Fishing Articles
Lunar Cycles as a Mode of Transportation:
A brief scientific perspective on how to find and
fish the best tides.
Salmon, Steelhead, & Trout “Ride”
oceanic currents.
Timothy Kusherets
These intrepid fishermen have figured out that the
High-high tide is bringing in a fresh run of Chinook salmon. They don't
need a boat because a school of fish are headed towards them and will
be within casting distance, and it doesn't hurt that they have timed
their fishing trip with a tide meant to bring fish directly to a salmon
hatchery.
The moon is in an asynchronous orbit with earth, though it rotates around
the earth and does not spin, therefore only one side of the moon can
be seen from earth. The forces between the earth and the moon generate
influences on the oceans of the world. The moon's gravitational attraction
is stronger on the side of the earth nearest to the moon and weaker
on the opposite side. From our perspective on the earth's surface we
see two small bulges, one in the direction of the moon and one directly
opposite. The effect is much stronger in ocean water than on land so
the water bulges are higher than the earth’s crust. Since our
planet rotates in its orbit around the sun, and the moon rotates around
the earth without spinning, the gravitational influences of these components
contribute to the creation of the bulges that move around the earth.
These bulges create two high tides and two low tides. The transitional
state from a high to low tide is the slack tide, which occur four times
a day.
All educated fishermen will tell you that salmon follow the path of
least resistance. Though the premise is sound in freshwater systems,
the same school of thought is overlooked in most marine areas, even
though the application of skirting torrential currents is something
no fish will attempt to resist. Saltwater currents can be fiercer than
anything freshwater floods can muster, take El Niño for instance.
Every so often, warmer water increases the Pacific coastline tidal current
pull, carrying with it species of marine life that cannot escape the
irresistible force. Many fish that frequent the warmer climate regions
are forced into temperate waters where they flounder and eventually
die. Salmon, off the same coast, are subject to the same whims of the
intense current. If they are caught in it, they are helpless to fight
against it, but for the most part they don’t have to worry about
such anomalies. Traveling the currents is something they ordinarily
do. It is their mode of transportation.
Tides have influence over all marine life. Oceanic currents that are
formed help to dictate migratory routes that are conducive to the life
cycles of each and every living thing in the ocean. It does not mean
all living things in the oceans migrate but does show empirically that
the food chain starting with zooplankton are heavily influenced by tidal
pulls causing them to follow currents around the world and as a consequence
set off a predacious sequence of events up the food chain that proves
that the moon does influence all salmon. More than that, the entire
substructure and all of the coastlines of the world, which include estuaries,
bays, and inlets, are constantly in a state of flux and in turn create
migratory paths which must be navigated in order for salmon to complete
the spawning cycle. Following the path of least resistance is something
salmon will always do.
The innate understanding of riding the currents affords them the same
paths that their diet also follows, and in doing so, ensures their survival
for two reasons; sharing the same path means that they will never want,
excessively, for a food source; and by riding the currents, they will
conserve the necessary energy to make the migratory trip home to the
fresh waterways where they were born.
© Timothy Kusherets, 2006/09 |
