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Posts: 7
| Did anyone notice any signifcant action during any particular moon phases this past year? For me, I had a little more action when moon rise was near sunset around the full moon but overall it was pretty random. |
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Posts: 1296
Location: WI | Moonrise during the new moon. Usually I only knew if it was full or new and just fished when I could. If we had action I checked the rise/set times later and a lot of the time we had action during the moonrise.
I'm a believer but I don't live and die by it, I just fish when I can and maybe try and fish longer during the 3 days before and after the peak phases. |
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| There was an approx 5 minute window between sunrise and moonrise this past Monday and I was on the water just prior. I rigged a sucker and started casting and within 2 minutes in that specific window I caught a 38inch fish out of 20 feet of water on the sucker. Pretty neat when you think about it. My schedule doesn't allow selecting moon phases to fish.....I have to fish when I can. I fished this entire past week and caught 2 other fish besides the one above. The other 2 were not related to a sun/moon phase. I saw many low/slow follows this week and the one thing missing that I had hoped for was a low barometer. |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | JKahler - 11/20/2009 8:33 PM
I'm a believer but I don't live and die by it, I just fish when I can and maybe try and fish longer during the 3 days before and after the peak phases.
Exactly. I've seen more action relative to the sun though. I've caught numerous (including my PB this year) fish within five minutes of sunset or sunrise; usually before. |
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Posts: 20
| I did well on the 15th of November near sunset. MS was about 3:20 and SS was about 5:30. ( I think) I got two in that period (41" and 30").
Edited by MtAiryEd 11/23/2009 8:33 PM
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Posts: 556
| Nov 1 , this season---Got a 48 incher within 10 minutes of moonrise and followed it up with a 36 incher just minutes later---This was after approx 6 hrs of fishing prior to monnrise with absolutely no action at all. I also fish when I can and don't live and die by the times but I seem to want to be on my best locations when the time is near???? For me -- weather conditions are really more important--But I do beieve in the RISE AND SET THEORY. |
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Posts: 8835
| Planned an entire season around the moon phases a few years back... I even printed out the majors and minors, carried them with me in my pocket.
Worst season I've ever had. Granted, 30 or so days of fishing isn't much to base anything on, but I went into that season prepared to document every follow, every fish, the time, how many minutes from moonrise, moon overhead, sunover/moon under...
I think I had 13 fishless days in a row that year. Days and days would go by, days and times that were supposed to be the best fishing I had ever seen, 10 hour days on the water without even SEEING a fish, again and again...
I'm not saying that there is no correlation between feeding windows and solunar influences, not at all. I believe it makes some difference. But there are many things that are more important than that. |
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| esoxaddict - 11/24/2009 1:32 AM
Planned an entire season around the moon phases a few years back... I even printed out the majors and minors, carried them with me in my pocket.
Worst season I've ever had. Granted, 30 or so days of fishing isn't much to base anything on, but I went into that season prepared to document every follow, every fish, the time, how many minutes from moonrise, moon overhead, sunover/moon under...
I think I had 13 fishless days in a row that year. Days and days would go by, days and times that were supposed to be the best fishing I had ever seen, 10 hour days on the water without even SEEING a fish, again and again...
I'm not saying that there is no correlation between feeding windows and solunar influences, not at all. I believe it makes some difference. But there are many things that are more important than that.
I totally agree with you. Everyone mentions when they get a fish near a rise or set to prove some significance, but never mention when a fish comes just based on right time/right place. |
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| Great topic! I hear alot that people are on there favorite lake in their best big fish spot during both the sun and moon rise and sets. It would prove a point of people where in a random location without a big fish history and all of a sudden the fish started going nuts during a moon phase. The best spots have a tendancy to be good all the time not just during moon phases. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | I've don't remember seeing any correlation between moon phases and fishing quality, in fact I'd go so far as to say that I've had my worst fishing during the supposedly hot phases, especially full moon. I've noticed that I get some of the crappiest fishing weather during a full moon period, whether by chance or not, and that by itself is enough to kill the fishing.
Now as to moon position, that is entirely different. I've seen this pay off time and time again. I was lucky enough to hear Tom Gelb do an open water seminar in which he said that the only time the moon position trumped the weather was in open water situations. He also talked about moon overhead and underfoot, the 90 degree differences to setting and rising. Since then I've looked back at some of our greatest days on the water and a number of fish that I thought were caught completely off prime times turned out to be very close to a moon overhead. Could be coincidence or maybe not, it's just the way it was. Will I change my fishing because of this? No. I go out and pound every good spot I can find in an order dictated by convenience of travel. I still try to be on a spot where I've seen good fish in the last day or two, if I have such a spot, whenever the sun/moon is rising/setting. But if the opportunity presents itself to work one of my better spots during moon overhead, I sure would make an effort be there at that time.
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Accidental double post. Sorry!
Edited by Almost-B-Good 11/24/2009 8:51 AM
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Posts: 1061
Location: Medford, WI | DJS: "I hear alot that people are on there favorite lake in their best big fish spot during both the sun and moon rise and sets. It would prove a point of people where in a random location without a big fish history and all of a sudden the fish started going nuts during a moon phase. The best spots have a tendancy to be good all the time not just during moon phases."
I understand what you're saying as far as the best spots are going to have fish on them all/most of the time; however, I would argue that you are much more likely to have one bite during the primetimes. This happened quite a bit this year where we would hit the best looking point/structure on the lake several times throughout the day, but the only time we had action and got fish from those places were within 15 minutes of moonrise. So, I definitely have seen positive affects from the moon periods.
With that being said, I do think that some of the numbers/stats thrown out there are getting a little ridiculous. Claiming to have caught 70-80% of their fish within an hour of the 4 different moon positions (rise, set, overhead, underfoot). If you think about it, an hour within each period gives you 2 hours x 4 periords ; so you're at 8 hours that could count during this time everyday. Not saying i don't believe that people are catching many of their fish during those windows, just pointing out that a 2 hour window for each period is rather large to base something off of. What do I know though.
I also remember listening to Jim Saric give a seminar and mention how him and Tom Gelb have had opposite results between the moon and big fish so I thought that was interesting. Sooooo many variables...
-Jake |
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Posts: 667
Location: Roscoe IL | Best times for me have alway's been very early in the morning. Didn't matter what the moon phase was, but not keeping track of that is kinda foolish on my part. Fish from sun up to sun down when i'm on the water, the dawn without question out produces any other time of day. That said, my biggest fish came on a sunny bluebird day around 3pm in the afternoon. What doe's all this mean? Fish all day & all night..!
Edited by ToothyCritter 11/24/2009 5:02 PM
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Posts: 20
| >>>What doe's all this mean? Fish all day & all night..!
There you go!! |
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Location: Contrarian Island | no, it means be on big fish spots at moonrise and set....moon phases to me I don't watch AS much as set/rise...do I think a new moon and full moon are great times to be on the water..yes..you also might want to watch each months Perigee..aka big fish day.
One of Gelbs biggest fish came within minutes of moon rise..and he is quoted as saying he got a bunch of big fish one fall stretch all within the hour around moon rise.... and he also is quoted as saying that is no coincedence...
moon phases are just an added factor..the biggest thing to watch and be on a good fish or spot is set/rise....just stacks the odds a touch more in your favor...many big fish me and others have caught have been within minutes, sometimes seconds of a moon rise or set....not coincedence
Edited by BNelson 12/4/2009 8:09 PM
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Posts: 581
| I’ve caught some flack from some buddies, Brad included, for not being much of a “moon believer”. In truth, it’s not that I’m “not a believer”…it’s more that I’m just not AS MUCH of a believer.
There were several instances this past season where, on an otherwise fishless day, I boated fish within minutes of a moon event (moonrise, moonset). I kept track in fairly detailed fashion of my catches this year, and in years past as well, and I can say with quite a bit of certainty that for every fish that I've caught within minutes of a moon event, there were at least 10 other times that I was on the water during a moon event, and nothing transpired.
My point has always been that, if there is a strong correlation between a moon event and a fish feeding opportunity, why is it that so often nothing happens? Why do we give credit to the moon event when something happens, yet not discredit the moon event when nothing happens? I know that most will say “weather trumps moon”, but then still, it doesn’t make sense in my mind, logically, because if we are allowed to discredit the moon due to weather when nothing happens, why do we give credit to the moon instead of the weather when something does happen?
Now, I’m not saying that it’s purely coincidental that Brad, and the Joe Bucher’s and Tom Gelb’s of the world have caught big fish on otherwise fishless days within moments of moon events. I’ve had those experiences too. All I’m saying is that, in terms of a moon event creating a discernable advantage, it can be pretty hit or miss, and according to my experiences, mostly miss.
But, I do believe it is creates an advantage at least a small percentage of the time, and I will continue to use it by being on my best fish spot during a moon event. Even if only approximately 10% of the time it creates the advantage, I’d argue that it’s a 10% advantage that no one should ignore, and I certainly try to use it every time I can.
I know that there are a lot of guys who are way better fishermen than me who disagree with some of my views, and I could be totally wrong, but at least that’s how I’m presently looking at it. I'm most likely overthinking things, but unfortunately that is how my brain seems to work.
Bottom line: trust Brad's advice, above, and be on your best spot during moonrises and moonsets.
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Posts: 91
| In the summer I seem to see or catch fish when moon rise is 2 hours or less before sunset, seeing a good number of fish when moonrise is within one hour of sunset. |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | This past week I saw the "Major" time work big time. On Monday I contacted five fish during the major period. Three follows, one hit, and one fish actually jumped out of the water and caught the bait in the air as I was dunking my Dawg getting the weeds off! I went back the next day to fish the major again; about an hour later than the day before, and same thing. I boated a 47, and a guy in another boat boated a 46 right behind me in about a 20 minute period of time.
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| Keep in mind, in order for any environmental or lunar occurrence to have a positive effect on your muskie fishing results, you must be presenting your lure(s) to a muskie at the time of that environmental or lunar occurrence. For example, let's say you fish one of your best spots at moonrise 10 days in a row and only catch a muskie 1 day out of those 10. Well, you can either say that moonrise only has a positive influence 10% of the time...or maybe, you only presented, or put your lure in a muskie's strike zone in 1 out of those 10 days at moonrise. So, does moon have a positive effect on your results only 10% of the time, or is your lure in "the zone" only 10% of the time? Probably a little of both I would think. It's very hard, in my opinion, to form any cold hard factual evidence based on percentages and numbers with muskies in general being a fish of such low density and so many other variables at play.
After all my scientific study and deep thinking when it comes to muskie fishing I have concluded one thing...I know nothing about muskies.  |
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Location: Contrarian Island | while i will agree w that to some degree, I, and many others have seen where for example you are not on your best spot at a set /rise....you have had ZERO action for hours and hours on end...and then precisely at moon rise or set you get a hit from a big fish....that has happened to me and many others...I know a MN guide who has some crazy stories of action at right at set/rise...I just don't chalk that up to chance... |
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| Here on the Niagara River durring the summer months and heavy boat traffic the night bite is best durring the new moon phase.Durring the full moon phase the best bite windows are after sunset just before the moon rises from behind the tree tops and just before sunrise when the moon drops behind the tree tops.The rest of the time I spend less time looking at moon phases and look more at barometric pressure swings along with wind direction.
Capt. Larry |
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| We most likely are to see larger fish on the Fox Chain before the full moon and action, but a low pressure sysytem has also been the key.
This day was a few days before the full moon. 11/29/2009.
Edited by MuskyFix 12/6/2009 3:18 PM
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| I had the opportunity to be a judge boat at one of Paul Hartman's tournaments on Vermilion a couple of years back. I have always paid attention to Moon events and to Major/Minors, but at this event it was really driven home to me.
I think there was something like 50+ teams spread all across Vermilion, I was in charge of checking fish on the west end of the lake. I could also hear anyone that called in a fish anywhere on the lake. During the tournament I think it was something like 50 fish caught with 8 over 50" up to 54". There would be periods when no one was catching fish, then someone would call one in and there would be 4 or five more people calling in fish at the same time. There was NEVER a time that there was only one fish called in. When the window was open, people were catching fish all across the lake! Then the window would shut and it would a while before the window opened up.
I went back to my records and you could clearly see that all of the big fish (49" and bigger) came during a moon event (moon underfoot). The "smaller" fish mostly came during Barometric changes.
So it looks to me like everyone is right to a degree. However,when it comes to big fish- they are a different animal. For that reason, I fish hard always, but pay special attention to peak times. All to often that is when someone misses a nice fish,because they were not paying attention.I bet there are many times that all of us have missed an opportunity at a fish during a moon event and it never got recorded properly in a journal. That would skew your results.
Just my observation,
Joe
Trueglide.com
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