Moons and Tides

[lmc1601]

How can you tell when the best time is to fish by using the moons, solar, and tides.<br /><br />If anyone has any information on this, please tell me

 

[snapperbait]

Re: Moons and Tides

The moon phase is certainly the most important factor because it not only provides light at night but it also controls the tide.. <br /><br />To me, the most important is tide with moon's light being second... <br /><br />The reason tide is important to me is the areas I fish in the ICW and near the Inlets are narrow and quite a bit of fast current comes with the incomming and outgoing tides.. <br /><br />It seems to me that the fish that I'm after (mangrove & mutton snapper on bottom) are more active durring the times when the current is running... I also think it's because the smaller bait fish have a difficult time when they get caught up in the current making them easy prey for the larger fish... I do get some fish to bite durring slack periods when the water is not moving, but they are mostly trash fish like Jacks and smaller Snapper who don't measure up... So I plan my trips to catch the tide just as it begins to get "just right" so I can get a few hours of good current moving..<br /><br />As for the moon, I like to plan trips about 5-7 days before and 5-7 days after the full moon, although you can have very good luck at night on a full moon or on a clear night when the moon is not full... <br /><br />When the moon is full and bright the smaller baitfish that live near the waters surface become easy prey to the fish lurking below who can easily see the baitfish due to the bright light of the moon contrasting against the dark water.. Since fish are opprotunistic eaters they take full advantage of the full moon and eat very well on the abundance of bait fish that come near the surface... It's an easy meal for em'.. Give the fish a few days after the full moon and they're getting hungry again because their food supply is not as easily available and the fish then begin to rely on their predatory skills and start looking for a meal... Thats when to fish for em'...<br /><br />Thats how I see it anyway..

 

[Jack Shellac]

Re: Moons and Tides

I count primarily on the tides. An outgoing tide when fishing in the tidal rivers seems to flush the bait out of the reeds' since it's a stronger current flow. In the bays and Gulf, an incoming tide seems to produce more fish, probably due to how it moves the bait around filling the shallows. Moon phase is a source of disagreement among my fishing expert buddies. One faction says fish under the full moon because the big fish can see the bait. The other faction says don't fish under the full moon because the light reflecting on the water hides the flash of the baitfish. Me, I don't know. What ya gonna do? I just go fishing when I can and don't worry abou the moon phase.

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: Moons and Tides

The best time to fish is approx three days <br />before a new moon through three or four days after<br />a new moon. this is when the earth tides are at<br />their stongest and fish are most active. There is one new moon every month and some times their is two new moons in a single month. This is best <br />fishing time. Also it is wise to fish the tides.<br />fish on the eb tide and on the flood tide. This <br />is when most fish feed and are most active.

 

[Big Al1]

Re: Moons and Tides

I've made a fishing log last year and looked at the results according to the fishing reports. The fishing report I used was the one that gives you a number from 1 to 100 for the day. I believe the new moon day would be the highest or peak. It would slowly go down in number as the days went on and then go back up to a second peak at the full moon. According to my data there was definitely no trend with the chart. I actually had the majority of my best days during low number days on the chart. I usually fish about 3 days a week “on average.” When they are biting good, like in the spring, I may fish every day. If you ask me fishing is based on weather mostly. Temperature, sunlight for visibility, barometric pressure, wind to make current, and rain to cool or cloud up the water are much more important than the moon. All act together to make fishing a different setting every day. This goes only for freshwater fishing mostly, though.

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: Moons and Tides

The only chart you need for S/W is a tide chart because you need to know things such as water depth(high or low) whether or not the water is moving or slack and when it is doing these things. Moon phase is a good thing to know because the phase of the moon affects the tides and causes higher highs and lower lows depending upon the moon phase. Any other fishing chart/solunar table can be thrown out the window. <br />In S/W moon phase is a good thing to know especially around spawning times but as was mentioned many other varriables take precidence over any table or chart.