NorthWest Kayak Anglers
Regional Discussions => Alaska Kayak Fishing => Topic started by: msstcoastie on July 19, 2017, 10:25:21 AM
-
Can someone tell me which source for tides is accurate? "The book" says one thing, and online sources say another. Every Friday night we have a debate about when to launch because no one knows which is accurate!!
-
If you're having a brew during the debate, why would you want to change that. Various factors affect tides, such as inlets, bays, open areas, etc. This is a nice summary:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/tides/tides08_othereffects.html (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/tides/tides08_othereffects.html)
Picking a chart for an area and testing the chart against reality might be your best bet?
-
For kayak fishing, I find that current predictions are more important than tide predictions.
If you're lucky enough to be fishing an area where NOAA has a current prediciton, this site can be very helpful.
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/noaacurrents/Regions
-
I know a lot of the sites don't account for daylight savings times which may be the inaccuracies you're seeing. The "tides near me" app is accurate as is the tide book that they give out for free every year.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
I have definitely had issues with the online data. What I found interesting is that it appears that the NOAA site is incorrect. I have found tides4fishing com to be wrong as well.
The books they hand out appear to be correct. My Navionics app also seems correct. I need to do more research.
-
Look at the bay if all the waters gone it's low tide, if all the waters there it's high tide, only time I worry about the tides is if I'm fishing Tillamook bay and I use http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/calendar/year/2103.html
It seems to work for me in the bay's here.
-
ok. Sounds like the book and navionics is the way to go! Thanks!
-
Look at the bay if all the waters gone it's low tide, if all the waters there it's high tide, only time I worry about the tides is if I'm fishing Tillamook bay and I use http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/calendar/year/2103.html
It seems to work for me in the bay's here.
Mojo, the OP is in Alaska. "Eyeballing" the tides is flat out dangerous in the Cook Inlet. Our tides can swing as much as 25 feet on a big day, and generate currents over 5 knots. Hitting the water at the wrong time can have pretty rough consequences.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Look at the bay if all the waters gone it's low tide, if all the waters there it's high tide, only time I worry about the tides is if I'm fishing Tillamook bay and I use http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/calendar/year/2103.html
It seems to work for me in the bay's here.
Mojo, the OP is in Alaska. "Eyeballing" the tides is flat out dangerous in the Cook Inlet. Our tides can swing as much as 25 feet on a big day, and generate currents over 5 knots. Hitting the water at the wrong time can have pretty rough consequences.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Guess I should have quoted "smartass" before the looking cuz I can be one, let me know if the website at the link I posted is accurate for Alaska. Also we don't launch in Tillamook until two hours before low (we check) so we don't get flushed out the ol Pacific drain.
-
I've found the Tides Near Me app to be reliable. It tends to match up well with the printed book.
Another thing to keep in mind is the size of the tide. Remember that the smaller tides take a long time to turn (long slow/slack period). The larger tides turn more quickly. Just think about the volume of water that is changing. Moving 25 vertical feet of water in six hours (some of the very large tides) results in a very short slow/slack period. Moving 10 or 11 vertical feet feet of water (very small tides) in roughly the same period of time means a much longer slow/slack period.
-
I have used the NOAA website and another this summer and both were incredibly inaccurate. The most accurate information I have used is looking up Deep Creek in the free booklet and adding 30 minutes.