It was Daylight Savings Day, November 5th, 2023 – time to adjust your clock unless you live in Arizona or Puerto Peñasco. For many years that’s the day I order my Upper Sea of Cortez Puerto Peñasco/San Felipe Tide Calendar. Some merchants in Puerto Peñasco stock them, but not always. I usually go online and order my new calendar. WWW.TIDELINES.COM or call 1-800-345 8524. The Upper Sea of Cortez version is usually not on the regular menu, and it requires a call back from the calendar company, but they have always followed up. They run around $20 each, there is a small discount if you order 3. I usually order 3 one for my house, one for my camper that stays in Peñasco, and one to put in the Desert Fly Caster December monthly raffle. Anyone who travels to Puerto Peñasco for fishing or boating purposes needs a tide calendar in order to make plans and not get blindsided by the tide difference. (Editor’s Note: You can also pick one up locally at Plaza Fabiola.)
What difference you ask? A tide change of about 20 feet from low tide to high tide. I usually plan my fishing trips on neap tides, the smaller tides. The spring tides are the large tides and can sneak up on your truck, camp site, picnic. I usually get several free calendars from businesses, but the Tide Calendar is my favorite to use, its large enough to make a few notations on, and has some wonderful photography of Puerto Peñasco, Cholla Bay, and San Felipe, and the tide chart.
As the current calendar rolls into December one can expect a less aggressive bite from local fish. The water is starting to cool off and the fish are less likely to strike a fly or lure. You can still catch fish, but some of my fishing adventures have fewer fish caught. When the temperatures start to rise in the spring the fish seem to awaken and are looking for a bite to eat again.
Vince Deadmond The Retired Fly-Fishing Hardware Guy can be reached at vincehasgonefishing.outlook.com or at 480 818 1796.
