A look at today's tide charts will give you an idea of how someone can "fish the tides" In a big expanse, like Chesapeake Bay. There's about a four-hour difference between the peaks to the south, near Baltimore, where some of these guys are fishing, and to the north, near North East, the weigh-in site, where most of the field has concentrated.
For today during tournament hours, high tide at Baltimore occurred at 7:55 a.m. It is falling now. The low will occur at 2:48 p.m. At North East, high tide won't occur until 11:47 a.m. and low tide occurs at 6:51 p.m.
Aaron Martens mentioned that he would have fished the tides this week, if he'd found enough fish-holding spots in different areas from north to south to do so. "I just didn't have enough spots," Martens said. Low tide has been the most productive for everyone this week. No matter where you're fishing, you won't be getting much of that today with a 3 p.m. check-in time.