Your Latest Opinion: Solunar Calendars

[Koz]

Both the Bassmaster and Farmer's Almanac solunar calendars show that this weekend will be the best fishing weekend in January. How much stock do you put in that? Frankly, bank fishing has been so poor this weekend I may consult a Ouija board as well.

 

The weather here has been in the low 50's lately, but beginning Wednesday temps climb into the 60's with upper 60's on Friday and Saturday but with partly to mostly cloudy conditions so I'm not counting for the water in our lagoons to warm up that much. That's the thing here - while we do have moderate weather in the winter it's usually cloudy and damp all winter long with little sun. Kind of like living in England.

 

We're still a month away from sunny days. But by the end of February the fishing really starts to ramp up. I can't wait.

[TnRiver46]

I'll be fishing.......

[Team9nine]

Zero stock

 

...but good luck to those that can go (we're frozen over here) ?

[Catt]

If ya don't go the odds of ya catching are zero!

[Deleted account]

I think the cold and almost a foot of snow we just got is having a much greater effect on fishing than where the moon and sun happen to be.

[Scott F]

2 hours ago, Koz said:

Both the Bassmaster and Farmer's Almanac solunar calendars show that this weekend will be the best fishing weekend in January. How much stock do you put in that? Frankly, bank fishing has been so poor this weekend I may consult a Ouija board as well.

I put zero stock in solunar tables. I believe you will get just as accurate information from your Ouija board.

[Mobasser]

Zero stock here also

[Bankbeater]

Never look at them. 

[jimmyjoe]

 I used to follow solunar tables religiously. Didn't take long to figure out that flipping a coin was more reliable.  jj

[MN Fisher]

Solunar tables are as accurate as tossing a dart at a chart while blindfolded.

[Harold Scoggins]

Ever since I received my optical implants, I no longer rely on the moon.

[BoatSquirrel]

1 for solunar tables here.  I will not go into the theories involved but fishing around active periods has been spot on for me for years—especially in regards to big fish.

Watch what time cattle or deer move when unpressured.  Fish are no different.  Watch Major League Fishing or Bassmaster Live and you will notice that fish catching comes in waves, usually not consistently throughout the day.  

 

 

[soflabasser]

It would be best to go fishing when you can and you should fish to the best of your ability. Learn from each fishing trip and strive to improve your fishing game. Make sure to have fun while doing this. 

[Fishingmickey]

33 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

It would be best to go fishing when you can and you should fish to the best of your ability. Learn from each fishing trip and strive to improve your fishing game. Make sure to have fun while doing this. 

This is spot on. Weather I feel has much more of an impact.

FM

[MIbassyaker]

Zero stock for me too.  Sorry.

[WRB]

You can't catch fish sitting on the couch unless it's in a boat or ice house.

Solunar tables are based on moon phase with the best times at maximum gravitational tidal pull. The late Doug Hannon was a believer and published his tables, what did he know!

I wrote my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar based on both moon phase and sunlight penetration into the water, adding seasonal impact, works for me.

Tom

 

 

[Koz]

That's an interesting array of opinions from everyone, thanks. Personally, I never put stock in them. But both the weather and the fishing have been lousy this winter it was nice to see a warm weekend coming up that just so happens to coincide with the tables. Cabin fever has set in this winter and I'm itching for some decent fishing.

[geo g]

I seldom even look at fishing expectations.  I go when I can, regardless of what some chart says!  I just don't care, you still need to figure the conditions out for that day.  That's fishing for you.

[Todd2]

Rarely get to call my shots so I go when I can. I pay no attention to the charts but have noticed better results on windy days. But if it's dead calm, I'm still fishing.

 

[TnRiver46]

@Koz, do you ever fish outside of the residential lagoons?? During winter , reservoirs in the southeast can fish very well. When it gets below 40 degree air temp I like to leave my boat at home and fish off the bank near a steep point. Results always surprise me

[Koz]

20 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Koz, do you ever fish outside of the residential lagoons?? During winter , reservoirs in the southeast can fish very well. When it gets below 40 degree air temp I like to leave my boat at home and fish off the bank near a steep point. Results always surprise me

 

We literally have thousands of lagoons in my area and some of the residential complexes have active fisheries. We're lucky because 3-6 pound bass are fairly common and there are plenty of 7-10 pounders caught in these lagoons every year.

 

The larger bodies of water that support bass or fairly heavily pressured so I don't feel the need to fish there when I have plenty of good, low pressure fishing all around me. I've made the trek to Lake Murray a few times and that was OK and I plan to get up to Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie sometime this year.

 

If I don't have any luck on my lagoons this weekend maybe I'll give Sergeant Jasper Park another try. This fishing there is OK, but the Rangers have told me it's been years since anyone landed any big bass in there.

 

Thanks for the tip. Maybe I'll scout some locations in nearby Georgia as well.

[kenmitch]

Go fishing and see is what I'd suggest. You can always compare your success or failure to what the chart shows to get an idea of if it was correct or not. Too many variable to blame the chart for your failure or reward it with your success....Weather, bait selection, area, and a whole lot of other factors are going to be in play once your on the water.

 

Like others have stated already....Your not gonna catch anything if you don't go. 

 

I had what I would consider a great day on my birthday(03/21) last year. I found a website that will allow you to generate the chart by zipcode, month, and year. For giggles I generated the March of 2018 one and compared it with my catches.

 

Looking at photos and time stamps here's the results: Not counting the 2 dinks.

5.12lb 12:55PM

4.53lb 12:11PM

1.51lb 12:03PM

2.53lb 11:48AM

 

Here's the chart I generated for the day. If I had gone by the chart I really would have missed out on a great B-Day!

 

 

Conclusion....On that day just like us humans the Bass were biting at what we consider lunchtime.

 

If anybody wants to do a similar look and see here's the website I used.

 

http://www.solunarforecast.com/solunarcalendar.aspx

 

 

[MO_TightLines]

I fish regardless of what the Almanac or Solunar Calendar says. What i have noticed and always try to be, is on the water ahead of a weather front. I've caught more BIG bass; be it Largemouth or Smallie's ahead of a weather front than I have anything. My personal best day of my life came this past July, of 2018.

I was fishing ahead of a front and caught 3 Largemouths in 45 minutes that went for 18.95lbs. Never in 25 years of fishing have i ever experienced a run of this magnitude.

First one went 6.13lbs, then 5.12lbs & finally 7.7lbs in that order. I felt like Dean Rojas at Toho. I doubt I'll ever experience another day like that in my life. So, i really only watch weather patterns.

[WRB]

6 minutes ago, MO_TightLines said:

I fish regardless of what the Almanac or Solunar Calendar says. What i have noticed and always try to be, is on the water ahead of a weather front. I've caught more BIG bass; be it Largemouth or Smallie's ahead of a weather front than I have anything. My personal best day of my life came this past July, of 2018.

I was fishing ahead of a front and caught 3 Largemouths in 45 minutes that went for 18.95lbs. Never in 25 years of fishing have i ever experienced a run of this magnitude.

First one went 6.13lbs, then 5.12lbs & finally 7.7lbs in that order. I felt like Dean Rojas at Toho. I doubt I'll ever experience another day like that in my life. So, i really only watch weather patterns.

What date in July, 2018?

Tom

[Russ E]

I check the below tables occasionally, but honestly have not noticed a difference in success based on  them.

some of my best days were classified as poor fishing times and days.

personally I think current conditions have a much larger influence on success.

https://www.bassmaster.com/best-fishing-times-fishing-calendars