Heck, anytime in New Smyrna Beach is a good time to fish, right? There is some beautiful water to navigate, some gorgeous weather to take advantage of and some good-natured ribbing from your buddies to look forward to…if you look forward to that kind of stuff.

However, if we want to get technical…rising and falling tides are the best times for anyone to fish and the peak times are two hours before high and low tide, when the water is moving fastest. The worst time to fish (if you want to catch fish) is during slack tides, when the water is not rising or falling.

This is because, when tides change, the water moves. Moving water keeps fish moving…and fish that are looking to eat those fish keep moving…and so on and so on. The best end result to that scenario is that the last “so on” becomes a perfect setting of the hook by you!

You also want to pay attention to what kind of weather you have on your side. For example, if the sun is shining brightly, the fish may be able to see your rig a little better and become wary. Also, if we just had a storm roll by or you have some chop to the seas, the water may be churned up and the fish might not be able to see that delicious morsel dangling from your hook at all.

Good planning on your part can help to make the most of your trip. So check the weather (for your safety too of course) and check out a reliable source for tidal informal, like tides4fishing.com.