Moon Phases

[Madden]

Just beginning to pay attention to moon phases and best time for fishing.
In the past I have seen those calanders with the fish icons on them for best/worst days to to fish... has anyone used these to guide them on days to fish? Reliable? I gather these icons relate to moon phases? Of course, now that I am interested I cannot locate one of these calanders! Anyone know of a good source. Input welcome.

[lightnstrike]

I believe the state journal posts them in there outdoors page on thursdays also can find one on lake-link or I look at the on on yahoo weather page, just go to extended forcast then click on outdoors on top of page, click fishing then look for fishing forcast on the next page click on that. I use it alot to pick my times to fish, sometimes works weather conditions will make or break everything.

[D.W.]

While I have at times noticed a connection between Moon Phases and fishing, I've been confused in the past by different sources of information. One night I collected a couple of different magazines and compared them with the calender you mentioned, and Lake Link and they were all had different opinions about how good the fishing would be for the next weekend. I also think if a super high pressure system comes thru all bets are off no matter what they say. Just my opinion. If anyone has spent more time looking into this connection I would be interested in learning what they've found. I go when I can and hope for the best. Later D.W.

[Muskie Nut]

Local weather always trumps moon phases.

[fishboy]

Have seen some incredible days on Wingra at full moon in the fall.Never noticed it with other times of the year.

[Randy W]

Posted above was a comment about local weather trumps moon phase. I have been using the combination of moon phase and pressure stage for years to understand HOW the fish will respond to it.

Looking at it in a totally different way. You need to break down what your target species is by its rank on the food chain Predator/Prey. So, I'll relate this to Predator hunting. Coyotes, at the top of the chain, will become most active in total darkness. They can spread out in open field, and hunt a larger, more vast area because they are not exposed by the bright full moon. Now, combine that with the back side of a low pressure zone, and you have high winds. Now that vast area is still available for them to hunt, but the sense of smell is concentrated. The strike zone becomes much smaller.

Same senario with a high pressure. They don't just shut off, they just relate to the structure or their enviroment differently. So instead of having a top water bite, because the conditions say fish should be feeding aggresively, they make be feeding aggressively at sub-surface or 20fow & 5' off the bottom.

I prefer fishing the full moon myself. Fish tend to concentrate more on "spot-on-the-spot" type structure. It requires a more finesse type presentation, but usually you catch a large number of fish in a very small area.

Siting an example of walleyes in a mid-summer pattern on a clear water lake in northern WI. On a new moon night, in total darkness, walleyes will come up tight to the shoreline. If you take a spot light out, you will see them spread out as a few here and there all along the shore. Typicaly, a crank bait bite will be awesome as the fish will chase down its prey over shallow flats along the shore. A couple of weeks later during a full moon, you can shine that same shore with a spot light and see nothing or maybe just a few dinks. However, an ajacent hump in 16'fow with sand grass will be on fire as it seems every walleye in the lake is in that one spot. Now those fish, will most likely not chase a crank bait into to open water column. Swimming a jig that will allow the fish to stay in the confinement of the sand grass will get hammered while in the grass. Come 2' above the grass and nothing. All related to moon phase and pressure.

Prey fish will change their habits based on what the predator are doing and the pressure. Again, its a matter of understanding how they locate themselves based on the conditions.

Anyways, thats what works for me