As far as the loop in the line and wind knots. The best cure for that is to flip the bail by hand instead of with a crank on the reel. After you flip the bail, keep tension on the line. This will eliminate any loops and then subsequent wind knots.
Hi Garry,New to the forum and just wanted to say how informative, interesting and entertaining your posts are about fishing the canal. I'm hooked and can't get enough!I plan on visiting my Mom in Toms River this 4th of July weekend and was thinking about hitting the canal and giving it a try. What are the best tides/times for fishing (end of falling or peak of rising???) And where can I get the tide chart for the canal??Thanks and keep up the awesome info. The pics are great too!!!
First, welcome to the site and thanks for the kind words. A lot of useful info here and a lot of good people willing to help here, I think you'll like it.Also a warning, the Canal will be a ZOO on a holiday weekend, both in terms of fisherman, and more importantly, horrendus boat traffic, so don't let it disappoint you.As far as tides, I use the tide chart for the Coast Guard Station at Manasquan inlet:http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/get_predictions.shtml?year=2008&stn=2812+Sandy%20Hook&secstn=Manasquan+Inlet,+USCG+Station&thh=%2D0&thm=12&tlh=%2D0&tlm=24&hh=*0.86&hl=*0.95&footnote=Because the Canal drains the entire northern reaches of Barnegat Bay, the tide occurs about 3 to 3 1/2 hours LATER than at the Coast guard station. So I use the chart mentioned, and start fishing 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours AFTER any tide listed, when I can. This will give you 3 to 4 hours of fishable water, before the tide really starts ripping. This way you go from a tide/slack water/opposite tide. I prefer outgoing/slack to incoming, but can't be real fussy. Incidentally, slack water lasts less than 5 minutes there, and the tide then starts moving slowly in the opposite direction.I fish the canal almost daily, and pretty much fish according to the tides, however when the tides fall at bad times during the day, I have caught fish. I tend to do best when the tides fall very early morning at first light or before, and evening when the right tide falls close to dark. If a storm is coming in, or a front, anytime just before that front, no matter what time of day is good, provided the tide is right so you can fish it. As I've stated previously, sometimes the water rips through there so hard, it's not fishable.Garry
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