So you’ve located that well-known croaker spot and dropped your anchor – hoping for a relaxing few hours of tug-o-war with one of the area’s most popular species.
You know the place, the old oyster beds just outside the entrance to Little Creek.
And like it has for decades, it’s producing a few fish.
Trouble is, the boat keeps swinging back and forth and it’s difficult to keep your bait in the right spot or to prevent it from hanging up on the bottom.
The current and wind are wreaking a mild case of havoc on your otherwise good thing.
So get the boat in the right spot and drop a second anchor from the stern. That’s keep you pretty steady and over the right spot.
This will help the vessel fight Mother Nature and will make the catching as good as it’s supposed to be.
What a hassle. And to think your situation pales in comparison to what others have to deal with while out on the water.
Take, for example, a charter captain’s task of keeping his trolling speed where it should be while he fights that evil combination of elements.
Or the mess he might have to deal with while trying to get his boat back into the dock slip while the wind is blowing from the side and the tide is going out.
Oh, and least we forget the issues you’ll have with the same conditions while trying to get your boat lined up properly on the trailer at the ramp.
Yep, the causes of boating’s biggest problems simply won’t go away.
So take the time and learn about them, and what they do during certain times of your day on the water.
There’s the wind and it’s blowing the surface water in a different direction than the current.
And the current, at least along the coast, often is the product of tides – which change from high and low twice each during the course of a day.
Concerning the wind, well … you’ll know what it’s doing when you’re out there.
And while tides aren’t exact, you can get really close to knowing what they’re going to do and when on a couple of pretty good websites.
One of the best is www.saltwatertides.com
The site features more than 2,500 locations along the coast and includes times for low and high, along with sunrise and sunset, and the same for the moon.
Each location – say, Virginia – has a bunch of locations throughout the region and you can go to the bottom of each location and enter the start day and how many days you want the times for.
Virginia has 128 sites, North Carolina 70.
It’s sometimes amazing how different the tide can be just a few miles down the shoreline – or at one part of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel compared to the rest.
There are a couple of other very simple things you can turn to to help you learn more about dealing with the situation – talking to veterans and time.
What do they say, practice makes perfect?
Well, few are perfect about tides, currents and wind. But the more you know and understand, the easier things will happen.
Let’s face it, if the croaker are hungry around that old oyster bed, you’ve got better things to do than fight the forces.
To read more of my work, go to: leetolliveroutdoors.com
