishermen have
left the water. Days rated as Poor will be the opposite of
XXX with often extremely weak current movements, if any,
throughout the day. Poor rated days, however, may have a
“good” current at some point during the day, that while good
for fishing, is not the predominant type of current pattern of
the day overall. That is one important reason why not to
dismiss Poor or Fair days as ones where it’s not possible
to catch fish. It’s also an important reason when referring
to the Monthly Fishing Calendar to select days to fish, that
the current times in the Wells Daily Fishing Forecast be
checked. If you plan to fish in the morning on a day rated
Good and the reason for the overall Good rating is the
afternoon tidal current you may be in for a disappointing
morning.

The key to consistent use of the Wells Daily Fishing
Forecast is to fish when the currents are moving. To
accomplish this, simply plan to fish during the Forecast’s
“Start” and “End” times for a particular current.
Fishing when currents are active and baitfish are on the
move is the key to fishing success on the Gulf coast.

Gary Ralston is the publisher of Gulf Coast Fisherman
magazine. For more on using the Wells Daily Fishing
Forecast or information on fishing the Gulf Coast, visit
http://www.gulffishing.com