I think the answer to "What stage of the tide is best to fish?", is
"Whatever the stage of the tide happens to be when you're there." Some
beaches fish best on an incoming tide, some over the high slack, some over
the low slack and some on the outgoing. I realize those are pretty broad
statements and that, on the whole, most of the beaches, most of the time,
will fish best on an incoming tide. Why all the qualifiers? Because I've
caught many cutts, coho, and even the odd blackmouth at what would be
considered the least propitious stage of the tide, at the worst time of the
day, and in bright, sunny weather. If you wait for just the right tide or
just the right river levels, you'll spend an awful lot of time not fishing.
Don't ever forget that the best time to go fishing is whenever you can.
Life's far too short to adopt any other sort of philosophy.
