In contrast, when a strong onshore wind or approaching strong low pressure creates higher than expected tides, bonefish may extend their time feeding on the flats. Even the deeper water on the back sides of fringing coral reefs may provide good shots at feeding bonefish during these conditions. So, where do you look for bonefish during strong offshore winds that empty the flats? Focus your efforts on the edges of flats, deeper holes and troughs between flats, deeper grass beds and sand basins. For this to happen, however, there usually has to be some type of large land mass to allow the water to pile up or drain. But if the wind is very strong from one direction for many days or weeks, the average water level may become higher (with an onshore wind) or lower (offshore wind) than normal, with high and low tide fluctuating around this average water level. A strong onshore wind may lengthen the duration of high slack tide, but eventually the force of the ebbing tide is too much and the water level drops quickly in the short amount of time remaining in the ebb.
Strong winds often don’t prevent a tide from occurring, but instead delay the onset of the ebb or flood. Often, the stronger currents from combined tide and wind attract bonefish to the edges of flats where the current dislodges prey. And when wind and tide are moving in the same direction, the currents can be especially strong. Offshore winds will have the opposite effect –both high and low tides will be lower than predicted. Strong, onshore winds, for example, can make high tides higher than predicted and in extreme conditions can even prevent low tides from occurring – in effect creating a ghost tide. Third, wind can also have a dramatic effect on tides. When barometric pressure is high, water levels are suppressed, so tides may not be as high as predicted. Low barometric pressure is often associated with either a warm or cold front, so a region may experience a weather change in association with a change in barometric pressure. During periods of low pressure, there is less pressure from the atmosphere pressing down on the water, so overall water levels may be higher. Second, barometric pressure can affect the tides, and cause tidal levels to be different than predicted by the tide charts. Water depth in portions of the Caribbean, for example, may change only a few inches during a neap tide, but bonefish will react to these tides in a similar fashion to bonefish in locations with a 2 foot tidal range. But even if the tidal range is small, bonefish are strongly keyed in to the tides.
Within the monthly tidal cycle, every two weeks a flat will experience spring tides, and on the alternating weeks will experience neap tides.īecause of interactions between land masses and the angle of the moon and sun, tidal range differs among locations. There tends to be less water moving during neap tides, and some areas that are flooded during spring tides stay dry, or barely get covered, during neap tides. Neap tides occur with the quarter moons, and are when there is the least difference between high and low tides.
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Spring tides are associated with the full and new moons. Spring tides are when the difference between high and low tides is the greatest, and when the highest high and lowest low tides occur. First, tides can be broken into spring tides and neap tides. Understanding how bonefish use tides to their advantage will go a long way toward finding the productive 10%.Ī full description of tides is beyond the scope of this article, but it is important to know a few basics.
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So figuring out how to eliminate the fishless 90% from your search area is half the battle.
Aaron Adams, BTT Director of Science & Conservation (photos: Justin Lewis, BTT Bahamas Initiative Manager)Īt any given time, only 10% of the fishable water harbors bonefish.
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