Surfing Waves

Hey all. I was at my local beach break today for a total of six hours (9AM-5PM), with a little break for lunch in the middle. I noticed the waves were awesome in the morning, sub-par at about 3PM and once again awesome at about 4-5PM. I am assuming tide is the culprit for quality of the waves. What is the ideal tide (low vs. high) at a beach break? Point break?

Depends entirely on the break.

Gawd, now there is a question.

My beach break goes like this :

lowtide just ebbing - crap.
lowtide just coming in - oooh fun
lowtide an hour after turning - omg ! shoery or what !
mid tide poor swell - go home
mid tide good swell - chllin' surf
3/4 high good swell - the business
high tide good swell - good fun
very high tide good swell - tubes !
outgoing tide - all the above but smaller

The above also depends on storms, swell direction, sandbars and what part of the beach (this one huuuge) you actually go out on. A few hundred yards in one direction is 1-2ft smaller thean the other.

Sooo, each break has its own characteristics, and surprises sometimes too !

depends on the break - so get used to a local break and you will know

Well, I surf HB Pier Southside and the Santa Ana Jetties. I noticed that the crowds of surfers come out at 10A-12P (mid-low, for the most part) and 4P-6P (mid-high). My buddy just sees it as the times that are most convenient for people to go out. And yes, that's about right: waking up after sleeping in, getting out of work, respectively.

But, I can't help but think that maybe all the local surfers know that these are the best times, as far as quality surf, to paddle out. I'm curious to know because I don't like driving 30 miles to the beach only to find sub-par surf, when I could just plan my day earlier/later for when it gets better

The tide times change every day, the time it's best will change. Even then it's dependant on swell height/period/direction and wind, as well as what the break is doing in terms of banks etc.