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Tide times (resources)?

Trampster said:
Happy boxing day Tad Lad!

As mentioned, Tides4fishing is quite useful, but I have seen people say that they are sometimes inaccurate.

Living in a Naval port, I tend to use the Kings Harbour Master shipping list for the current & next day, as they list accurate local tide times too.


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Likewise, but Pompey.
It enables one to scroll forward as well, for 30-40 days therefore useful for planning
 
Fedstar said:
I have always used NTSLF.
National Tide and Sea level Facility.


Fedstar...
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I'm glad you mentioned that one as I couldn't remember the name of it and used to use it alot, has some useful info on there and has always been accurate for the areas I've used it.
Tides4fishing is the other on I use and again find it pretty accurate for where I fish (east Anglia/North Wales), I do get the impression that it isn't so great in other places though.
 
chesilpete said:
If you ever fish the solent use the BBC website.... all the others use a calculator that uses almanacs (I believe) and they definitely get it wrong some of the time.
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Yep agreed! They all basically use the position of the moon and sun relative to the earth which is why they can give a predicted tide for years I advanced.

Some of the local forecast take into account the effect of barometric pressure, wind and rain which have a huge influence on the height, time and current of any particular tide.
 
Kenny84 said:
Yep agreed! They all basically use the position of the moon and sun relative to the earth which is why they can give a predicted tide for years I advanced.

Some of the local forecast take into account the effect of barometric pressure, wind and rain which have a huge influence on the height, time and current of any particular tide.
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I wonder if that's why some people have such poor luck with the tide times/heights with some websites/apps?
It is surprising how much of an effect wind and pressure can effect a tide..
 
Mr Fish said:
Tides4fishing can be shit as way out at times.

Plus it’s full of unnecessary and dubious info you don’t need.

tidetimes.org is good but only gives you a week or so ahead.
However they do give you an option to buy an actual booklet for the different ports although how that works or makes any money as a one off order I’m not sure? Maybe there’s a minimum numbers?

I’ve never tried as buy the local area book which also gives adjustment times for up the BC to avonmouth. Can pick that up at most local shops, garages etc around the area.
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I do agree that there’s an awful amount of rubbish attached to tides4fishing, but once you get used to it and more importantly, realise how the local adjustments work, it is highly accurate. Nothing beats local knowledge and of course it gives you 3 months notice of tides, which is handy for planning ahead.
 
Craig said:
I wonder if that's why some people have such poor luck with the tide times/heights with some websites/apps?
It is surprising how much of an effect wind and pressure can effect a tide..
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I was in Scotland over Christmas and noticed that the predicted tides, were in fact accurate, but due to the immense winds, the high water level was actually increasing as it should have been retreating. I’ve seen Portland harbour remain relatively full on spring lows when faced with a southerly blow too.
 
Where’s Wally said:
I do agree that there’s an awful amount of rubbish attached to tides4fishing, but once you get used to it and more importantly, realise how the local adjustments work, it is highly accurate. Nothing beats local knowledge and of course it gives you 3 months notice of tides, which is handy for planning ahead.
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I don’t know, it dropped me in the shit twice with inaccuracies of about 90 minutes.
Once was inconvenient, once could have been potentially dangerous if I hadn’t kept eyes on the sea and realised the tide was flooding.
I don’t know about local corrections but according to the site, that was the tide times for where I was. I suspect in fact they took it from a ‘nearby’ port that wasn’t too nearby!

Only used it because the internet connection was so poor and it was the only site I could get to load (channel islands)
 
Where’s Wally said:
I was in Scotland over Christmas and noticed that the predicted tides, were in fact accurate, but due to the immense winds, the high water level was actually increasing as it should have been retreating. I’ve seen Portland harbour remain relatively full on spring lows when faced with a southerly blow too.
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In my example above, it wasn’t rough or with a prevailing wind.

Whether barometric pressure was affecting it I couldn’t say but in my experience usually such differences might be 20-30 minutes, not 90.

It was probably an unlucky coincidence but as you can imagine, I didn’t trust the site after that.
 
It’s a bee in the bonnet for me as even many anglers aren’t terribly clued up about tides so occasional holiday danglers or grockles could end up in a world of shite if they take some of these potentially inaccurate sources at face value.
Especially in areas with a big tidal range. I couldn’t tell you how many grockles I’ve turned back from their coastal rambles because within an hour they’d be cut off.
Most were oblivious, some took it onboard and listened, some carried on and I washed my hands of the idiots.
 
The BBC tide info, recommended as being the best, comes from https://easytide.admiralty.co.uk/ which is, presumably, better by being the original.

*They state it on their tide page.

I was looking for tides later in the year to arrange holidays and came across these sites

Ilfracombe Tides | May 2024 | 30 day calendar | TideTime.org

Ilfracombe, united-kingdom Tide Chart & Calendar
www.tidetime.org www.tidetime.org

www.seatemperatu.re

Yarmouth: Tide times over 1 year - Long-term forecasts

Tide times in Yarmouth in the long term with our forecasts for 1 year (and more). Also find tide schedules all over England for the coming months.
www.seatemperatu.re www.seatemperatu.re
 
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Mr Fish said:
In my example above, it wasn’t rough or with a prevailing wind.

Whether barometric pressure was affecting it I couldn’t say but in my experience usually such differences might be 20-30 minutes, not 90.

It was probably an unlucky coincidence but as you can imagine, I didn’t trust the site after that.
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If it’s in a bay, with opposing currents, one emptying out while the other flooding, this can delay or advance tides. The bay I fish mostly is 16 minutes later than the nearest tide measuring station and 20 minutes earlier than the next one in the opposite direction. I’ve never heard of one an hour and a half out before.
 
Where’s Wally said:
If it’s in a bay, with opposing currents, one emptying out while the other flooding, this can delay or advance tides. The bay I fish mostly is 16 minutes later than the nearest tide measuring station and 20 minutes earlier than the next one in the opposite direction. I’ve never heard of one an hour and a half out before.
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Nor had I, but it was!

One was in a bay to dig bait, the flood was ‘early’ by at least an hour, meaning I had barely any time on the worm beds.

Just assumed I’d misread it.

The second was in a narrow bay towards the mouth, no more than 200 yards from the open coast so I’d guess it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Out on exposed low water rocks with various gullies and low points to cross to get back.

I figured I had an hour or two down and one up or so, about a three hour session altogether, but after an hour I thought hang on, this is flooding!
Made it back quickly - another half hour I would have been cut off.
Obviously thought hang on, can’t have misread it twice, checked the site and yes it was way out.

Of course I keep an eye on the sea and conditions while fishing and don’t just rely on little numbers online or in a book, but not everyone does, especially danglers, grockles and those not used to the coast.

It may well have been a stand alone one off, but as far as I was concerned, those incidents dumped tides4fishing in the ‘bag o shite’ category 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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I didn't read through all the above mentioned sites etc, so apologies if this one has been mentioned already.

I have recently been using "Tides", and have found it excellent, with all the info I need on 1 page.
Screenshot_20230105-232537.png
There are also other pages accessed from the icons you see at the bottom.
It covers UK and world spots from memory and gives data for months / years.Screenshot_20230105-233717.png
Only downside I can see is you have to pay a small fee, but for ease I think it's worth it.
 
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