Let me hit you guys w/ a few question -
1. Canal- If the east end high is at, say, 5:00pm can I expect the water to run west to east after 5? Do the east /west tides follow each other at regular intervals ( ex: high at east end is always 2 hours before west)? Can someone recommend a book about tides in general?
2. Is the show in plymouth open to the general pop?
3. Next time I'm at the candy store, I might pick up another spinner - looking for something that (primarily) doesn't eat alot of sand/salt and has a decent drag. Suggestions??

Great site, tight lines and GO PATS!

Originally posted by Mark
Let me hit you guys w/ a few question -
1. Canal- If the east end high is at, say, 5:00pm can I expect the water to run west to east after 5? Do the east /west tides follow each other at regular intervals ( ex: high at east end is always 2 hours before west)? Can someone recommend a book about tides in general?

The Army Corps of Engineers puts out a nice pamphlet of the tides, get some for yourself

2. Is the show in plymouth open to the general pop?

Yes definately


3. Next time I'm at the candy store, I might pick up another spinner - looking for something that (primarily) doesn't eat alot of sand/salt and has a decent drag. Suggestions??

Try the Nautil spinner(Yellow one) M&D's has them for a good price

Great site, tight lines and GO PATS!

Army corps is closed to public sence 9/11
you can get most of the info at local shops,chamber of com. and Canal info center.

mark...a high tide at 5:00 pm at the east end means the current has already turned and is running east to west...likewise, low tide means the west current has turned and is running west to east...can be confusing at first (especially for me ;) )...

If your goin' to the MSBA show.....there will be Canal tide books at many of the tables.......giveaways. As far as the tides being predictable and set.........have started a eel drift on a west running tide and retrieved it on a east........what happened to slack? The Corp charts are a good guide.........but, WEATHER(wind) is the big variable with tides and turns.
There will be plenty of gear to drool over also.
The Worcester show is a good take also.

Yeah---both Mike T and Hawg Hunter Brad should have the charts, if they can get them. Brad said he's trying to arrange a pick-up from the Corps outside the gate.

I'll probably be at his booth for the show---when traffic's slow I'll visit the rest of you guys.

Mark---the biggest mistake people make in the Ditch is to plan their fishing by the time of high/low tide (tidal level) rather than by the direction and speed of the current (tidal flow). Whatever people think about about Frank Daignault (some love him, some hate him, most, like me, don't know him), his "Striper Surf" book contains a good explanation about the effect of tides on fishing, and more importantly, the regularity of the tide cycle. Once you have it down, you don't even need a tide chart unless the timing of it to a few minutes matters----all you need to know is the moon phase.

Ox mentioned something I missed the first time----the effect of the wind. In certain places, a hard SW can create "back-flow" where the tide is running opposite of what it should. This seam can move it, out, or disappear at certain levels of the tide---so I should qualify my remarks by saying, current is YSUALLY more important than tidal level, but not always.

Thanks for the info - I hope to figure this place out some day. I've heard good things about the Mitchells on other boards too - maybe time for a new toy.