Majors and Minors

[JimD]

My Garmin 545 does not figure feeding Majors and Minors times only tides.

Seems like most of the sites you look at all come back with slightly different times and a few have some times that are completely different for the same area.

Which program or chart works best for you?

Thanks,

Jim

[kenny]

I use NOAA but the Garmin tide chart works fine. Quit over thinking it all and just go fishing....

[JimD]

http://www.fishingreminder.com/

Got this one from someone. Seems nice and you can pick your zip or city.

Kenny,

Cannot help it. It goes with fixing teeth for 35 years. Either you are picky or not.

Wait till you see what I used to pack for a south Texas deer lease or into Mexico on a deer hunt.

It was really bad during the 80's with no phones and 1 and 1/2 hours to town for Ice or pay phone. Course we may need to explain to the kids what a pay phone was.

[plugger]

Texas Saltwater Fisherman's insert chart for tides and feeding periods.

[shallowist]

Here's a good starting point, about tides and timing. The first thing that you need to be aware of is the height of tide at any point in time, this will prove relevant to where the fish will be located, or at what water depth. Second, know the timing of the horizontal water movement or flow. You can have highs and lows without noticable water flow. Your big water flow days will often be better farther into the bay, marshes and coves. on the lesser water flows, open bay areas will still see good water flow. On the strong movement days it cam become overwhelming to fish the open bay waters.
After you inderstand the tides for the day, there are four basic moon occurences during the day. Rise, Set, Directly over and Direclty under. There are some timing guides that try to combine the tides, moon phase, and sun phase, to create a prime timer. If you will just keep in mind that as you can find good tide in an area at the same time of a moon occurence, your odds for success will improve. There seems to be an increase in fish feeding from 15 minutes to sometimes 3 hours around the moon occurences.

I have at times tried to plan trips around certain phases and conditions, and seen some repeatable success. For most anglers, this is not a realistic plan, but there is a way to utilize this information. You can fish when your schedule let's you, fish! If you believe that you have a spot that holds more, or bigger fish, plan to be in that area when the timing of moon phase, and tides are peaking. No promises that you will always succeed, but your odds will be better.

I fished this way extensively, before becoming a guide, and it's great for a trophy trout angler who doesn't care about success in all conditions, and can afford the time to fish this way. As a guide, or an angler who can only fish when scehdule permits, you learn to fish what conditions you are dealt. Guides make their living, knowing where fish are, and understanding the conditions that work at different locations, regardless of the conditions. Tournament anglers have to do the same thing, based on knowledge of a spot, they will often stay in an area that seems to have absolutely nothing to offer, maintaining the belief that the fish will eventually feed.

The deepest truth in all of this is that nothing!!!!!!! beats experience, and time on the water. Your best strategies will be not to hunt shortcuts, but to hunt knowledge.

Good Luck!

[Explorer21]

Well said Steve! I still have problems understanding all of this and since we live on the water now I am just going to keep going out there every weekend and eventually figure this west bay system out. I might not figure it all out, but at least I will gain knowledge.

[imhammer]

Very well said Capt Steve!
I use this chart that shows tides & lunar cycles on one graph and it is easier to see how they relate.
www.wtides.com
go to http://www.wtides.com/downloads.htm and click on the wtides setup program to install. It is free and pretty detailed.
You have to download it and install and it shows tides for the entire globe.