>>586964An incoming tide means a rise in the water levels to include the shallowest parts of the river/tributaries. Crabs, crayfish, minnows/baitfish are then able to get further into what is essentially the start of a given tributary's food chain. Behind them follow the larger fish that prey upon them. This time of year an incoming tide might put a foot or two of water over the top of what would otherwise be a mat of unfishable aquatic grasses. It can also be enough water to decompact the grasses giving fish room to swim. So now, with the incoming tide, an impossible location is becoming a potential location to catch fish with floating/suspended bait, topwater lures, buzz/spinnerbaiits, etc.
As tide goes back out fish can sense the drop in water levels and recede. The minnows/baitfish, crawfish and other lower-on-the-food-chain critters know they'll soon be cut off from food in that high-tide location and so move back out to deeper waters. The larger fish which need to feed upon them and also need deeper waters just to swim follow the smaller fish and critters back out.
Slack (non-moving) tide is the period between tidal movements. This could be when tide is at its highest but hasn't started to recede or when it is at its lowest but has not started to rise. When the tide is standing still the fish tend to do the same. If tide goes slack while you're on top of the fish you're typically in good shape but if you aren't on them then bites will probably be scarce. Weather can heavily impact how tides behave in the bay and it's tributaries too. For example a high tide that has just started to recede may take longer to do so or may appear to remain slack longer with a strong wind pushing up the river. A strong wind down river might push the water levels down faster leading to a longer/shallower slack period of low tide.
tl;dr the beer won't permit me to attempt simplifying what I've already poorly explained so picrelated
