Low Tide Drains Stuart Flats to 0.7 Feet at 9 AM Friday

The St. Lucie River drops to its shallow point early Friday morning, with low tide at the Stuart gauge hitting 0.7 feet at 9:01 a.m. — a window that will drain flats and expose oyster bars from the Roosevelt Bridge south toward Sewall's Point well before most anglers launch.

NOAA CO-OPS tide predictions for Stuart show four tide cycles shaping the day:

TODAY: Conditions begin on the back side of a pre-dawn high — 2.4 feet at 2:39 a.m. — so the river is already pulling seaward by sunrise. That outgoing ebb accelerates through mid-morning. By 9 a.m., flats along the South Fork and Manatee Pocket will be at their shallowest, concentrating baitfish and drawing snook into the creek mouths where they hunt the outgoing flow. The afternoon flood begins building toward a second high of 2.0 feet at 2:48 p.m., pushing water back across the grass and giving shallow-draft skiffs a comfortable run through Sailfish Flats well into evening. The final low of the day settles to 0.5 feet at 9:05 p.m.

ON THE WATER: The morning ebb is the prime fishing window. Guides working the Manatee Pocket and the river mouth often treat the last two hours of an outgoing tide as the day's most productive stretch — bait stacks up, current concentrates scent, and ambush predators move shallow. The Friday afternoon flood arrives before the heat of the day fully breaks, giving a second shot for anglers willing to wait out midday. Boaters drawing more than two feet should plan any flats transit for the afternoon flood cycle rather than the 9 a.m. low.

ALERTS: No active NWS watches, warnings, or advisories are in effect for Martin County as of this report. Boaters should check the latest NWS Melbourne forecast before departure, as conditions may change.

The tidal range Friday is modest — roughly 1.7 feet between the morning low and the pre-dawn high — typical for this stage of the lunar cycle and consistent with the mixed, semi-diurnal pattern that defines the Treasure Coast's relatively muted tides compared to Florida's Gulf side.

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