Day 1 leader Shin Fukae credited the high tide as an influencer to his successful day of fishing on the James River. That’s no surprise, of course, considering the tide fluctuates on average of about 3 feet in the tournament waters. The ebb and flow at that level is the perfect mix for recharging the shoreline habitat with food sources as the water comes back up.
What else is good about the high tide, and especially this week, is the timing. Timing is everything when a pattern needs the high tide to flood shoreline habitat and bring the bass with it. The good fortune this week is the high tide occurred yesterday around noon, giving the anglers full benefit of fishing the incoming and outgoing tide. In the worse case scenario, that high/low tide happens either really early or late in the day, cutting short those benefits of tidal bass fishing.
Here is the tide chart for Day 2 and Day 3, respectively.
Low: 6:36 a.m.
High: 12:17 p.m.
Low: 7:21 a.m.
High: 1:06 p.m.