Striped Bass and Tides ?

Hey all !

I'm hoping to pick up some pointers on Striped Bass - specifically how/where they move in relation to the changing tides throughout the day. I definitely catch fish, but I'd just like to get a little better at having a plan when I hit the water as opposed to just prospecting until I happen to get a bait in the right spot.

I usually fish the Napa River, but I'm not really looking for specific spots or anything. I'm really just interested in finding out what kinds of features/structures tend to hold fish at different tides. I tend to fish creek or slough mouths on the outgoing tide, try to work the deep edges of the flats as well as tight along the rip-rap levees at the end of the incoming or flood, etc. More often than not though,  I feel like I'm kinda just paddling around until I get a tug.

Any pointers or insight would be really helpful and appreciated. Thanks in advance !

I tend to look for the weedbeds in the shallows. Incoming tide will push the bass in the shallows. Outgoing will position most of the large fish in deeper water off the edge of the shallows. If you find a weedbeds with deep water close and plenty of baitfish the bass will hangout in the weeds during the bottom of the tide. Nothing better than catching bass in 2ft if water on live bullheads 

Ok, great. I'll start making note of any weedbeds that I see at low tide and plan on revisiting them on higher tides. For some reason, I generally tend to concentrate on deeper dropoffs and ledges and neglect the shallower flats. Tme to break that habit !

Low tide you can get the schoolie size 3-5lbs stripers hanging around the weeds.

Ok, that's good to know.