With The Delta being a fishery ruled by tide flow, you can bet considerable time has been spent by Elite Series anglers going over local tide charts for today.
As John Murray said last night, "It's all about the tides here. You can be the best fisherman in the world, and if you aren't on the right tide, you won't catch 'em. They just don't bite."
Murray said that every tournament he's won in The Delta – and he's won a few – came on a high tide bite. Native Californian Jared Lintner said the extremes are best, either high or low.
It should be noted that the Ozark hillbilly writing this is a few fries short of a Happy Meal when it comes reading tide charts. But if an online source for the Stockton area is correct, Murray won't get his favorite tide today. The high tide came at 4:46 a.m. of 3.8 feet, and the low will occur at 11:42 a.m. of 0.3 feet – a differential of 3.5 feet.
The next high tide today will occur at 5:03 p.m., well after the last flight checks-in today.
But again, there's a qualifier on this information: When it comes to reading tide charts, I fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.