Live Coastal Station Search
Search the bundled NOAA tide-station catalog, then compare sourced tide, weather, wind, swell, water-level, and temperature information in one dashboard.
Search live coastal conditions →Plan with context
Fishing Tide & Conditions Guides
Turn tide predictions, marine weather, water temperature, and solunar periods into a practical trip plan. These guides explain what each signal means—and where its limits are.
Reviewed September 15, 2026St. Augustine Tide Guide
Understand local inlets, the station reference, tide timing differences, and why wind can change observed water levels.
Read the local tide guide →St. Augustine Fishing Forecast
Build a safer, more useful local forecast from tide stage, wind, waves, rain, temperature, and daylight.
Plan a St. Augustine trip →How to Read a Tide Chart
Learn the tide cycle, then use the actual Outgoing Tide chart example to distinguish predictions, observations and source stations.
Learn tide-chart basics →Incoming vs. Outgoing Tide
Compare the fishing opportunities created as water floods onto shallow habitat or drains through creek mouths and structure.
Compare tide directions →Water Temperature & Fishing
Use temperature trends to understand fish metabolism and habitat choice without treating a single number as a guarantee.
Use temperature trends →Solunar Fishing Guide
See how moonrise, moonset, transit, and lunar phase can supplement—but should not replace—conditions and local knowledge.
Understand solunar periods →Water levels and movement
Predicted tides versus observed water levels
A tide prediction describes an expected astronomical cycle. An observation reports what a sensor measured. Compare matching stations, times, units, and datums before interpreting the difference.
Choosing the most relevant tide station
Choose a station by waterway connection, product coverage, and the question you need answered. The nearest pin is a starting point, not proof that its tide represents your route.
Understanding currents and current predictions
Tides describe changing water level; currents describe horizontal flow. Use a current product for a current question, and keep its station, depth, time, and limitations visible.
Weather and water conditions
How wind direction affects inshore conditions
Read wind speed, gusts, and direction against the whole route. Shoreline shelter, open-water distance, and opposing current can make one forecast feel very different in nearby places.
Understanding swell height, period, and wind waves
Wave height alone does not describe a sea state. Read period, direction, local wind waves, and route exposure together before interpreting marine guidance.
How cold fronts affect northeast Florida marine planning
Plan around the sequence of a front, not just the cooler temperature afterward. Wind shifts, waves, rain, visibility, and changing water conditions can affect different parts of a trip.
Rainfall, runoff, salinity, and water clarity
Rain affects more than the hours when it falls. Separate rainfall forecasts from observations of water conditions, and avoid treating water color as a measurement of salinity or safety.
Reading barometric-pressure trends responsibly
Pressure is weather context, not a bite guarantee. Compare like-for-like readings over time and use the trend to investigate the forecast rather than predict fish activity.
Planning around summer thunderstorms
A storm plan starts with time to reach suitable shelter. Use forecasts, warnings, and radar for different purposes, and keep a clear return decision ahead of deteriorating conditions.
Putting a trip together
A St. Augustine and Matanzas pre-trip checklist
Build a trip plan in an order that exposes the important unknowns: official conditions, route and return, station relevance, equipment and access, then fishing preferences.
How to read a coastal marine forecast
Read the forecast's area, issuance time, valid period, and hazards before focusing on a wind or wave number. A useful interpretation follows the entire route through the return.
Local planning context
St. Augustine and the Matanzas River
Outgoing Tide’s local editorial focus is St. Augustine and the Matanzas River. The St. Augustine forecast connects NOAA station 8720576 with practical context for the Matanzas River, Intracoastal Waterway, marsh creeks, inlet, beaches, and nearby Atlantic water.
St. Augustine Fishing Forecast
Read how tide timing, wind exposure, inlet conditions, daylight, seasonal targets, and official forecasts fit into one local trip plan.
Read the local forecast guide →Search Another Coastal Station
Use the nationwide station search as a live-data tool. It identifies the source and station without presenting a generic destination page as local editorial reporting.
Open the live conditions dashboard →Start with the conditions that affect safety
Check official marine forecasts, warnings, wind, waves, visibility, lightning risk, access, and local regulations before optimizing for fish activity. A favorable tide or moon period never makes unsafe conditions acceptable.
Use several signals together
A tide table predicts water level at a reference station. Weather can move the observed level above or below that prediction, and water may turn later in a nearby inlet, creek, or backwater. Water temperature affects metabolism, while season, bait, habitat, pressure, and recent trends add context. The strongest trip plan combines these signals instead of relying on one score.
See our editorial standards and correction process and source methodology.