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Posts: 34
| I'm still new to this game and always trying to learn.
Wondering how you guys go about fishing around the sun and moon rise/set times.
Do you try and fish at specific times?
How long before and after those times?
Any other times or periods you look for??
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks. |
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Posts: 243
Location: South Central Wisconsin | Times are important but, change is more important. What I mean by this is, a change of light, current, wind, ect. No matter how bad the day is, as soon as the sun sets, things can happen. Always pay attention to what is going on around you and when something changes, learn to notice it. |
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Posts: 20180
Location: oswego, il | I do not put much stock in moon phases. Every once in awhile fish will be active during a peak time. More often than not it makes no difference. Case in point, last time I was out prime time was full moon underfoot. We had a dozen fish up that day, none during that period. Rarely do I find a spike in fish activity during the "peak" time. Sunrise and set, weather changes, bank on those.
Edited by ToddM 6/1/2016 5:48 PM
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Posts: 154
Location: MN | This weekend is the MN muskie opener. The solunar times show good fishing, new moon is Saturday. The morning minor is at day break then a midday major and a evening major at dusk. I will be fishing at all of those times for sure.
I pay close attention to solunar times and will always on my best spots or raised fish during those times. |
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Posts: 88
| I agree with what Todd said. Most of the time it hasn't helped as much as say a change in the weather. There has been a couple times where I have noticed a spike in fish activity, but it was at the same time as a weather front moving through. So in short, I care more about what the weather is doing than the moon |
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | Moon phases are generally only important to me during very stable weather. If any change in the weather is forecast, I'll try to use that to plan my day. Storm front coming through? Fish it hard! No storm front? Hit your best spots as the wind is changing or the temperature is dropping. Changing barometric pressure is also huge. And last but not least, sunup and sundown |
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Posts: 860
Location: NE Ohio | just get out and fish anytime you can and give them heck! |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | Moon time is very important, and I think it affects bigger fish moreso than smaller fish. That said, moon is trumped by "local" conditions such as weather, temp, pressure, light, etc. I've caught my biggest fish and more than one fiddy-plus on the moon. |
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Posts: 34
| Born - 6/1/2016 6:39 PM
This weekend is the MN muskie opener. The solunar times show good fishing, new moon is Saturday. The morning minor is at day break then a midday major and a evening major at dusk. I will be fishing at all of those times for sure.
I pay close attention to solunar times and will always on my best spots or raised fish during those times.
Your times appear to be the same here in southern Ontario. Saturday is our opener as well.
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Posts: 285
Location: NE Wisconsin | First of...nothing always works, or there would be no fish left in the lake.
Always fish when ever you can.
But always be aware of moon and sun positions.
Especially, with larger fish.
When moon and sun positions are right, be on a proven BIG fish spot.
When you have combinations of moon, sun, weather and wind all the better.
If you have a choice, fish when the moon is down. I have lakes where there has to be great weather thing going on to trump moon up. Most fish are caught when moon is down.
Unpressured or unconditioned fish are stupid and bite when ever. Pressured fish are a different thing all together.
Full moon is time to fish days, the moon is down most of the day. Also fish early and late in the day. Early moon is going down as sun comes up and in the evening the moon is coming up as the sun goes down. Also, there is often a wind change at these times, either rising wind in the morning or switching to calm at sunset.
New Moon is a better time to night fish. The moon is up during the day and down at night. Again, morning and evening is a good time to fish because of a rising moon and rising sun in the morn and a setting sun and moon in the evening.
Fish all you can, but be aware of what is going on around you, and go to big fish spots when any combo of moon, sun, weather and wind change. Not just direction change, but also, wind to calm or calm to a breeze.
You need to be more aware of where the moon is, up or down, rather then what is moon phase. There is more to it then just phase.
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Posts: 759
Location: Ames, Iowa | I like the way Randy said it. Pay attn to changes. I fish Leech a lot in August and I look for any changes in atmospheric conditions like weather, light, long periods of excessive heat, clouds, wind and its affect on different parts of the lake- and water conditions like waves, water clarity, temp, bottom, weeds, bullrushes- and the shore conditions like overhang, rock, sand, mud, wood. And I change lures often to show something different. I'm usually throwing a topwater. One of the boys like tails and the other likes cranks. Perfect. |
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Posts: 271
Location: davis,IL | I agree with what has been said. I've caught my biggest fish during 1st quarter and full moon periods...but weather and conditions trump all. |
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Posts: 95
| a VERY wise and great muskie fisherman said in a seminar "You give me the last hour of the day and the first hour of sunset; I will give you the other 22 hours; I will out fish you almost every single day!" Looking for change in weather / as well as sunset and rise, is your best shot at managing times, and optimizing time on the water!!! |
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Posts: 611
Location: Seymour, WI | I've seen correlations between the daily major and minor times and fish and game activity too many times to ignore it. If you gave me a choice between fishing during the daily major or any other time during the day, I would choose the major every time. When the major occurs near sunrise or sunset, the correlation seems even stronger and I see the increase in activity in both muskies and whitetail deer during the daily major and minor. I consider them to be feeding times for animals.
Grass, |
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Location: Contrarian Island | as others have said, get out and fish when you can. Muskies are very unpredictable..they can be going nuts when they 'shouldn't be' and not be very active when they 'should be'. That said, every time I am on the water I look for any moonset/rise/overhead/underfoot times as you want to be ON fish you have moved at those times or at least on a good spot... anyone that says the moon doesn't effect fish...well, they simply don't fish enough, and /or catch many big ones.. 
Edited by BNelson 6/2/2016 1:29 PM
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Posts: 135
| Yes. Also, more effect on larger fish.
Vinson MR, Angradi TR (2014) Muskie Lunacy: Does the Lunar Cycle Influence Angler Catch of Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)? PLoS ONE 9(5): e98046. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098046
Conclusion
Hanson et al. [20] stated in 2008 that “there was no conclusive scientific study to support claims that temperate sport fish behavior varies… in response to changing lunar periods in a manner that increases the likelihood of capturing fish via recreational angling.” Alas, because we have limited effort data, our study is not conclusive. We have shown, however, that angler catch of muskellunge is strongly related to the lunar cycle. This occurs, at least in part, because muskellunge feeding behavior is synchronized with the lunar cycle – that the observed patterns in angler catch do not simply reflect biased (non-random) angler effort. We have noted several sources of variation in the lunar pattern including, latitude, time of day, month, and fish size that seem to us evidence of biological mediation of the lunar effect.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.00...
Edited by Glaucus_ 6/2/2016 2:04 PM
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Posts: 154
Location: MN | Yesterday during the MN Metro tournament there were 527 participants, fishing about 20 or more different lakes rivers and reservoirs, 75% or more of the fish caught were during the solunar times.
For me I plan my time on the water accordingly. |
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Posts: 49
| Best time to fish is whenever you can |
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Posts: 612
| I have noticed a sudden marked improvement in fishing just before a thunderstorm or a heavy rain. As for new moons seem to have helped at times, but secondary at best. Unpredictable critters, seen them bite in the middle of the day under gin clear conditions in mid moon periods. |
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