Fishing the tides on grass flats
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Fishing the tides on grass flats
A good article: http://www.theonlinefisherman.com/reel- ... herman-com
The Back Porch
Re: Fishing the tides on grass flats
Good read... one of the things I struggle with is our "flats" are miles wide with a depth range of 1' - 6' deep so no real defined drop off/edge to key in on like some other areas where the flat essentially drains and shows a defined edge. I know the bars and oysters that uncover but I'm still trying to figure out how the tide affects fish when the shallow flat goes from 3' at high to 1' at low, clearly the fish can stay there all the time even if my boat can't. I tend to look for points, cuts, channels, creek mouths etc. any feature that might allow bait to be concentrated based on tidal influences but I know I have not gotten it figured out yet... I guess that's why it is called fishing and not catching...
I saw the classic flats draining example fishing Snake Bight near Flamingo, high tide the fish are roaming all over the flats, all the boats scattered on the "flats" but as the tide receded you could literally see the fish moving into the deeper channels along with the bay boats moving deeper and the technical skiffs capitalizing on their draft by hanging out longer while at low there was no water left so then everybody fished the edges of the deeper cuts based on draft. Way easier topographically speaking...fish where there is water
Lord willing I've got lots more years to try and figure it out
I saw the classic flats draining example fishing Snake Bight near Flamingo, high tide the fish are roaming all over the flats, all the boats scattered on the "flats" but as the tide receded you could literally see the fish moving into the deeper channels along with the bay boats moving deeper and the technical skiffs capitalizing on their draft by hanging out longer while at low there was no water left so then everybody fished the edges of the deeper cuts based on draft. Way easier topographically speaking...fish where there is water
Lord willing I've got lots more years to try and figure it out
2008 Key West 196 Bay Reef
2008 Yamaha 150
2008 Yamaha 150
Re: Fishing the tides on grass flats
Hmmm, there is a LOT of structure on the flats. There are rocks, dips, sloughs spotty bottoms, oyster bars and the like. They are just underwater most of the time. It helps to study a good up to date marine map, google earth and TOW to find them.zload wrote:Good read... one of the things I struggle with is our "flats" are miles wide with a depth range of 1' - 6' deep so no real defined drop off/edge to key in on like some other areas where the flat essentially drains and shows a defined edge.
Its a wonderful day in the neighborhood!
Re: Fishing the tides on grass flats
Exactly, the article was illustrating more of a mud flat that totally drains to a drop off than a grass flat that is always covered with water. It takes a lot more "work" to discover the structure you referenced than fishing the edge of a drained mudflat because you can see it. I'm headed over to the east coast this weekend to see if I can find a mudflat that drains to a drop off in the ICW 
2008 Key West 196 Bay Reef
2008 Yamaha 150
2008 Yamaha 150
Re: Fishing the tides on grass flats
Good luck......not sure where you're headed but I hear the big bull reds are beginning to put in an appearance so you never know what you might find at the end of your line....your saying you were headed to fish a drop off in the icw made me think of drop offs in the st johns and the icw for big reds
And speaking of never knowing....i was fishing a fall flood tide for reds and then headed to a pretty good stretch that holds lots of fish when the water starts pouring off that particular flat. We were catching reds, trout, lady fish, flounder...something almost every single cast we made. I cast and my popping cork goes under and it just takes off...ended up catching about a 30" tripletail
my first and only tripletail but definitely not something I expected fishing for reds, though i've seen them on several of the bridges north of jacksonville in the saltmarsh so I know they're there....
And speaking of never knowing....i was fishing a fall flood tide for reds and then headed to a pretty good stretch that holds lots of fish when the water starts pouring off that particular flat. We were catching reds, trout, lady fish, flounder...something almost every single cast we made. I cast and my popping cork goes under and it just takes off...ended up catching about a 30" tripletail
my first and only tripletail but definitely not something I expected fishing for reds, though i've seen them on several of the bridges north of jacksonville in the saltmarsh so I know they're there....