Question to all - moon phase?

[Chris K.]

Do you have a preference on fishing a particular moon phase? Is there a phase you try to avoid? Would you book a trip with attention to the moon phase? It seems angler opinion and articles by experts vary as widely as anecdotal experiences.

Years ago my friends and I were in our 20's and we targeted east breaking tides on the Cape Cod Canal to catch early morning stripers busting on the surface...it worked much of the time. Big poppers, big fish! It also meant that hitting that tide coincided with the full moon. Fishing for the first few hours of the day was incredible however it was tough work to get a bite after that which led to us flying around the cape looking for more big fish. A week later no full moon, we found fish elsewhere but that AM east tide was gone.

So the verdict for me always seemed to be the moon was blessing a curse rolled together. However, how do the fish see it? Does it matter for one species but not for others. Is it location? Cape Cod has some whacky tides which the moon drives but I have to wonder if it matters on the equator....?

I'd love to hear opinions from Mr. D and others on this forum.

Go Fish!

Chris

[dahlberg]

There is no question about the effect of the moon. The exact effect varies greatly depending on whether you are in fresh or salt water and depending on the calendar period as it relates to spawning of both predators and prey.
The best place to read about it is in a book called Moon Up Moon Down by John Alden Knight, the originator of Solunar Theory.
best,
L

[Steve T]

I know for a fact PEOPLE go a little crazy during full moons.

Fishing...............Some of my best fishing (stripers) was at night, no moon, using anything black. Black and silver bombers expecially.

[twoturnin]

I love the Garmin forecaster(LUNAR and SOLAR) ---also CASIO makes a fishing watch forecaster for $36 at WALMART that works great too----used to think the phase stuff was a bunch of HOOooie-----NOT NOW

[YakMan]

Weather.com has a little app on their site regarding moon phase and activity. Here is a link to one of my favorite areas. While I check this site before going out, I have no idea how accurate it is - I've done well and poorly on days that looked great. A waning crescent seems to be a time when I see the highest peaks on their graphs... The bottom line is you still need to find the fish and have the right presentation.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreati ... ng_welcome

YakMan