Reading water is a widely discussed topic in the world of freshwater fishing, but it is rarely addressed in saltwater fishing. Sure, lots of the action in the salt is very sight-based, but what brings those fish to that area? Why are they feeding there? Where are they when they aren’t tailing on a flat or blitzing the surface? To answer these questions, you need to learn about tides, currents, and structure, so let’s break it down.
Reading Tides
The tide cycle is the ruler of the ocean. Every aspect of inshore marine life is affected by the tides, so it is naturally important for fishermen to understand. For those unfamiliar, the tide cycle is controlled by the moon’s gravitational pull. There are two high tides and two low tides every two hours and fifty minutes, so the cycle is slightly later every day. Every area has different tide heights, but the principle remains the same: the fish follow the water. You can access tide charts for anywhere in the world right on your phone, and I highly recommend planning your trips around certain tides you want to fish. At a bare minimum, keep track of what the tide was doing when you do go out so you can start recognizing patterns for each of your spots.
Flood
During the flood (incoming tide), the water level rises, pushing often cooler, cleaner water onto shore and into backwaters. In flood tides, the predatory fish we anglers target tend to push back onto shore and into backwaters like marshes, estuaries, tidal rivers, and salt ponds.
These fish use the extra water cover to hunt down forage species like baitfish, crabs, and shrimp that all use these backwaters as nurseries. Flood tides will bring bonefish up into super skinny sand flats, striped bass into salt ponds and estuaries, and redfish deep into the marsh grass, all looking for food that isn’t accessible without the higher water.
Ebb
An Ebbing tide (outgoing) flushes the warm backwaters full of bait out into open water. Our predators will stage up in areas where this bait highway bottlenecks or flushes out into open water to feast. Inlets and estuary mouths are great spots to focus on during an ebb because they are the passageways between backwaters and the open water. They act as a funnel during the ebb with all the food-filled water from the backwater coming through one narrow, accessible spit. Walking out on these jetties and sand spits (when safe) are great opportunities to capitalize on these staged-up, aggressive fish.
Moon Tides
We covered that the moon controls tides. In addition to being responsible for flood and ebb tides, the moon is also responsible for the tide height. During a full moon and a new moon, the sun and moon are directly in line with the Earth. As a result, there is a larger gravitational pull, resulting in larger tide swings. During these events, a flood tide will be higher and a low tide will be lower. You can view tide charts to see exactly how much higher or lower a tide will be from normal.
Reading Current
Currents are, of course, tide-dependent, but deserve their own focus when learning to read water. Each species has its own preferences when it comes to currents, so again, the best advice I could give is to keep a log of what the water was doing and what the fish were up to each time you hit the water. Even though every species and location is unique and has different preferences, there are some general patterns.
On flats, fish will usually be moving up and down with the tides, so they will often be following the tidal currents. In channels, look for drop-offs and eddies where fish can rest while still being able to ambush food passing by in the current. Look for any irregularities in the channel, maybe a pinch point, some rocks, a steeper dropoff, or a change in flow. Just like reading a trout stream, these changes in current highlight areas that we anglers want to target.
Rips
One of my favorite features caused by strong currents are rips. Rips are formed when current rushes over a sand bar or steep drop-off. This creates a large standing wave where game fish can massacre any bait that gets caught in the rip. When fishing these rips, I position myself above the rip, casting down and across, letting the current swing my fly down through the standing wave. When the fish are not exploding on the surface, I use a sinking line to put my fly down on the edge of the sandbar where the fish lie in ambush. Remember, fish want to use as little energy to consume as many calories as possible, so think like a fish and look for ways they can use the current to bring their food to their faces.
Finding Structure
In an area as vast as the ocean, structure gives both fish and anglers alike landmarks. Rocks, mangroves, drop-offs, channels, and reefs are all examples of structure; some are visible from the surface, and some are well below the depths. These structures can act as magnets for bait seeking refuge, or simply a break from the waves and current; usually, it’s a combination of the two.
Each species of fish has their own preferences with structure, but regardless of where you are, bait will congregate around things that stand out. If you’re back in a lagoon mangroves act as these magnets, along the coastline a boulder field is a hot spot for crabs, eels, and all sorts of baitfish, a floating log offshore can attract large schools of bait in an otherwize open ocean desert, and coral reefs need no explanation as they are the most productive ecosystems on earth. Because these structures tend to have such a strong presence of forage species, predatory fish inhabit the environment just the same. When reading the ocean, look for structure, and then look for how the currents and tide cycle interact with it.
Safety
Being able to read the water is equally important to your safety as it is to your success fishing. Take it from a guide who has had a client experience a medical emergency on a sandbar during an incoming tide; things can get real, fast! Without knowing how much time we had before the flood tide, the rescue crew would not have been able to reach us, and the day would have gone a whole lot worse. While things like that don’t happen often, it is all of our responsibilities as anglers and mariners to navigate our waters safely.
Don’t get stuck on an incoming tide, wade into too heavy current, run your boat into a rock pile, or slip on a jetty, and you should find yourself alright. Keep your eye on your surroundings and read the water. Here’s to safer and more successful saltwater fly fishing. Oh, and I don’t know which category this falls into, but don’t mess with the sharks!
