High tide or low??

[Tong]

Hi,

i have been out at a few diffrent times to try and find some good hunting spots around plymouth, UK...... i was wondering what time was best for the hunt though, high tide or low tide??


Cheers

Pete

[Trelawney]

Hi Tong.
Where are you diving around Plymouth?
Because of the nature of out coastline, I don't think that it matters too much if the tide is in or out. I've shot some of my best fish on a dead low.
Generaly, a rising tide will fish best on most sites, though it really comes down to getting in the water at a variety of locations and states of tide and seeing what works best. There are a few Plymouth spearos on the forum who dive locally, so lots of info to tap into.

Chris

[Tong]

i have been out a few times just for a swim to see if i can find any decent spots for fish, fort bovisand seemed quite good at low tide but there are alot of divers there so it could be quite dangerous,

I have only lived in plymouth for 15weeks so dont actually know the coast very well.

i would love to get out to the breakwater though, i can imagine its a nice hunting ground

[Spaniard]

Fort Bovisand probably a no-no; when I took a load of spearguns down there for review in Freediver Magazine, we nearly started a civil war. It is home to lots of training courses for the Scuba boys and they don't generally like spearos. Breakwater is good. Looe, Seaton and Downderry are good as is Polperro, Talland Bay etc. if you are travelling a bit further. I always have more luck on a rising tide but Guernsey boys do well on a low tide - horse for courses.

[Tong]

Thanks for that, i think i will try out downderry next week, its not that far and if the fishing is rubbish i can head to whitsand bay for a surf

whats the best way to get out to the breakwater? i have a small avon dingy but no outboard so i would have to row, or do people swim there etc?

[Spaniard]

Personally I would use a boat, not because of distance to shore, i.e. Bovisand but because of the boat traffic and the inevitable idiot who doesn't know what an SMB with a divers flag means

The breakwater has lots of good ground, shallow and deep. The odd shark gets spotted there too!

[Pav]

dive flags are for the jetski boys to figure of eight around?

I used to stick to low tide and the push. I now can't choose! Have done well on the first 2 hours of the drop. Traditionally people advise low but think this is also linked to viz and depth.

[settingsteel]

Hi/lo really depends on the fish your hunting...as a general rule moving tide is better than the ebbing tide...that is as long as the water is moving the fish will be active looking for food that the tide is either pushing out or bringing in. Hope that helps a bit

[shiny1]

Hi Pete,low tide and fish it in,some places fish better the first few hours of the flood and others near top of the tide.In the Bovisands area the string weed is still lying flat with 2 hours of tide over it.Its all down to time in the water,evolving and adapting to the changing conditions,and some help from the members on here.The Breakwater fishes well most stages of the tide.It is possible to row over to the breakwater from Bovisands but strong tidel currents could make it difficult for a light inflatable.

[shiny1]

Forgot to say,i did see a shark out the Breakwater 2 years ago,it did freak me out abit at the time.Mind you i did have a stringer full of mullet on my belt and was out ther on my own. 2 days later 2 local anglers caught and lost a mako out there the west end by the light house right where i seen him.It made the local and national papers.What i seen looked like a mako.
I still fish it though and have had some good fish out there.

[Tong]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I went out to heybrook bay today, just after the tide had started coming in.

Visibility was excellent, and there were loads of fish etc, I only planned on going out for a quick swim but ended up spending 2 hours just looking at stuff! In hindsight I should have taken my spear gun