Tides & Tails is the inshore saltwater fishing hub for Florida and the Gulf Coast, with the Atlantic seaboard and California covered too. It answers the three questions that decide a fishing day: what the water is doing, what is biting, and what to tie on. Live water temperature, wind and gusts, tide state and the bite outlook are read from NOAA tide stations, Open-Meteo weather and National Weather Service alerts, and refreshed while you are looking at the page — so the numbers on the site are the numbers on the water, not last week's.
Around that live core sits the reference library: 26 species guides, a database of 56 proven lures and baits — saltwater on both coasts plus Western-lakes freshwater — state-by-state bag and size limits, a marine VHF radio guide, channel-marker and buoy basics, safety checklists with a textable float plan, and a license wallet that works with no signal. Everything is free, and the daily jobs work without an account.
Two fish run this coast, and both get the deepest guides on the site: habitat, the water-temperature band they feed in, seasonal bait and lure tables, and the zones where they show up.
Also in the guides: Southern Flounder, Sheepshead, Black Drum, Snook, Tarpon, Gag Grouper, Striped Bass, Spanish Mackerel, Florida Pompano, Cobia, Calico Bass, California Halibut, California Yellowtail, Spotted Bay Bass, Barred Sand Bass, White Seabass, Pacific Bonito, Rockfish. For the Western lakes (Brite Lake and Lake Isabella): Rainbow Trout, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Black Crappie, Bluegill. See all 26 species guides.
The front page leads with the Florida Panhandle and the Gulf; Pamlico Sound rides along as the founder's home turf. Every zone page carries live tides from its own NOAA station, what is biting, the seasonal playbook and the real towns and launches inside the zone.
Coverage spans 7 regions: Texas, Louisiana–Mississippi–Alabama, Florida Gulf, Florida Atlantic, Southeast Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, California. Browse every water or open the coastal map.
The smart lure tool takes your water and your target, reads the live water temperature, wind, cloud cover and light level, and matches them against the 56 lures and baits in the database. If the sky looks different from where you are standing, override the season, sky and light chips and the ranking updates instantly.
The directory covers certified charter captains, bareboat boat and kayak rentals, guides for hire and rental gear. Profiles are demo listings until real businesses join.
See the full charter & guide directory or list your business.
The community forum carries reports, tactics and gear talk by board, region and species, and announcements collect agency regulation updates and club news. The long-form library:
Charter memberships start at a founding rate locked for life for the first 20 captains, and lure makers list free — see rates & founding offers, or go straight to the charter application or the free lure listing. Online payments launch later; today it is an interest form.
The site map lists every page on the site, and the Field Guide is the user manual — short, plain-word steps for every feature, written to be read with wet hands.