Tides decide where the water is and what ground is uncovered. This guide covers what tides tend to work for each activity, how our "Best windows" feature works, and how to stay safe.
How our activity windows work
Each station page has a "Best windows today" box. We score every hour of the week using:
- The predicted tide height and whether it is rising or falling
- How fast the water is moving
- Sunrise and sunset, worked out for the station's location
- Wind from the same NOAA station, where there is a sensor
We don't use catch reports, swell forecasts or local knowledge. The windows are a starting point. They are not a promise.
Fishing
What tends to work
Most anglers look for moving water. As the tide flows, it carries bait and stirs things up. Slack water, right at high or low, is often quieter.
Common patterns people use:
- The first few hours of the incoming tide. Water floods onto flats and into creeks. Fish often move in to feed.
- The last few hours of the outgoing tide. Bait gets pulled out of marshes and creeks toward channels and inlets.
- Low light. Dawn and dusk are popular for many species. When a strong flow lines up with sunrise or sunset, we rate it higher.
Our fishing window is where moving water and good light overlap. See Murrells Inlet, SC for an example.
Honest caveats
- Fish don't read tide tables. Species, season, water temperature, weather and bait all matter as much as the tide.
- What works on a surf beach can be wrong for a creek or a pier. Local tackle shops know the patterns better than any website.
- Spring tides mean stronger currents. That can help from the beach but make a small boat hard to hold in an inlet.
Rules and safety
Check your state or province fishing rules and license needs before you go. Near inlets, watch the currents panel on our station page. Water through an inlet can move fast, especially on a spring tide.
Shelling
What tends to work
Shelling is about exposed sand. The lower the tide, the more beach you can walk.
- Go at low tide, and start about an hour before it. That gives you the falling water and the lowest point.
- Pick spring tide days. Lows are lower around the new and full moon. Minus tides, where the water drops below 0 ft on US tables, uncover the most ground.
- Pick a daylight low. Our shelling window only counts lows between sunrise and sunset.
The 7-day table shows the lowest daylight low of the week. Look for the negative numbers.
Honest caveats
- A low tide does not mean more shells. It means more beach to search. What washes up depends on waves, weather and the beach itself.
- We don't know which beaches have good shelling. We only know when the water is low.
Rules
Many places limit collecting live shells, or any shells at all. Parks and refuges often have their own rules. Check before you take anything home. A shell with an animal inside is alive.
Harvesting shellfish to eat, such as oysters or clams, is a different matter. It needs a license in many states, and areas open and close for water quality. In South Carolina, for example, the recreational shellfish season usually opens in the fall. SCDNR announces the date each year and publishes maps of open areas. Always check your state agency first.
Tidepooling
What tends to work
Tidepools are rocky areas that hold water when the tide drops. Most of the life you want to see lives in the lower zones, which only uncover on the lowest tides.
- Aim for a minus tide or the lowest low of the week.
- Arrive about an hour before low tide. Follow the water out and turn back soon after it turns.
- Pick a daylight low. On the West Coast, the lowest tides in some months fall in the early morning or at night, so check the time carefully.
Our tidepool window marks the daylight hours around the lowest water. If today has no daylight low, the page tells you the next day that does.
Safety
The National Park Service at Cabrillo National Monument gives clear advice for tidepools:
- Wear sturdy shoes with good grip that you don't mind getting wet. No flip-flops or bare feet. Rocks and algae are slippery.
- Walk, don't run. Step into sandy spots and pools rather than onto algae-covered boulders.
- Watch the waves. Even at low tide, a large wave can come in without warning.
- Know when the tide turns. It comes back quickly. Don't get cut off on a far rock or behind a point.
Where the range is large, the water returns fast. Our pages show a "start heading back by" time at stations with large ranges.
Etiquette
- Touch animals very gently, if at all. The park service suggests touching them as softly as you would your own eye.
- Never pry animals off rocks. It can kill them.
- Leave everything where you found it.
- Many tidepool areas are protected. Check local rules.
Water safety for all activities
If you go in the water, know how to escape a rip current. NOAA's advice:
- Stay calm. A rip pulls you away from shore, not under.
- Swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the current, then swim back at an angle.
- If you can't, float and wave or yell for help.
Weather changes everything
Our tide times are predictions from the moon and sun. NOAA notes that wind, rain and river flow can push real water levels above or below the forecast. Where a station has a live gauge, check "Gauge vs forecast" before you go. If the water is running 0.5 ft high, your low tide will be that much less low.
Quick picks
| Activity | Tide | Best days | Light |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fishing | Moving water, often early incoming or late outgoing | Any; spring tides for stronger flow | Dawn or dusk |
| Shelling | Low tide and the hour before | Spring tides, minus tides | Daylight |
| Tidepooling | Lowest lows | Spring tides, minus tides | Daylight |
Find your station, for example Myrtle Beach, Wrightsville Beach or Tybee Island area, Fort Pulaski, and check the week planner. Tide data on this site is for planning only, not for navigation.