[Gerry Zagorski]

OK one more crack at explaning this.

Let say you are fishing some place during a moving tide where land restricts the tide. Ambrose channel, Sandy Hook, Raritan Bays etc. In those areas the tide/current run stonger there because all that water that wants to move in or out is restricted by land. Think of these areas as a funnel and the closer you get to the smaller area of the funnel the hearder the current will run. In these areas the tide is going to dictate the current, it's speed and the direction of the water movement.

Now lets look at the open ocean.

There are no land restrictions so it lessens the effect of tidal flow. There are however currents that are caused by wind, bottom contours etc. Here the current and not the tide are going to dictate the water movement.

As an example... The last few times we were out fishing in the area of the Snake out on the ocean and 5 or 6 mile off the beach, in spite of the tide changing from incoming to outgoing, the current was running north all day. Had the current been effected by the tide, the direction would have changed when the tide changed.

Had we been fishing close to land restrictions the tide would have changed the direction of the currents.