ALL AT SEA

 
Well, I sneaked in a short four hours over an afternoon high today to little effect. It was close to a neap tide, not rising very high, which is not an insurmountable issue of itself. Tides, however, and their effects take some understanding especially when you only have a passing acquaintance with the sea. In normal circumstances as the sea level rises with the incoming tide, saltwater pushes further up the river, as it falls, it retreats and the effects of the river push down to the estuary mouth and to some degree into the sea itself.

At Littlehampton under lower tide conditions with extra rainwater in the river, there is a visible, raised plateau or river water around the estuary mouth with a sharp drop off of a foot or more around it. A high spring tide with floodwater from inland will raise the height of the river even more as the sea resists the river's attempts to escape. Conversely, as happened today excessive rainfall had swollen the river whose power held back the weak neap tide. Under normal conditions, the bright blue saltwater can be clearly seen advancing upstream against the green or brown river water. The fish come in with the tide and most bites tend to come as they pass the angler just behind the change in colour.

 


Just to complicate matters, the wind will affect the state of the tide. Wind against tide will hold it back and in the open sea, force the production of bigger waves. Wind with tide will speed it up and not create waves as high. Two years ago while staying on the banks of the River Shiel estuary in Scotland these conditions conspired to nearly cost me my car. Late in the evening, several days into our holiday, we spotted a comment in the visitor's book warning of potential problems on spring tides. I went to the door to find the river out of its banks and almost up to the sills on my car. Obviously I moved it to higher ground but at the height of the tide, the combination of a very high river because of torrential rain on the hills, a very high spring tide and a fierce onshore gale pushed the water over the shore and right up to our front door.

As regards the fishing, it just never happened today. The incoming tide was virtually current-less and apart from one rattle, the tips were static. That was more than could be said for the crabs which are most active under slack water conditions. Once the tide eventually turned, it raced out under pressure from the floodwaters inland. Tony finally had the only fish. Three of us fishing four rods had just one bite in four hours. Interestingly his eel turned out to be a 2lbs strap Conger which at least was another species to add to his Arun list.