How to turn the TF&G Almanac into a precise fishing formula that will give you a decided edge when angling the Texas Coast
 

By Chester Moore, Jr.

Judging from questions I get from readers, tides cause more confusion among coastal fishermen than any other subject.

As outdoor editor of the Port Arthur News, readers frequently contact me to answer questions they have about tides and tide charts. It seems there is much misinformation regarding how and when tides move and what natural forces influence their movement.

One of the questions I hear most often goes something like this: "I saw where the low tide was going to be at 11:15, but the water was up above the boat dock. How could the tide be so high during the low tide period?"

To answer this and any other question about tides, it is best to take a good look at what tides are and exactly what forces cause them.

Tides are the periodic rise and fall of all ocean waters. They are caused in two different ways: gravity upon the water from the moon and sun, and gravity upon the water from the earth.

My mentor, veteran outdoor writer Ed Holder, told me that the easiest way to understand how these tidal movements work is to compare them to a wave.

"In essence," he says, "a tide is a large, slow-moving wave that starts off in the ocean, moves through a pass and ends up in the back of a bay or upland into a river system. And it's all influenced by the elements."

Remember that most waves are influenced by wind and tides are no different. This is why some low tides aren't always so low.

A strong southerly wind pushes a lot of water into a bay system, causing unusually high tides, even sometimes during periods when moon or solar patterns call for low tides.

During this past spring and summer, south winds prevailed along the Upper Texas Coast and played heck with the tide tables. What were supposed to be low tides ended up being more than a foot above normal because of the constant, pounding south wind.

Conversely, north winds will push water out of an ecosystem. That's why during the fall we get such low tides. "Blue northers" in conjunction with a strong tidal pull will really drain an area and help to cleanse coastal marshes.

Moving on, but still keeping with the idea of viewing the tide as a wave, it's very important for anglers to understand that tidal strength at points away from the immediate coastline won't be as strong as those at a pass near the Gulf.

"You've got to realize that like any wave, a tide weakens as it move inland," Holder says. "So your strongest tide will be near the Gulf and the weakest will be far into the bay or river."

The Port Arthur News' tides are given for the Old Coast Guard station at Sabine Pass. But at Stewt's Island, on the north end of Sabine Lake, what is a 3-foot tidal change at the pass may be reduced to somewhere between 2 and 2-1/2 feet. And 10 miles up the river at the Interstate 10 bridge at the Neches River, it might be only a 1-foot change. But you'll need to remember, the wave weakens as it moves farther inland.

Another question I'm frequently asked is: "We saw on the television that we would have a high tide about 5:00 a.m., so we got out there an hour early and the tide didn't move for hours. Was the TV tide table wrong?"

Probably not. Most times when I get a question like this, it's from someone who doesn't understand one very important point about tides. That point is, the tides given in some papers and on television merely tell you when the lows and highs occur. However, they don't tell you how much change will occur between tides. Texas Fish & Game® provides that information in a chart which appears in the back of each issue-a vital part of the "TF&G Almanac"-which details tidal movements (the degree of rise and fall) and a "Tidal Correction Table" for various points along the coast as well as moon phases, moon rise/set times and peak activity periods for fish and game.

Let's take this situation, for example. Say for a Tuesday, the tables will predict two high tides and two low tides. The highs will occur at 3:35 a.m. and 12:58 p.m. and the lows will occur at 8:55 a.m. and 8:37 p.m.

That's all the information you get in some tide tables.