Moon Phases

[Catt]

There have been numerous books, articles, charts, ect. Published on this great mystery of bass fishing. A lot of the authors of these publications go through great lengths explaining how difficult it is to determine these times. It is really quite simple to determine these times for yourself with a little inside information. River and salt water publications go through great lengths explaining how difficult it is to determine tidal movements. The reality is that these best times and tidal movements are related to the moon's phases.

People in animal husbandry, farming, hunting, and fishing have used the moons phases for centuries. One of the oldest publications giving this information is the "Poor Richard's Almanac". The moon's phases are divided into four quarters, two of which are your minor times, and two of which are your major times.

The times for the major periods are as follows
An hour and a half prior the moon reaching its apex
An hour and a half prior to the moon reaching its perigee
The major periods are the first quarter new moon and the third quarter full moon.
The gravitational pull of the sun and moon is three times greater on the new moon than the full moon. At the time of the new moon the earth has the moon and the sun in a straight line pulling together. This first quarter, dark night phase differs from the third quarter full moon phase when the earth moves between the moon and the sun. The new moon dark night is only difficult on the angler because you must rely on your sense of feel when working your bait. If you want to really learn how to fish baits that require a lot of feel like worm or jigs try new moon nights.

The times for the minor periods of these moon phases are as follows
An hour and a half prior to the raising of the moon on the horizon.
An hour and a half prior to the setting of the moon.

Now take into consideration the above listed times you end up with 3 hrs. of major time periods and 3 hrs. of minor times periods. This does not take into account weather, seasons, or your ability to locate fish!

 

Thomas (Catt) Thibodeaux

[Scott F]

The actual gravitational pull of the moon on a bass is about .0003 Newtons or .00006 lbs. It is an incredibly small force. To put in in perspective your boat has a stronger gravitational pull on a hooked fish than the moon does. Remember also that the force of gravity is not substantially stronger when the moon is up than when it is down. It is true that it is slightly stronger when the moon is up than down, but only about 1.5% stronger; that’s .000061 lbs. of force. The largest changes in gravitational pull occur when the moon aligns with the sun (new moon) but even this change is still exceptionally small. So what is the minimum threshold of gravity a bass can feel? Obviously we can’t answer this question, but we can say that virtually everything in the fish’s environment (waves, air pressure etc...) has a far greater influence on a bass than the exceptionally small gravitational pull of the moon

[Catt]

And who measured this ".0003" Newtons or ".00006" lbs

[WRB]

When I a lot younger in my 20's or earlier I kept detailed fishing logs on each days outing to determine why bass did what the do and when the most active periods were. I would catch bass and put a thermometer probe down the throat and log body temps, depth the bass was caught out of, lure, location, weather and moon phase and shore bird or animal activity.I did this between 1962 to 1972' 10 years. A pattern developed that stood out; the biggest bass were caught the month before they spawned and those bass were caught the week of the full moon 10 to 1. The water and bass temperature was between 58 to 62 degrees, the average water depth was 15' and the shore animals were active.

The only other time of the year that bass behavior was predicable was the spawn that followed about 1 month later, if the weather continued to warmer. The most active times were before the sun raised more than 30 degrees above the horizon, the moon over head.

In California we couldn't bass fish after a 1/2 after sundown, no night fishing was allowed back in the 60's.

Night bass behavior was an unknown to me until the 70's. nights around the full moon were better bass fishing then any moon phase during the summer months when our lakes were open weekends to night bass tournaments.

30 lb., 5 bass limits were common when tournaments were hels the full moon phase, 15 to 20 lbs, during all other moon phases. The bite generally peaking when the moon was raising or setting, minor periods at night.

My experience; all other seasonal periods have little predicable bass behavior based on lunar cycles.

I was not aware of Ben Franklin's Poor Richards almanac written 200 years earlier back in the 60's, would have saved me a lot of time and effort. It's like reinventing the wheel.

Tom

[SirSnookalot]

And who measured this ".0003" Newtons or ".00006" lbs

I don't know what a Newton is, but I do know how to fish tides as I've been doing it nearly 7 days a week solid for the last 10 years.

Catt's explanation is pretty darn good, tidal fishing usually changes every day, because the tide change is at a different time.  The relationship of the tide change in conjunction with sunrise or sunset affects the fishing, with each day later in the cycle the fishing drops off as a rule.  The highest high tide and the lowest low tide is most affected during the full and new moon, the current of the water is also faster. November seems to be the month that the tides are most affected.

One may not think that a beach has structure, it not only does but changes constantly as the tide is moving in or out.  Since we are talking bass fishing, we catch bass here in tidal canals directly related to ocean tides.  The further away from the ocean the more brackish the water meaning more bass, but salt water species that tolerate that kind of water are there too. Rather than the moon phase itself, I still see the relationship of sunrise and tide change there too.

In Florida these tidal canals in the winter months can offer some really good fishing, bass, snook, tarpon, crevalles and lady fish, snapper too sometimes.  In Boca Raton the El Rio canal, has produced some really nice fish for me, it's a kayaker's dream.

[Sam]

Over here in Virginia we use the tide charts to figure out the best time to fish a tidal river.

 

On our lakes that are not tidal we just go out and fish 'em.

 

The above discussion is outstanding. Great information and the debate is one of the best ever on the Forum.

 

However, moon phases are really not taken that seriously over here on the right coast. Water clarity, temperature, time of year, wind, and weather are our major concerns.

 

Now we may have to add moon phases into our calculations!!!

[Catt]

A lot of reading of what was wrote with very little comprehension!

Scott F, the effect of the gravitational pull caused by the moon in on the body of water not the bass.

WRB, I have also kept detailed records for the last 40+ years and I am still keeping up with that information. Your interpretation of your data is concerning the spawn and the full moon, it is common knowledge that bass spawn during the full moon. Catching big bass a month in advance of the spawn is not shocking, its called pre-spawn.

My data contains 37+ years of night fishing and shows no advantage to any particular moon phase. Oh yea since you like throwing out names or numbers, 30# 5 bass stringer in Texas will barely put you in the money regardless of moon.

If we consider major and minor times we have 6 hours out of 24, that aint exactly nailing it down!

Moon phases and gravitational pull is just 1 of many ingredients to consider when trying to locate bass.

Sam, I aint gonna leave you out

The moon's gravitational pull causes a measurable "tidal" movement on every body of water from the mud puddle in your front yard to the oceans of the world!

[derekxec]

i believe the tide changes are about 1 hour off everyday...great post about moon phases...in salt water i like to fish the best when the moon is the closest to the earth..but for bass fishing to me it really doesnt matter cause most of my bass fishing spots arent tidal anyway

[mddrew88]

Does anyone use these two fishing sites, maybe someone can vouch for them?

 

http://www.fishingreminder.com/

 

http://www.fishinghohepa.co.nz/sept%20cal.html

[SirSnookalot]

 

 

i believe the tide changes are about 1 hour off everyday.

Usually about 45 minutes and tide duration is about 6 hours.  It's not exact science, charts often differ for the same location and a strong wind can retard or accelerate the change.

[nascar2428]

Great information in this thread. Glad none of it affects how or when I fish. When I have the time to fish, that's exactly what I do, I go fish!!

[WRB]

A lot of reading of what was wrote with very little comprehension!

Scott F, the effect of the gravitational pull caused by the moon in on the body of water not the bass.

WRB, I have also kept detailed records for the last 40+ years and I am still keeping up with that information. Your interpretation of your data is concerning the spawn and the full moon, it is common knowledge that bass spawn during the full moon. Catching big bass a month in advance of the spawn is not shocking, its called pre-spawn.

My data contains 37+ years of night fishing and shows no advantage to any particular moon phase. Oh yea since you like throwing out names or numbers, 30# 5 bass stringer in Texas will barely put you in the money regardless of moon.

If we consider major and minor times we have 6 hours out of 24, that aint exactly nailing it down!

Moon phases and gravitational pull is just 1 of many ingredients to consider when trying to locate bass.

Sam, I aint gonna leave you out

The moon's gravitational pull causes a measurable "tidal" movement on every body of water from the mud puddle in your front yard to the oceans of the world!

The average bass weight for most CA lakes duringbthe day is 3lb for tournaments, the few exceptions being Sacramento delta and Clear lake where the average is about 5 lbs.

In-Fisherman was the first national magizine that published in 1975 seasonal periods that used the term pre spawn. Prior to that time very few bass anglers considered seasonal periods, other than the spawn.

Every lake has it's own activity rythym that varies hourly, impossible to predict without spending time fishing a particular lake. I don't believe moon phase alone affects daily rythym outside the spawning cycle. The moon affects all water by gravitation pull. What the bass are feeding and where that is taking place exceeds moon phases during seasonal periods outside of time bass are spawning.

Tom

[vikingbear8]

I think some people need to go back to physics class and perhaps read some peer reviewed journals on tidal forces 

[vikingbear8]

And who measured this ".0003" Newtons or ".00006" lbs

 Oh and to touch on this he actually forgot a zero its really approximately .0000329 assuming that it is a 1kg bass, and who measured it? Thats simple anyone that knows Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation 

[Nitrofreak]

Lots of interesting facts , lots of science and math, lots of writing , basically it boils down to water current and water levels that the fish use for their daily movement or movements , and the moon phase I assume allows us prime opportunities to advance our knowledge of how fish use these changes ?

[xbacksideslider]

Evolution has something to do with it. 

Maybe that explains why moon phase matters when fishing in waters not subject to tidal flows.

For land locked fish, behavior that is vestigial.

 

I wonder now about moon phase and pelagic, open ocean/non coastal, predator fish - where the effect of tide presumably is less consequential in terms of the movement and location of prey.