Trolling and tides,using the tide can be an avantageous technique to increase your catch.When trolling i always troll with the tide or zig zag across the tide flow. the reason for doing this is not only that bucking the tide sucks and you don't move,or go backwards,but also rather unnatural for fish.Think about it,if you were a wounded baitfish would you struggle against the tide or use it to run away with.This goes for any sea creature.Fish want to conserve energy and will go for the easiest target of oppurunity when they are feeding .It's no mystery that the bite turns on during periods of slack water.I always like to time my fishing trips with the tides.I go out just before periods of slack water.At hi or low tides and then mid slack.Tide change slack is a good one,weird tides ,meaning short or very little change is excellent.When the tides are right the fish will bite is my theory.Anyway,using the tide as a fishing tool is a good way to increase your catch,happy fishing and good luck,Salmonslayer over and out.............

Couldn't agree with you more. I catch almost all of my fish traveling with the tide. Although I've heard of lots of top-rods who like to buck the tide. Perhaps it's area specific.

PS. I don't consider myself a top-rod just yet. So who knows.

I don't completely base my trip around the tides, due to the fact i can only get out on certain days at certain times.

I do agree with you, going with the tide is how i usually catch my fish, but the odd time i get one going against the tide!

I get a lot of my fish going against the tide fishing sooke at places like the head, trap, secretary and otter. Sometimes off the head or trap I'll just crab walk back and forth not moving forward at all. Basically you set yourself up right in the sweet spot and let the fish come to you. Another good spot to sit is in the gap beside secretary, nice little funnel there. Watch the guide boats in sooke, you'll see most are trolling into the current more then with it.

You gotta remember that what the current is doing on the surface may not be what is happening below. In fact surface and bottom currents can be completely opposite. Ocean currents and tides are very complex things and don't just follow an in or out scenario.

A lot of times when the tide is ripping and you try to troll past a place like the head you'll be half a mile in 5 minutes. Good for covering water but not a lot of time in the zone IMO.

If I'm fishing out a bit for feeders, coho, pinks etc. then defiantly with or across the flow as covering water is the name of the game.

All that being said I have a similar attitude to Alex, just fish! Either I'm guiding and I have to be out fishing regardless or if I'm fishing for myself I just like getting out. Sometimes it seems like the bites happen right on the tide change or slack, sometimes a good bite starts in the middle of a strong tide, it can happen any time.

^
Good points there MM, i left some details out.
I actually go with the tide at the depth I'm fishing, i use the angle on my downrigger to figure it out...can't argue with results!

I forgot to mention that yes, in places like sooke, bucking the tide works, but not so much in other places.

Bottom line...I go with the flow!

bucking the tide is a tactic i use only when on fish ,to stay on them ,however i search for them ,with pretty good results i might add,and this is the reason that i always try to fish with the current .To each his own.Also you can burnup a lot a fuel hard bucking,and your rigger lines come way up and you are prone to fouling your gear.however you can,t beat slackwater.Ss p.s be careful in the slot i have seen alot of people get messed up in there over the years....

Good response Moisture Missile. That's a tactic that I need to try more often. I usually get impatient if we're not moving anywhere, but you make a good point of being in the zone at popular reefs and back eddies etc.

Just goes to show that is more then one way to catch a fish. So many times we as fishermen get in the mindset that if we aren't doing "XYZ" then we aren't going to catch fish.


Now if there is one nugget to take from the thread that would be it. Slack water or tide changes will more times then not get a bite going.

I do all of the above, depending on where I am fishing and if they are moving or holding. It is fish species, time, area, and gear specific. If you are at “slack”, you have to be moving if trolling, or you won’t have any action on your bait. Finding the most productive direction is important, but that can change 180 degrees at any given time? The "racetrack" is probably the best to use at slack for that reason? Usually if you are in a strong current a “zig-zag” or “cross” current is better, but if you are in an area where the fish are holding – directly into the current could produce much better results and be deadly. If you are running with the tide you have to be going fast enough to keep the right action on your bait. The trick is to get the bait in front of the fish, regardless of the method. A large spring will “usually” not chase bait very far when holding, they use short bursts of energy and attack from the rear. A Coho will actually follow the bait for quite a distance, with or against the current and normally attacks from the side.

Whichever method you chose - Just remember:
There is a difference between low tide and slack tide. You want to be there before slack.
Springs like to travel and their preferred feeding time is about 1 hour prior to sunrise.
Salmon travel with currents, not against them - they don’t swim backwards
They will always “hold” facing into the currents.
They can feel and hear the vibration of a flasher, long before they see the bait.
They can see up, and cannot see down.

Try zig-zagging in Sooke during the summer runs. Think you'd have a better chance of a cannonball chucked at you than catching a fish if you tried that.
Not the best thing to do when there is 20 boats abreast of you,although I have seen people try