Moon Phase And Its Importance To Bass Fishing.

[Refined N Focused]

How important is having a knowledge of Moon Phase, as it relates to fishing for bas?. What is to be determined, and what is the correlation if any to weather conditions?

[whale]

Here is a way I keep it simple, for bass to eat at night they need the light of the moon to see, so if there is a nice full moon at night they have been eating all night so they next day they are not as hungry. If its a new moon with no moonlight for bass to see then they wake up hungry. I think a cloudy morning or evening after a new moon. If I was to plan a trip and had my pick of days, I look into the days after a new moon. I check it out. Moon Phase is not the only factor so I wouldn't cancel a trip because of it. some people as look at solunar table barometric pressure, but I think that's less of a factor.

Below is a good free site I check sometimes, but I don't take it to serious, I fish when I can and let the dice roll.

http://www.usprimetimes.com/7day.html?msg=

[whale]

also, the reason I think cloudy days are better is because Bass hide out of the rang of UV light, so on a cloudy day the UV light does not penetrate the water as deep and make the shadow area where bass hide from UV light much larger. this makes the strike zone larger and the likely hood of my bait fall in that zone higher, also if the night before was cloudy, this may have hid the moon light making for a hunger bass with a larger strike zone.

[J Francho]

It's often wayyyyy down on my list of things to consider when fishing. Lower than even the color of the bait I'm using.

[deaknh03]

I don't worry about it either. It is a factor, but if you can get on the water, just do it! The fish will bite if you have what they want and present it correctly, full moon or not.

[Jig Man]

I have kept meticulous records for years and the phase of the moon is one of the items that I log after each trip. The phase of the moon is most important to me when I am night fishing. I like the week before and up to 3 nights after the full moon.

Frontal conditions, wind speed and wind direction play a much bigger role for me than moon phase.

[NEjitterbugger]

Last year I actually did a science project on that last year for my science class... My experiment was based on the moon phase and whetther this had an effect on fishes activity, I did not come out with any conclusive evidence that suggested that fish were more active during certain moon phases after about 3 months of testing...

~Got an A+ on the presentation and report.... The easiest A+ ever (fishing for school LOL!)

[Mike L]

I've allways read and been told that a few day's before and a few days after a full moon are the prime times to fish...As Jigman said

The worst is the day it's full.

Is it something I plan trips or tournaments around...No

Mike

[WRB]

There isn't any scientific proof that moon phase has a direct affect on bass feeding activities and a lot of reports to prove that point of view. There is little scientific proof that bass behavior is based on any repeatable pattern, other than they spawn each year.

IF you ask a successful trophy bass angler what days they choose to be on the water fishing, given the fact they can choose which days they want to fish and days around the new and full moon will be a factor.

Bass are animals and every animal is affected by moon phase and gravity affects. Gravity directly affects tides and fish like grunion run to spawn on the high tide of the full moon, like clock work. LMB make their first major spawning run during the first full moon period when the water warms to 62 degrees, every year. The best pre spawn week to fish for trophy bass is the week before the full moon prior to the first spawning run. No science to prove what I just said about LMB other than several hundred DD LMB that I have caught during this period.

The best days are low light days with light rain for pre spawner's.

Summer full moon nights are the times night tournaments are schedule if possible because of better win weights than any other moon phase.

Could all this be physiological, could be as there isn't any other scienintifc explanation.

Tom

[SirSnookalot]

If I waited for the perfect moon, tide and wind I'd probably never go fishing, as it stands I fish 7 days a week. I'm aware of those factors and some of them do dictate what my target species will be. I seldom get skunked, the fish of the day may only be 6", but it could be 60" and it has happened. Some of my greatest catches have been when every factor has been against me, like flat water, bad wind direction, no baitfish, time of day and species not generally caught in that area. Out of the clear blue sky you see a big fin cruising, that's sight casting time. Maybe only a coincedence but my best output is on the new moon, hardly any ambient light.