Moon Phases

For anyone who is into keeping track of moon phases and relating it to fishing trips, scroll down this page to bottom left and try it out.

Interesting Graham? I may buy it just to see if here is anything in it re may own Ribble Chub records and the Ribble Venue Reports. @ 16$ it's not the end of the world if its no good.
My own observations so far are that clear bright nights are not very good for Chub fishing on the Ribble but they don't seem to bother the Barbel the same.
I've a few mate who shoot and they hold great store in moon phases.

I've been keeping a note, all this season of both moon phases and air pressure.
One of these days, I'll sit down and work out, if there is a pattern.

The moon phase box below by the way isn't an advert as such, unless you click on it. It just shows the daily moon phase otherwise which is useful in itself.

yes you can`t beat the old Waning Gibbous, thats what I always say

There's also a free calendar at Shetline.com

Im interested about this..

I know the moon does have some kind of a baring on fish... but is it a gravitational thing, or is it just brightness.. if it is the latter, surely cloud cover or no moon is best ?

any help or thoughts would be great

I believe in the evolution (good old Darwin) and I have a hard time seeing any rational reason why the moon should have any big influence on fresh water fish except for hunting light during the night. I think a fish that only feeds when the moon is at a certain phase would starve and be sorted out by evolution.
I once checked our fishing clubs catches of pike and they where spread out equally over the different phases.
I know of one scientifical report that showed that burbot migrating up in rivers (the burbot is nocturnal) did that when the moon was dark and that is logical since predators will not see the burbot as when the moon is full.

Bahhhhh.

Phases schmases!

On the Ribble, chub only, you can fish on the full moon so long as there is cloud cover. I?ve had bites turning on and off just like a light switch when the cloud cover's coming and going.

As far as gravitational pull, its more likely to affect the insect life, and therefore it could affect fishing, if the fish you are targeting feed predominately on insect life.

I?ve got some very comprehensive chub records but as yet I?ve not correlated good or bad catches with moon phases. There are also the FishingMagic Ribble Venue reports which, if anyone is interested, could be used to see if there is any correlation with good and bad catches and moon phases.

The problem you have doing this type of analysis work is asking the question, do other natural occurrences like; water temperature, light levels, clarity of the water, barometric pressure, wind direction, act to increase or decrease the number of fish being caught? How are these natural occurrences ranked, and is this ranking of occurrences species specific?

I remember a guy on Keith Arthurs show (maybe this guy, can't remember) three or four years ago explaining all this in relation to fishing. He was certainly very convincing and K.A. for months after referred to the moons phases in relation to reported exceptional catches.

Certainly the moon affects gravitational pull and I can see it might affect fish and their habits and maybe light from the moon as well, who knows. Lots of people believe this to be the case though I have never looked into it very deeply but on the basis that one should never rubbish something unless you have tried it............

very true Greham.. about not knocking it if we dont know..

however, could it be a good thing that some / most of us dont know.. ? much like barometric pressure.. I look at the metcheck website for weather, and it tells me the temp, the wind direction, how strong a wind, barometric pressure, cloud cover percentage and rainfall... Although it is nice to know if its going to be a nice day weather wise, is it a good thing or a bad thing looking at the barometric pressure, thus knowing what your chances are before you even head out the door.. that is, IF you head out the door after finding out the pressure is super high and its gunna be a really tough day.. not so much a problem in summer, but in winter when its -13 outside with windchill, its tough to motivate ones self after knowing the chances arnt good cuz of air pressure.. so is knowing all about moon fases just giving people another excuse to either get optomistic, or more to the point, give us an excuse to stay at home cuz the moon is in the wrong place and the pressure is bad and its really windy and really cold .. would it not be better to look out the window and think.. yeah its damn cold, and yeah its blowing a gale, but Ill go anyways..

If you look on the metcheck website, there is also a 'hobbies' section, of which has fishing.. it calculates through algerythms, according to barometric pressure, temp, wind and rain whether it will be a good or bad day for fishing.. rarely have I seen it anything other than bad or average.. for this reason, I never look at it as I dont wanna know if its going to be a bad day. Id rather go anyways and blank, than sit at home knowing its bad..

but thats just me

Mon phases etc are all well and good, but for those of us who have to earn a living and go fishing when we can they mean nothing!

DID YOU KNOW

That the moon is now on average 3 feet 3? inches further away from the Earth since I was born - and its drifting away every day.

In 1,000 years time they will never again see a full eclipse from anywhere on Earth. Imagine what it was like 65,000,000 years ago though!








Whhaaaaaa ! T-Rex coming lads.

You mustn't blame yourself Woody,you being born has probably nothing to do with it,anyway if you are more than 3 feet 3 1/2 inches tall you will be actually nearer.

If you want to go fishing and change nothing, then moon phases and barometric pressure etc. are probably something you would prefer not to know about, if you're heading for a blank its not good news to know before you set off. However, if you know how these natural occurrences affect different species feeding habits, at least you could change your targeted fish species, method or venue to give you a better chance of putting a fish on the bank. You're quite comfortable spending a lot of money on bait and tackle, then why not spend some time taking into account the moon phases and barometric pressure if this is applicable to your targeted fish species.
It is true to some extent that some can only fish when their life style allows but if you examine your life stile carefully then you'll find that it's not quite as ridged as you lead yourself and others to believe. As life goes on you're life stile changes and opportunities come along that allow you more freedom as to when and where you can fish. Taking an interesting in these things now is like money in the bank, at the very least don't convince your self that there's nothing in it without investigation.

Agreed John, my comment was in jest!

However, there are so many other variables to take into consideration when we go fishing, both natural and man made, that I wonder if we can ever make a hypothesis on one factor alone.A combination of factors, then definitely maybe!

That said when I know its going to be tough, the last thing I want to know is how tough it 'should' be according to moon, water temp, pressure etc, if that makes sense!

Contradicting myself slightly now, but when conditions are 'good' and I havent caught, then knowing how good it 'should' be keeps my spirits up, so yes I believe you can use it both ways (or not as the case maybe)!

Does that make sense?

EC your right it is very complicated. Let us say you have 1000 records and you are looking at only three or four variables. By the time, you have sorted out a group of records where only one of the variables is actually varying then you will probably end up with very few records on which to base a hypothesis. It is not entirely impossible but it is not as you say, as straight forward as it seems. Never the less there are some basic rules for each species, some of which take a lifetime to learn.
Anyhow, I'm off to do a bit of fly fishing now, they do say early on in the season the main hatch happens mid afternoon and progresses into dusk as the weather warms up. My last couple of trips worked like that, so let us see if this afternoons session works that way as well?

Hunters and I include fishermen in that, have always been influenced by conditions, whether it be the time of day or night, the fact that its overcast, the rivers in spate the time of year, the temperature, one, some, or all those things have always influenced hunters.

Moon phases and its possible effect on fish is no different, whether you choose to be influenced by it is a matter for the individual and even if this is a fact theres always the exception that proves the rule to fall back on. Personally I think the less we know about the likes and dislikes of fish and their feeding habits the better, it helps maintain that air of mystery and expectation. I don't think I would enjoy it so much if I knew I was definitely going to catch or even the species I prefer that element of surprise when it pops its head up in front of you before netting it.

Some people like to turn a pastime into rocket science ........