# Reading the Water



## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

For the folks that are new to reading water I have some photos of beach structure I took at low tide. This first photo shows a nice little cut through a running parallel to the beach and another smaller swashbar and cut beyond.


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

View in front of the cut


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

Another angle


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

I'd fish that in a heart beat ... finding ones that nice can be hard though ... the key guys is to look at low tide


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

Here is another one showing a "pinch" which is where the slough narrows. A good place to ambush fish feeding in the slough


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

There were 2 cuts about 100 yards apart....I like to set-up between them. I fish on top of the bar and in front right on that drop off.


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## [email protected] (Jul 12, 2006)

That's awesome. In the early morning I will fish that slough about five feet in and have caught some decent fish while watching people heave right over that water


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

I normally don't fish sloped beaches (I prefer fishing the flats) but this past weekend the grass was horrible where I normally fish. I fished several spots like this and caught a lot of black drum and puppy drum. When scouting the flats I look for pretty much the same things although the slough is more of a ditch


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## BlueWater (Jun 14, 2011)

Awesome DitS, this definetly helps me to know what im looking for. You say you set up between the two cuts...is fishing right in the cut/front/behind the cut a bad idea? It appears "the cut" takes it longer to form white wash, as i see white wash occuring on both side of "the cut" but not on it? (if that made any sense lol).


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

BlueWater said:


> Awesome DitS, this definetly helps me to know what im looking for. You say you set up between the two cuts...is fishing right in the cut/front/behind the cut a bad idea? It appears "the cut" takes it longer to form white wash, as i see white wash occuring on both side of "the cut" but not on it? (if that made any sense lol).


I don't fish directly in the cut. If I fish the actual cut I will fish the edges where the bar ends. Drum will stage up on those edges as the current pulls food off of the bar. I have had more success fishing the bars and sloughs that flank these cuts but fish can be had anywhere around these areas


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Awesome. That will help a lot of people out.


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## bigjim5589 (Jul 23, 2005)

DrumintheSuds, Awesome photo's & information! I was recently trying to explain some of what you've posted to a fly angler who only saw the beach! He said it all looks the same to him! I'll have to refer him to this post! Great stuff! 

Bluewater, those cuts are formed by the currents, and deeper than the surroundings because the bottom is being washed out by the current, but the currents may be stronger in them too. Think of it in terms of current in a stream. You won't find the fish fighting the strong currents, depending on the stage of the tide, but may find them at the edges, and behind those bars which break the current flow, just as fish in a stream get behind rocks or other obstructions that break the current and wait for the flow to bring food to them. The waves are not necessarily an indication of the current that may be below. Think of undertows, which is why they're so dangerous! Folks don't understand how they're there!


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

That's really nice looking water...


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

Aye, proper fishy water be that, Jim Hawkins. Whompeenos big and golden as your grannies fresh baked apple pies. Now fasten to your hooks a good and willing bait and go pull your treasure from them there fine sparkling waters. Thanks for the info. and picks.


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## MetroMan (Mar 7, 2009)

Thanks for sharing the pics. The few times I make it to the real surf, I try to remember what I've read online. Never seems that cut & dry to my untrained eye. This definitely helps.


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## JamesRiverVa (Apr 24, 2012)

Thanks DitS, that's really helpful. Great looking structure and if I saw that at low tide I'd definitely think "that will probably hold fish when the tide is up." But are you saying that even at the tide stage when these pics were taken, you'd expect to find fish there?

Also, would love to see pics of the same or a similar area both at low tide and at high tide - to get a better idea of the more subtle ways to spot this kind of structure when the tide is up and it's under more water. Thanks again!


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

JamesRiverVa said:


> Thanks DitS, that's really helpful. Great looking structure and if I saw that at low tide I'd definitely think "that will probably hold fish when the tide is up." But are you saying that even at the tide stage when these pics were taken, you'd expect to find fish there?
> 
> Also, would love to see pics of the same or a similar area both at low tide and at high tide - to get a better idea of the more subtle ways to spot this kind of structure when the tide is up and it's under more water. Thanks again!


The water was too clear when I snapped these pics. I caught most of my fish the day before when it was overcast and the water wasn't quite this clear. But YES if conditions are right this slough would hold fish on low tide. The KEY is current.......if there is nothing stirring up fleas, clams and crabs on the bar and in the slough the fish wont likely be there feeding. I caught a puppy drum in the "pinch" at almost dead low. There was maybe a foot of water deep and I could have jumped on to the bar from the beach......it was that narrow!


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## JamesRiverVa (Apr 24, 2012)

So at low tide (wth overcast skies, etc.) you would fish that water how - just standing back a ways so as not to cast a shadow on the water or spook the fish and plopping a baited River Rig (ha!) into it and soaking bait five feet in front of you? In the picture with your rod in a holder - the last pic in the series above, is your bait up on that shallow swash bar on the other side of the slough in like 6" of water? Or is it in the slough right in front of you? Or the slough on the other side of that shallow swash bar?


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

JamesRiverVa said:


> So at low tide (wth overcast skies, etc.) you would fish that water how - just standing back a ways so as not to cast a shadow on the water or spook the fish and plopping a baited River Rig (ha!) into it and soaking bait five feet in front of you? In the picture with your rod in a holder - the last pic in the series above, is your bait up on that shallow swash bar on the other side of the slough in like 6" of water? Or is it in the slough right in front of you? Or the slough on the other side of that shallow swash bar?


Just pitch it into the slough. They feed right on the edge of the bar and many times right on top of the bar. This past trip they happened to be feeding in the slough. I could have caught them with a bream buster


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

Nice pictures DrumintheSuds, I agree with you but I use different terminology, I call the the narrow pinch or slough, a ditch and the area at both ends of the swishbar a outwash,the swishbar a hump or bar, the way I'd fish this on low tide would be fish the area just outside the outwash, as the waves come in during lower tides they fill the ditch, when the wave fades, the water dumped in the ditch flows rapidly out the outwashes, sometimes creating a cloud of sand - I call a mushroom, I want to throw right on the tail end of that mushroom or outwash, I've found plenty of Drum and Sea Mullet waiting to slam everwhat gets washed outta that ditch. Now as the tide comes in, as DrumintheSuds stated, I will move to the ends of the bar, thats where I catch Pompano. Now as the tide keeps coming, I'll keep moving with the heaviest water action toward the center of the bar, when the bar get covered with enough water to stop most water action, I'll move somewhere else - no water action, no fish as far as I'm concerned - again, very good info, River


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

Current is the key like River mentioned. I like to fish the edges and anywhere sand is being moved. I catch the majority of my fish on top of the bar where there is constant, rolling wave action that keeps things stirred up although I will fish more in the slough during July and August. If I find a slough or ditch with 2 openings close together (50 yards or so) I will fish dead center between the 2 cuts. If the slough is long with measured distance between openings (washouts) I will fish right next to the washout.


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## roostertail (Jul 7, 2012)

I know this is an old thread but one thing thats interesting to me about these pics is that there appears to still be a small breaking wave over the cut in the bar. I've always thought a cut in the bar will have relatively flat water over it. Or am I seeing it wrong.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

a huge cut might get on the calm side but you can always tell the wave is less there ... a very narrow cut might only show up as a V or U in the wave


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## Tacpayne (Dec 20, 2008)

surfchunker said:


> a huge cut might get on the calm side but you can always tell the wave is less there ... a very narrow cut might only show up as a V or U in the wave


yup, When I first started trying to read the water I though the same thing Roostertail posted as well.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

I always look for bunchs of seafoam going out ... if you see a string of it going out ...


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

Well re readin this has gave me some ideas and now i wanna go atch some "Whompeenos big and golden as your grannies fresh baked apple pies" lol


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## roostertail (Jul 7, 2012)

Has anyone on here seen this video? You can rent it for 24 hours for $3.99. http://nickaway.com/n2/dvda16.html I would watch it but I live out in the country and just have a cell phone internet card so it would be a bit pricey on my bill. I will take my computer to a wifi hotspot somewhere and download it if its worthy. I'm talkin about the Reading the Beach vid.


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## yerbyray (May 18, 2010)

roostertail said:


> Has anyone on here seen this video? You can rent it for 24 hours for $3.99. http://nickaway.com/n2/dvda16.html I would watch it but I live out in the country and just have a cell phone internet card so it would be a bit pricey on my bill. I will take my computer to a wifi hotspot somewhere and download it if its worthy. I'm talkin about the Reading the Beach vid.


"1 Percent of all the Fishermen catch 90% of the Fish" Last year I was part of the 98% and dammit now I am part of the 99%. I can't get a break


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