The Prince of Tides

Tides. They're everything. At least in sight fishing.

If you want to fish for tailing reds, it helps to have moving water, the skinnier the better. That's the biggest

Low tide at Fort Desoto in the evening

factor I failed to grasp when I first started my sight fishing quest a year ago.

My first spring/summer I fished in the morning on the assumption that the water was cooler and the fish were more active. It's a concept I developed from learning how to fly fish on southeastern mountain streams, where water temperature is everything. In the salt, it's not.

Water level and movement are the keys. The tides in Tampa Bay are higher in the morning than in the spring. In the evening, they're lower. The lower the tide, the more concentrated the fish are and the easier it is to see them tailing. The higher the water, the lower chance there is that you will see a tail. There's no set rule in terms of tide height, but 0.5 is my barometer for a low tide.

Of course, it depends on the contour of the flat. Some flats get skinnier than others. Some fish are bigger than others..

If there's two feet of water, it's going to take a pretty big fish for its tail to break the surface. Remember, the less water the better, but there's no magic number.

In the fall and winter, the tides are lower in the morning, higher in the evening. It's the reverse of spring, so plan accordingly to scout for tails.