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Topic: Tides and visibility?  (Read 1208 times)

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Get The Net

  • Sand Dab
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  • Location: Santa Cruz
  • Date Registered: Jun 2015
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Hey I was just looking at the report for Stillwater and the swell seems like it's very small, but the tide is just ripping, do you guys find that ride makes a big deal on viz? Because I don't know if it is worth heading out yet.


  • Cabeza de Martillo
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  • Location: Costa de Oro, BCS
  • Date Registered: Jan 2011
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This weekend, especially Sunday is looking good right now.

Rain runoff may effect the vis.
Pronounced in Spanish  ka·be·za de mar·t·yo
Translates to Hammerhead in English for my Gringo amigos.
....and yes that's me with a 6ft. green moray in the avatar.

"Spearos before Hos" - Silent Hunter

"Give your son a fish and you'll feed him for a day.
Teach him how to spearfish and he'll feed you for a lifetime" - Cabeza de Martillo

Proud Papa of ...........
2018 JAOTY Lucas aka Baja Ninja
2018 JDOTY Noah aka Silent Hunter


DG

  • Sea Lion
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  • Date Registered: Feb 2014
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You only need 1Â’ foot of Visibility to see the fish before shooting it.  Always better to see them further out but you can not always have perfect conditions.
-----------------------------------
NorCAL HOW Volunteer

2018 NCKA - DOTY Committee Member

2017 DOTY 2 biggest fish awards
2016 DOTY 2nd place / 4 biggest fish awards
2016 Triton X - 2nd place
2016 Triton Open - Biggest Lingcod
2014 DOTY - 1 biggest fish award


  • Cabeza de Martillo
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Get the Net is a Newb Spearo that is in JDOTY.

Trying to give him the best option available.
Pronounced in Spanish  ka·be·za de mar·t·yo
Translates to Hammerhead in English for my Gringo amigos.
....and yes that's me with a 6ft. green moray in the avatar.

"Spearos before Hos" - Silent Hunter

"Give your son a fish and you'll feed him for a day.
Teach him how to spearfish and he'll feed you for a lifetime" - Cabeza de Martillo

Proud Papa of ...........
2018 JAOTY Lucas aka Baja Ninja
2018 JDOTY Noah aka Silent Hunter


Get The Net

  • Sand Dab
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  • Date Registered: Jun 2015
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Get the Net is a Newb Spearo that is in JDOTY.

Trying to give him the best option available.
Yes thank you for the help!


BigJim

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I usually find high tides produce better viz...big tidal swings can affect it and the outgoing/bottom can be murkier for sure...

Looks to me like rising to a big high in AM so I would bet viz would be best in AM and then dropping from there...

Areas with more sand/sediment are affected more than spots with mostly rock...

I would say dive as much as possible, and keep track/take note of tides and how it relates to what you see under water so that you build up experiences/references/knowledge for the future.

Time underwater is ALWAYS good, and you can learn something each time you go out....

Good luck!!

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

~GS4  2010-1st~
~DOTY 2013-1st~
~T2B2 2015-1st~
*DOTY: 2012-5th~2014-5th~2015-4th~2016-7th~2017-4th~2018-5th~2019-5th~2020-2nd*


DG

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Get the Net is a Newb Spearo that is in JDOTY.

Trying to give him the best option available.
True Antonio.  I hope a family member has already gone over the safety related info and when not to go. 

Nothing in my statement was untrue.  So hopefully he didnÂ’t take the comment to mean you should go no matter what.  But like Jim said the more you go the better you will be able to predict conditions.  And even if you get it dialed in the visibility can be crap because of an algae bloom or upwelling. 

Have fun out there and be safe Get The Net.
-----------------------------------
NorCAL HOW Volunteer

2018 NCKA - DOTY Committee Member

2017 DOTY 2 biggest fish awards
2016 DOTY 2nd place / 4 biggest fish awards
2016 Triton X - 2nd place
2016 Triton Open - Biggest Lingcod
2014 DOTY - 1 biggest fish award


  • Cabeza de Martillo
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  • Location: Costa de Oro, BCS
  • Date Registered: Jan 2011
  • Posts: 7707

I would say dive as much as possible, and keep track/take note of tides and how it relates to what you see under water so that you build up experiences/references/knowledge for the future.

Time underwater is ALWAYS good, and you can learn something each time you go out....

Good luck!!

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

Very sound advice and well worth your time to track as much information as possible.

What I started doing for my son was the following.

1. Take a screen shot of magic seaweed ghost trees for the day I was taking him out on https://magicseaweed.com/Ghost-Trees-Surf-Report/825/

This would have all the information swell ht, swell direction, interval, secondary swell info, wind direction and speed, tidal information, sunset and sunrise. (Thanks Jim for the link  :smt008)

The tide portion comes in handy for launching and landing there so you know if you will need to launch of the stairs or not. Or if there will be a beach when you come back in  :smt001

Also if there will be a lot of water being displaced while out OTW. All good info to know during your excursion and for future planning.

2. Go out, dive and have fun.

3. Write a detailed report and post it with pics.

4. Put all this information by dive site in a folder and rate the folder such as NCKA/Diving/SWS/ 11-15-17 SWS 5 stars

So now you would have a history with conditions, report and pics of your harvest that day. It may be a bit excessive but it is fun to look back and be able to remember that particular day with just a few clicks of a mouse.

Then in the future you will be able to answer your own question by experience with the data that you collected.


« Last Edit: November 15, 2017, 11:14:16 AM by Cabeza de Martillo »
Pronounced in Spanish  ka·be·za de mar·t·yo
Translates to Hammerhead in English for my Gringo amigos.
....and yes that's me with a 6ft. green moray in the avatar.

"Spearos before Hos" - Silent Hunter

"Give your son a fish and you'll feed him for a day.
Teach him how to spearfish and he'll feed you for a lifetime" - Cabeza de Martillo

Proud Papa of ...........
2018 JAOTY Lucas aka Baja Ninja
2018 JDOTY Noah aka Silent Hunter


BigJim

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Great advice Antonio...

I'm sure if I was more disciplined with recording moon/tide/swell height and direction and period/wind I would be a much better and more productive diver...

For some species those factors seem to be key to when they "turn on"......

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim


~GS4  2010-1st~
~DOTY 2013-1st~
~T2B2 2015-1st~
*DOTY: 2012-5th~2014-5th~2015-4th~2016-7th~2017-4th~2018-5th~2019-5th~2020-2nd*


mtitch12

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One thing that's nice about forecasts.surfer.com is that it allows you to look back at what conditions were like in the past by clicking on the little calendar icon (circled in red on the screenshot). That way, if you don't have time to chronicle conditions before you head out, you can always go back and make notes on it when you have time. Or even better, when you don't have a chance to make it out, but get a report from your buddy, you can write notes on their dive too if you want even more data.

I think MagicSeaweed also allows you to look at historical data. Good luck!
"Only need three more years before I can think like a fish."

Matt Titchenal
Hometown: Sonoma, CA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MattTitchenal
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NCKA DOTY 2018 - 1st Place
NCKA DOTY 2017 - 3rd Place

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Get The Net

  • Sand Dab
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  • Date Registered: Jun 2015
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Wow thanks for all the advice!!! I am actually the first in my family to dive!! It kinda of spiked my interest after watching Mr. Russels videos and since I fish a lot like boat fish and surf I just kinda did it and fell in love! So this info is extremely helpful!!!!