Low Tide Fishing!

[marlinj]

This is just a point I would like some feed back on...
Everyone knows fishing around the high tide can be the most productive and I fully agree but I find when you wanna go and being convenient isnt always a high tide and loving it as much as I do I go anyway.
Personally I havnt had much luck fishing the low but Im keen to here stories of situations where they have got a good catch from a low tide and best methods for fishing a low tide?
Thanks Jim

[simon_vaughan]

Jim, I like to fish my local reefs at low tide as I can see the edge of the reef and know the fish want to get back there. It also mean ths bait, crabs etc must come off the reef and into deeper water where the larger fish are. I don't mind low tide as long as it is making, it does help to see what you are fishing on!

[Big_unit]

Low tide sucess for me has usually been finding deep holes close to structure.

Cheers
James

[marlinj]

Thanks guys great points ... Keep em comin !

[westie]

Big_Unit welcome back

[sandgroper]

Ive had just as much luck sometimes at low tide, Creek & estuaries not so much but out in the bays & offshore. Crabbing i seem to get more at high but still some @ low. Depends or where you go I suppose & watch species you target!

[luigi]

Low tide is the way to go when fishing mangrove creeks as fish are generally more accessable to your lure or bait. #During a high tide period water enters the mangrove root system & usually, so do the fish - which means you can't get at 'em.

Up here in the Hinchinbrook, the most productive mangrove creek fishing period is usually during the last two hours of the run-out & the first two hours of the run-in tide when there is a tidal "run" (the difference between high tide & low tide) of between 1 & 2 metres. #In other words, you need some run but not too much. You can normally back it in that at some stage during that window of opportunity, a 'hot bite' will occur.

The technique I generally use is; about two hours before low tide I will go up towards the top of a creek into the skinny water & drift down with the outgoing tide using the electric motor when necessary, concentrating on casting to the deeper sections of the creek (i.e. the outside of the bends) plus giving any snags a pounding. #When I meet the incoming tide, I will often give it about half an hour & then go back up the same creek but this time concentrating on the shallower areas of the creek plus snags - never let a snag go by without giving it a few casts. #I have had much success over the years using this technique in many areas of Australia beside Hinchinbrook.

[land-lubber]

low tide is a good time to visit ur local headland or other rocky outcrops. i have a lot of sucess at low off the fairy pools at noosa np. try and find a headland with a deep chanel/gutter running along it. try some plastics or half pillies on 1/0s around the wash, esp in winter. can get some 1kg plus bream at times as well as the regulars

[agnes_jack]

Have found the last half of a run out tide to be the most productive for many species in the estuary. Many of the predatory species use the run out to position themselves in areas where bait will be concentrated, such as drains coming out of the mangroves,or run offs from sandbars etc. Around the mouths of estuarys can be very productive, we often find mackeral, Queenfish, trevally etc, lining up for a feed as the water runs out of the estuary's. Species such as flathead in many cases, are more concentrated in the deeper holes and channels, rather than spread out over acres of shallow sand flats, and often locate themselves in strategic positions to target the baitfish that are forced to leave draining mangrove and sandbar areas.
We always prefer a risng tide on the beaches and around the headlands.

I love low tide in the estuary!!

Regards, Tony

[devocean]

Agree with Agnes on this one. The low tide means less water for fish to feed in and increases your chances.

Most guys i know who fish for barra in the hinchinbrook belive the low tide is by far the best time to target barra

[Duyz72]

Low tide is fantastic for the beach, the lower the better, with a nice fat sandbank out back you can cast on to. All the gutters are truly formed and is just so magnificent. Just as the tide starts to run over the sand bank and little ripples and wash drop plenty of yummy stuff for the big buggers just waiting nicely for it to drop off in to their waiting maws!

Money for jam at that time.

[Just_chips]

I've always been a big fan of dragging some shallow diving minnow lures along the edges of the exposed low tide banks for flathead - a technique that seems to have taken a back seat to the soft plastic revolution in recent years though :-/

[SURF_SNIPER]

on the beach, low water is without doubt the best time to fish mixed with a little darkness of course

Drew

[Captian_Zero]

Hi

Being landbased the low tide allows access to areas that are not fishable at other times.

I have found around the local creek mouth to be relatively productive at low tide with soft plastics. Targetting the areas where water is draining from the yabby banks and the drop off into the channel I have caught whiting, flounder, flathead and pike. I find a couple of hours either side of an early morning or late afternoon low to be the best times.

Regards

Chris

[beefaman]

Low tide for the estuaries!! Baitfish are pushed off the flats into the channels...and the predators aren't too far away!!