Canal How-to

[Mike P]

Just in case you missed it the first time

Originally Posted by Mike P

THE “BREAKING” TIDES

Often you’ll hear the regulars talk of “the breaking tides”. They’re referring to the twice a month low slack current, where it falls around the time of first light. For most of the Canal fishing season, these tides occur for 4-5 days around the new and full moons. Some old timers also call them “minus tides”, as they are marked by one or two asterisks in the official Canal tide chart. What it means, basically, is that bottom clearance at dead low tide is less than normal because the tide ebbs more on the new and full moon. Often, on these early morning slack tides, fish will be seen thrashing on the surface chasing bait. These are the times you want to have your big surface poppers with you, and be able to cast accurately. Yellow plugs work year-in, year out on these tides, and mackerel pattern plugs are also productive whenever the macks are present in quantity. Bait supplies vary from year to year, and some years, plugging is slow. In other years, you can find bass tearing up the surface from one end of the Ditch to the other.