Victoria/Sooke tides

[dfrase]

Can someone give me a brief rundown of how the tides affect *salmon* fishing in the lower Van Island... I hear alot of guys post about slack tides and trying to get out for certain tides when the bites on.

embarrassed to say i have lived here my whole life and dont have a clue how the tides affect fishing.

anything would be much appreciated.. even a link to previous thread. searched but didnt find anything.

cheers,
dfrase

 

[Rum Buddies]

my best advice would be get rid of the idea of Tides(height of the water) and start thinking currents(speed of the water). "Slack Tide" is the period when a current is shifting from flood to ebb(or ebb to flood) and you have water that is standing still or the current is zero. Salmon are more apt to feed when the current is slack because it takes less energy to chase down bait.

If given the choice most guys would prefer to fish the flood but both produce. Here is todays current info for JDF East, the ones in bold are slack water and you should plan to fish 1 hour before and 1 hour after slack:

Friday 07-13
Sunrise 0527, Sunset 2111
Moonrise 0114, Moonset 1643
Max Ebb: 0507 -2.4
Slack Water: 1017 0.0
Max Flood: 1320 0.9
Slack Water: 1610 -0.0
Max Ebb: 1901 -0.9
Max Flood: 2312 -0.2


Here's a link to Southern Vancouver island tide and current stations - the blue dots are current stations, focus on those.
http://www.bigwavedave.ca/latest.php?dir=Tides2&file=Tidal


Being out at first/last light and fishing around "slack tides" will give you the best chance success but fish will still bite in all conditions at any time of day.

 

[Dave S]

my best advice would be get rid of the idea of Tides(height of the water) and start thinking currents(speed of the water). "Slack Tide" is the period when a current is shifting from flood to ebb(or ebb to flood) and you have water that is standing still or the current is zero. Salmon are more apt to feed when the current is slack because it takes less energy to chase down bait.

If given the choice most guys would prefer to fish the flood but both produce. Here is todays current info for JDF East, the ones in bold are slack water and a good time to fish:

Friday 07-13
Sunrise 0527, Sunset 2111
Moonrise 0114, Moonset 1643
Max Ebb: 0507 -2.4
Slack Water: 1017 0.0
Max Flood: 1320 0.9
Slack Water: 1610 -0.0
Max Ebb: 1901 -0.9
Max Flood: 2312 -0.2


Here's a link to Southern Vancouver island tide and current stations - the blue dots are current stations, focus on those.
http://www.bigwavedave.ca/latest.php?dir=Tides2&file=Tidal

Poppa knows his stuff. Buy him a beer if you are ever given a chance dfrase. I might have told ya to fish only 3 knot + currents. Kidding.

 

[Jacob's Ladder]

So using the current stations for Victoria works great. But how do you calculate slack tides for Sooke. Let's say for Otter to Sherringham?????


Thanks

BD

 

[Birdsnest]

The closer and louder that stuff gets the darker the marks in my shorts get and I do not like marks in my shorts so I leave the water Immediately.

 

[Rum Buddies]

So using the current stations for Victoria works great. But how do you calculate slack tides for Sooke. Let's say for Otter to Sherringham?????


Thanks

BD

look at JDF west and JDF East and split the difference for west sooke area and just make sure you're fishing 1 hour before and 1 hour after slack and you'll hit it. I haven't really fished that area in a while so somebody else might have better info specific for otter/sherringham.

 

[dfrase]

Awesome, thanks for the solid info! good to know what to look for

Also, this will fit nicely into my arsenal of things to blame when we're not catching anything....right between leader length and trolling speed