Travis,
I'm with you, big tides to help the fishing, small waves to help the fisherman.
Our area is pretty different to most being deep rocky stuff rather than coral reef. A calm day against the big headlands still has plenty of surface movement, a rough day and I'm not leaving port! I also wonder if our local lack of water clarity overcomes shyness on calm days. Most of the GT's are in water with say 3 to 5m visibility, no more.