Reading the Tides!!

Fast 492 · Post by **Fast 492** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:01 pm

I want to learn how to read the tides/tidetables, I have gotten the tables before, but never could figure out how to read the darn thing. Any Help....

jimmy87 · Post by **jimmy87** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 1:16 pm

huh?
not sure I understand. are you needing help understanding at what time high and low tide will be?

DeltaDan · Post by **DeltaDan** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:44 pm

I don't rely on the books- Instead I look it up online from my starting point for the day im fishing -

~> http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow. ... ia&units=f

And compare it to the West for the earliest change from Antioch

~~> http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow. ... ia&units=f

East from Bouldin/Middle

~~> http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow. ... ia&units=f

And South from Orwood at Disco/Indian

~~> http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow. ... er&units=f

and at Whiskey.

~~> http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow. ... ia&units=f

Then Cut/Paste onto MS Word -- and print them all out (just the high~low and times of change) on one single piece of paper printed out .... You will be able to draw your own map in your head and times with little practice once it all pops for you in your location and where you wish to go.

Example -- It will look like this once Printed-

Russos-
2008-09-15 12:23 PDT 0.22 feet Low Tide
2008-09-15 18:23 PDT 3.42 feet High Tide

Antioch/BBreak
2008-09-15 10:28 PDT 0.26 feet Low Tide
2008-09-15 16:27 PDT 3.61 feet High Tide

Connection/North Mildered
2008-09-15 12:40 PDT 0.20 feet Low Tide
2008-09-15 18:39 PDT 3.19 feet High Tide

Orwood/Disco
2008-09-15 13:22 PDT 0.23 feet Low Tide
2008-09-15 19:25 PDT 3.58 feet High Tide

Whiskey
2008-09-15 13:28 PDT 0.22 feet Low Tide
2008-09-15 19:12 PDT 3.75 feet High Tide

Fast 492 · Post by **Fast 492** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:55 pm

Jimmy, sorry i didn't clarify, I don't understand how to read them in the book and relate to where I am on the water!!!

Fast 492 · Post by **Fast 492** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:13 pm

Dan thank you for the post, I think one of the problems is me not knowing were these places are at!!! I am going to get out my map and do a little playing around with areas and see what happens. What does the (.22 low tide and 3.42 high tide) mean?? Thanks Jason.

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:17 pm

Jason,

Using the links that DeltaDan listed above, go to the top of the link to where it says â€œPick a different siteâ€

DeltaDan · Post by **DeltaDan** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 4:20 pm

Jason and Marty -- I always understood the +/- of depth as the

-Mean Low Tide Line.

I more than likely can be wrong ---- But if there is a Mean Low Tide Line (same as a standard)

That would mean - (.22 low tide and 3.42 high tide)

.22 is Higher than the Mean Low Tide Point -- And High Tide will be 3.42 ABOVE the Mean Low Tide Point.

Some times (Typically July) .. You will see big Minus tides of upwards of -1.7. That is a Very low tide below the ML Mark. -- (Also why they do not allow Abalone diving durring the month of July. )

You will also have your very high swings between high/low ... and some lesser drastic swings between high/low creating more/less current.

There is a site somewhere that has it all mapped out in pictures -- I will see if I can find it again on this PC and post the link later unless someone else can.

Cheers,
Dan

kopper_bass · Post by **kopper_bass** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 4:42 pm

Jason,
You can look at a rough map here, that shows all the US gauges for the entire CA coastline. You need to just zoom into the delta area to see the gauge stations you want to know about. Each gauge station has a 3 letter designation.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/mapp ... 17&quad=14

As for your question about the numbers, here is some input for you.

For every body of water, there is a "zero water level" marking. During a tide change the water rises and lowers differently each day. The level that the water table rises and lowers is calculated by how far it is from the zero water level. So, in your example, the high tide will be 3.42FT above zero, while the low tide will only be 0.22FT above zero, for a total water level change of 3.2FT. So, these numbers in your book help you identify how high or low the water is going to rise or fall as the tide changes. You will start to also see that at some periods in the cycle, the low tides will go below zero, to a (-) negative number. this is called a "negative tide". When these occur, you can expect ripping tide changes with lots of water movement. Other times there is almost little difference from high to low, so the water is dead and just "drops out" with no water movement. Get the idea?

As you study this "very important" (some say most important) part of the tidebook, you will start to notice patterns. These patterns seem to occur every 28 days or so. Not coincidentally, this is exactly the same as a "lunar phase" ......... hmmm??

Pattern #1 - At a given point in the lunar phase, the tides difference from high to low will be very large. While almost exactly opposite of this pattern will be another pattern where the tide difference is very weak, almost non-existent. See if you figure out when each occurs relative to the lunar phase

!

Pattern #2 - As you study each tide change for any given day, you might notice that there is usually 2 tide changes each day. One is always stronger than the second. Understanding when the strongest tide occurs and if that falls in the a.m. or later in the day, is good to know for the day your fishing.

These helpful hints should get you started to learning how to read that tidebook. Keep asking questions, as there's lots more to learn about the tides.

Good Luck,

Kopper_Bass