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Posts: 186
| Always hear about the moon cycles and fish, have you noticed the same results say full moon when sky is completely cloudy or rainy? Thinking back in my past regardless of species it always seemed to be a dead zone so to speak when a full moon hits but doesn't shine. Have any of you noticed this too? |
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Posts: 377
| I have not experienced heavy clouds blocking a full moon negatively affect my fishing. I believe the impact of moon phases are driven by the gravitational impact of the moon in relation to the earth more than the light of a full moon. The amount of light might affect the lure I choose. Heavy rain might be a different story. |
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Location: oswego, il | Weather will trump the moon I would be paying more attention to that and the barometer. |
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Posts: 103
Location: ITALY | ToddM - 5/21/2021 5:42 PM
Weather will trump the moon I would be paying more attention to that and the barometer.
I agree .... I have noticed several times that even if I am in the presence of a favorable lunar cycle but there is a sudden cold front, the activity still stops or slows down a lot |
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Posts: 1973
| no..just the reverse actually, bright full moon up ..clear skies generally equal poor muskie fishing for me |
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Posts: 120
Location: Twin Cities Metro | The moon cycle affects the behavior of anglers far more than it affects the behavior of muskies. |
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Location: Vilas | RobertK - 5/21/2021 11:48 PM
The moon cycle affects the behavior of anglers far more than it affects the behavior of muskies.
I have to disagree 100% with this comment |
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Posts: 186
| I asked this question because in my limited experience I've fished every possible situation of moon cycle and have not seen any difference. As far as the gravitational effect whether it's full or not the moon is still there so I'm not sure how much that would change, I wondered that myself. I also wonder if its a monthly cycle like females menstrual cycle. The fish that I've seen caught during that time do seem a little angrier lol. Fished alot of time focusing on afternoons thru sunset with moon rise and overhead with beautiful weather, storms approaching, during rain ( various severity) , post storms, cloudy skies, mixed clouds. I have also done the same thing with sunrise all the way thru sunset on really long days. The only time with activity that stands out is around sunset regardless of any other factors weather wise. The only 2 things I've seen in common was sun setting and baitfish rising to the surface. Fishing from the bank I'm limited on the areas I can fish, I mainly have to focus on the top 10 feet of the water column and within 70 yards from the shore which probably plays into that as well. Was just trying to figure out some peak situations that might help with activity. Thanks
Edited by Muskyrookie 5/22/2021 11:14 AM
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Location: Chisholm, MN | Doesn’t have much to do with cloud cover. It’s about the gravity. The cloud cover makes fish bite better typically. Add a full or new moon to it and it’s just that much better. |
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Posts: 186
| Kirby Budrow - 5/22/2021 12:30 PM
Doesn’t have much to do with cloud cover. It’s about the gravity. The cloud cover makes fish bite better typically. Add a full or new moon to it and it’s just that much better.
That's what I would expect too. Last September I was out for the full moon on a completely cloudy night where you could barely see the moon, in the middle of the week at the river where alot of fish gather. Walleye,muskie,pike,smallmouth, catfish,shad,bluegill,drum,carp, everything in the system. I got there about 6pm and stayed until 2am and didn't even see a single fish swimming along the banks or surface. I was the only one there or in visible area the entire time. Blew my mind!!! It was muggy with a slight breeze because the 2 Following days were full of storms and rain. Should have been a perfect scenario.
2 weeks prior I did the same thing on new moon. same area, same circumstances but storms were less severe. It was so dark I could only see lights across the river. Had a headlamp on to see if I had any follows but saw absolutely nothing, not even minnows .
Now the week in between and week after when the moon was at 1/4 each way I released a catfish I caught ( 20" 2 1/2lbs ) and a muskie smashed it about 20 feet in front of me. The othe week a beaver that frequently swam the bank got destroyed. It was about 8lbs or so, size of a small dog.. those both happened with no weather in calm conditions. |
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Location: oswego, il | I have seen the moon make fish go nuts. I have seen the right moon at the right time make fish not eat. Even caught them on those days at off times in stable weather.
The question was about moon and clouds. To me clouds is weather and weather trump's the moon. I would watch the barometer on those days and be on your best spots when the barometer is moving. The moon would be secondary consideration unless you have the moon and barometer lining up. |
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Posts: 186
| Thanks for the replies. I'll just keep casting and see when and where and with what around does to the fishing and try to repeat when I find some success. The other day the shad were surfacing and bass and muskies were blowing up on them. I caught a few bass and then decided to toss out a big mama walking bait ( tons of last years dead weeds still around ) and a good sized fish jump outta the water after it but completely missed ( I was sad ?? lol ) I was casting directly into the sunset so I couldn't get a great look but what I saw was about 2 foot worth of fish, the rest never came out of the water. It was either a giant bass 8+ lbs or 40"+ muskie. I stayed until it was too dark to see but only ended up with 1 more bass. Never saw another muskie presence. That was with completely clear skies, high 80s transitioning into nightfall.
I went out and tried again last night and with similar Temps with slight cloud cover and barely any activity happening at all. Both had 1/4 moon visible from rise to overhead. Only ended up with 1 2lb prespawn bass. Chunky lil girl lol. Seemed more like it was all dependent on where the shad were. I saw a few 8-12" shad fleeing for their lives so something sizable was chasing them lol. That bass I caught yesterday was on a grandma 6" jerkbait in shad pattern. In fact all the bass I caught over those 2 days were prespawn girls, didn't catch any males which I found surprising. The biggest being a 5lber on a newly bought leo lures shayla shad ( nice bait ). Most still had red lips so they were fresh from cold deeper water. I would think that the activity should be getting good for muskies with that activity getting going and a full moon a few days away but expected rain. From past experiences do they (tigers) hang around shallow bays while other fish are coming up to spawn looking for easy meals? Thanks again |
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| As stated above weather trumps moon! Never caught a Muskie while sitting on a bar stool or in town, keep your lures wet. |
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Posts: 186
| chuckski - 5/23/2021 2:29 PM
As stated above weather trumps moon! Never caught a Muskie while sitting on a bar stool or in town, keep your lures wet.
Lol but you always hear about record fish that were caught with no proof.
I took the weekend off letting the weekend morons have their fun. I'll be back out there this week though. Gonna be hot and muggy for this time of year with possible thunderstorms.. Any certain tactics or lake depth advice would be appreciated. Skeeters been out in full force so far. Don't think we had any big dieoffs this winter. Gonna be a long pants and long sleeve sweating kinda year. |
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| Muskyrookie - 5/23/2021 8:45 PM
chuckski - 5/23/2021 2:29 PM
As stated above weather trumps moon! Never caught a Muskie while sitting on a bar stool or in town, keep your lures wet.
Lol but you always hear about record fish that were caught with no proof.
I took the weekend off letting the weekend morons have their fun. I'll be back out there this week though. Gonna be hot and muggy for this time of year with possible thunderstorms.. Any certain tactics or lake depth advice would be appreciated. Skeeters been out in full force so far. Don't think we had any big dieoffs this winter. Gonna be a long pants and long sleeve sweating kinda year.
Ok, kiddo. Masters who catch and release big fish don't talk about it. They don't want those fish and those waters to be spoiled by crowds.
Weekend morons are just other people enjoying the water in a way different from you and me. But, those folks can be VERY useful because they create a structure that wasn't there before. Ski boats blasting over surface fish draws predators. Like, in WI, MN and MI, come midsummer and you see the bluegills so far up on the surface their backs are out of the water? Well, two choices at least. First, troll fast, same path as the ski boats, with baits running about 6' down. Second, hold your boat just inside the line of the pleasure boats and cast the #*#* out of spoons; throw them a mile and bring them back fast, just below the surface.
I once lived on a little 80acre lake. Took a kid out pike fishing early morning, 4th of July. By 10am we caught maybe 10 decent pike between 25 and 35". Trolling largest size Risto Raps (plum color). Just after 10am the lake became CRAZY with ski boats, ****ing crazy, no kidding. The bite went nuts for us at first, our fish became 35-40", one after another. Then it shut off. We had been dragging those big Ristos at about 15'. Once the bite shut off we shifted gears, started dragging the baits pretty much just behind the boat, maybe 6-8' deep. Boom, we caught the biggest fish of the day for the next hour. The pike had come way up. We boated 3-4 pike in the low 40's and around 1pm we called it quits, wore out by the ski boats yelling at us.
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Posts: 120
Location: Twin Cities Metro | I am curious what people believe the size of the moon effect is. In other words, if all other factors are equal (weather, sunrise/sunset, etc...) by how much does your catch rate vary for moon compared to non-moon times, as a percentage?
As an example, if I caught 1.0 muskie per hour on average over a whole season, what would be my catch rate during the hour of moon? A 10% effect would be 1.1 muskies per hour for moon, for example. Yes, I know the catch rate I give in my example is pretty high, but it is for illustrative purposes.
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Location: oswego, il | RobertK - 5/27/2021 11:10 PM
I am curious what people believe the size of the moon effect is. In other words, if all other factors are equal (weather, sunrise/sunset, etc...) by how much does your catch rate vary for moon compared to non-moon times, as a percentage?
As an example, if I caught 1.0 muskie per hour on average over a whole season, what would be my catch rate during the hour of moon? A 10% effect would be 1.1 muskies per hour for moon, for example. Yes, I know the catch rate I give in my example is pretty high, but it is for illustrative purposes.
I have seen the moon mean everything. I can remember a time we put 10 in the boat around a moon phase. I have seen prime moons mean nothing. I can remember a time having a major moon phase with stabile weather and we only caught fish in the lulls. I have never caught or seen a fish on October full moon rise even though it usually coresponds with sunset.
My favorite moon would be new moon underfoot and any moon below the skyline.
Edited by ToddM 5/28/2021 12:48 AM
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Posts: 357
| i too would agree weather trumps moon.
that being said being said i do my best to be casting or trolling during peak times and do plan a day around them. my schedule does not allow me to always pick moon phases to fish, but i can always maximize the moon on days i do get to fish. |
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Posts: 455
| I've fished enough bass tournaments to know that moonrise affects muskies. We could go the whole day catching bass and then moonrise happens then all of a sudden we have muskie on. It doesn't happen all the time obviously but enough to stick out in my memory. The moon underfoot thing is an important one to pay attention to as well. I generally don't like a full moon unless its for spawning largemouth in the spring. |
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Location: E. Tenn | I just might hit the water uber early...
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@5251171 |
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Posts: 186
| I hear that, might just drive the fish crazy having that happen around sunrise. |
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Posts: 861
Location: NE Ohio | imo weather always trumps the moon phase, but clouds are always a welcoming sign for me, no negative affect noticed. i always try to be on the water 3 days before and 3 days after the full and new moons (retired). always pay attention to the overhead, underfoot, rise, and set. in the long run it does make a difference but a front will spoil your plans. |
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Posts: 186
| I made it out to the water at 5:20 just before the eclipse on Thursday. Conditions were about 65 degrees, in between storms we've been having all week, heavy fog, completely calm and warmer water. I picked out a shallow cove that has tons of weeds and was the only one out there fishing. While visibility was at about 50 ft or so I could hear them start to bust on bait. Everything was pretty calm and quiet but as soon as the daylight started to creep towards being able to see ALL of the wildlife started to get active. I had a beaver swim by, turtles started to surface and purpose, the birds were flocking and making all kinds of noise, the cranes were out in full force,, the bats were dive bombing on the surface, baitfish were jumping all over, and then it began!! Big bodies and splashes started happening, but it was across the other side of the lake about 3 cast lengths away. For about 2 hours I must've seen 15-20 muskies bust out of the surface chasing baitfish but never getting closer than 2 casts away. Where they were at had no shoreline access so I couldn't go over. I hoped they would eventually bring the action over my way but it never happened, they had that bait pinned pretty good, worked as a team keeping it that way. It was exciting to see but sucked because I had no way of reaching them. After a couple hours it died off and I packed my gear, got in my truck and started to leave when in a different cove I saw them busting again. This time in an extremely shallow bay 1-3ft. I parked, grabbed my gear, and went after them again. Unfortunately it was the same situation, 2-3 cast lengths away with nothing I could do but cast. A few times I was able to get within 40ft or so but never closer. They were active for about 5 hours busting on bait so I would say it was a good time to be ON the water. Unfortunately I wasn't ON it I was beside it, heartbroken for sure but I learned a good deal from that , that I can take forward. It was so foggy that I never did see the eclipse but that combined with the weather definitely had them fired up and active. I hope some of yinz got to take advantage of it because if you could get close to em it would've been a good day for sure. |
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Posts: 8732
| I wouldn't obsess over it too much. More often that not the solunar periods come and go with no apparent change in the fishing. But I've seen days when all our action corresponded with them and enough times where I believe it has merit.
Best thing is be on the water when those special tines happen. A major solunar period doesn't do you much good if it happens at 3:00 am.
For me the biggest consistent influence has been moonrise. Again, if that happens when your sleeping it the cabin or sitting in the bar, it wont do you much good.
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