Moon Phases

Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Falco Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Moon Phases
    Posted: 11 Nov 2008 at 9:23pm
Falco View Drop Down
Titanium
Titanium
Avatar

Joined: 24 Feb 2008
Location: Papamoa Beach
Status: Offline
Points: 3319
How bigger part does moon phase and conditions play in your fishing,and do you beleive it matters?
Do kingis feed better under certain circumstances?
For instance,the other day there were alot of small fish around with the odd nice one coming on board.It wasnt until the turn of the tide and a bit later in the day that the bigger fish really started to feed.We had seen sign on the sounder all day long.
The moon was 32% according to my sounder LOL
 
For myself,I give it death as long as it is safe to head out.
 
I would be interested to here from the pros what the "ideal or perfect" factors would be for planning a major trip-as I see one brewing Wink
as dead as dead is
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote biggear Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 7:02am
biggear View Drop Down
Titanium
Titanium
Avatar

Joined: 07 Feb 2008
Location: Tauranga
Status: Offline
Points: 3614
I go when I can. Moon doesnt really play a part. I cant afford to be picky as there is only a small amount of opportunities to get out.
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Fissure Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 2:04pm
Fissure View Drop Down
Titanium
Titanium
Avatar

Joined: 30 Oct 2007
Location: Wellington
Status: Offline
Points: 4351
I'm with you on that one biggear, most peoples fishing is dictated by when they can make it out as opposed to the right tide, moon phase, water temp, southerly, northerly ect - unless you live on the Kapiti coast. Anyway, some say when the moon is above or below is good bite times. the moon controls the tides so god knows!Confused
 
cher
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote JigNut Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 4:28pm
JigNut View Drop Down
Titanium
Titanium
Avatar

Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Status: Offline
Points: 5595
The moon thing is a funny subject...Last year while chasing the kingfish I noticed that I caught more kingfish at the begining of the season around the fullmoon or the bite was more aggressive..
Nearer the end of summer getting into autumn I found I caught more kingfish around the New moon or the bite was more aggressive...Definitly just as the moons shows its face the bite goes off but as the moon gets higher sky switch the switch back on...
From what I can gather from my celestial chart on my GPS, the bite time happens around when the moon is high in the sky or at your feet or when it's just about to rise or just after it sets.
When chasing snapper in the shallows I use my celestial chart all the time with regards to bite times... you can just about set your watch by it. The celestial charts in the GPS has 4 different bite times for any given day...there are 2 best bite times and 2 good bite times and the lenght of the bite times depends on the moon fase and the bite times are usually 40-50mins later each day following changing like the tideConfused.
 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fans-Of-Synit-Rods/137662896327800
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Falco Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 7:48pm
Falco View Drop Down
Titanium
Titanium
Avatar

Joined: 24 Feb 2008
Location: Papamoa Beach
Status: Offline
Points: 3319

I thought the kingis may feed harder with a bigger moon through the night and less during the morning of the next day,due to bait being easier to find???Confused I might be waaaay of track but If I thought about other animals,wild pigs for instance, I find they sleep in the next day and are harder to get onto in the morning cause they dont move around as early as normal.

I beleive the tides have to play a big part in finding kingfish,bait move with tides and currents,thermoclines etc..what does Doris think? maybe the archives reveal some sort of pattern?
 
Im not picky either,but if I was planning a trip away I would like to tick as many boxes as possible to increase my chances of succes-just like gamefishing,bait,temp,current,birds etc...and moon some believe too...
as dead as dead is
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote JigNut Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 7:59pm
JigNut View Drop Down
Titanium
Titanium
Avatar

Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Status: Offline
Points: 5595
The fish in my pond have been feeding hard out for 3 days now LOL and at night rather than in the day...I have asked the question and it's due to the light of the full moon and the predators been able to see the pray against the lit backgroundConfused...I might throw aways my moon calandar and follow the instincts of my petsWink.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fans-Of-Synit-Rods/137662896327800
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote nodnod Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 8:59pm
nodnod View Drop Down
Gold
Gold
Avatar

Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Location: Falkland Islands
Status: Offline
Points: 534
]I would be interested to here from the pros what the "ideal or perfect" factors would be for planning a major trip-as I see one brewing Wink
[/QUOTE]

ha ha, this one again, seems to come up a lot,should i shouldn't i? Go for it. I love full moon fishing. I have had the best fishing in my life on the full, either side off a storm also seems to help, a lot. he fish know it's coming and are gonna load up or the're bloody starvin after, that's my theory and i'm sticking to it. These pics are all of full moon fishing trips.


interestingly enough all winter/November fish here. The BEST time!
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Whizz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Nov 2008 at 11:47am
Whizz View Drop Down
Silver
Silver


Joined: 18 Aug 2004
Status: Offline
Points: 467

Full moon fishing goes off - great time to get mega reds....  Mokes espeically fishes well on a full moon. But can be hard work in the days prior too and directly after.

But who cares, I'd rather not know because if you have planned a trip your not going to pull the pin because the moon is sitting right.  If i'm going out I'd rather not know

Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote BIG DOG Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Nov 2008 at 8:29pm
BIG DOG View Drop Down
Gold
Gold
Avatar

Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Status: Offline
Points: 556
Have a look at these links about moon phases and animals.
 
 
The relationship to moon/sun rise and set and weather sea conditions has a role to play for sure.
 
The "real scoop" article has a good point about keeping detailed catch records and then looking back at moon phases.
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote bloodnut Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Nov 2008 at 9:00pm
bloodnut View Drop Down
Bronze
Bronze
Avatar

Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Status: Offline
Points: 27
i must get me a gold fish pond,i  then should be able  to predict better bite times,
bloodnut
Back to Top
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Bottomline Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2008 at 7:19pm
Bottomline View Drop Down
Bronze
Bronze


Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Status: Offline
Points: 4
< ="-" ="text/; =utf-8">< name="ProgId" ="Word.">< name="Generator" ="Microsoft Word 11">< name="Originator" ="Microsoft Word 11"><>

I’ve only been interested in this aspect of fishing for a few months but in that short time I have noticed an increase in activity for the time of day but as yet have I do not hold an opinion on the variables days for the month.  I use several programs each one mostly as a source to verify that the dates and times are correct.  I do not fish in the sea but fish estuarine water for searun trout and the mouth of salmon rivers where tidal flow is important factors.  For straight tides I use Ocean Fun, but another that not only gives the tides but best fishing times is one called Wtide.  

 

http://www.mdr.co.nz/wtides/downloads.htm  Of the two I prefer Wtide as it not only gives the tide flow but the best fishing times for the day moon phases, time from both high and to low water.  It’s not complicated but the graph can take a little time to work out.  The best way is to change the colour to suit yourself.  The only down side is that the program has preset long and lat but if you click on the world map zoom in to your local harbour etc you should get a close time.  I fish the Waimak mouth but the close tide harmonic is Lyttleton.  It’s a freebee but you can pay to be a registered user and this gives you further options

 

I also use http://www.solunarforecast.com/worldcalendar.aspx  Another freebee but you need to register to use the World solunar prediction table.  This is Lat and long specific.  You can zoom into the desired location on the map and click the long and lat. for that area.to get the best times so if you know your GPS co-ordinates you can get the best times exactly for that area.  The solunarforcast time zone only goes to UTC +12.  This is not NZDS which is UTC +13 so you will need to add one hour onto the time until our daylight saving ends and we go back to UTC +12.

 

Sol/forecast is a text based table that gives the best times for all days of the month and can be printed using the PDF icon.

 

Another program I use is Skyviewcafe http://www.skyviewcafe.com/  This is an online planetarium.  It has a number of features one of which is the transit times of both the sun and moon.  Without going into much detail there are two schools of thought with solunar tables. One school believes the rising and setting of the moon is the fundamental factor of ‘bite times and the other the transit times or when both the sun or the moon are at the highest point in the sky.  I have only delved into this in a small way but it seems to me that most solunar tables are based on transit time but some appear to be based on moonrise and moonset.  While it is true that feeding activity can be observed during this time I think other factors in low light come into play like light polarization and UV factors for target acquisition but this is another subject and not one for this thread and not point of my post.   I hold that the transition of both the sun and the moon and when these are in line as they are on the 28 Dec at 1.30pm good fishing should be happening.

 

Skyview as with the solunarforcst is a lat and long specific program so once again if you know the exact lat and long for your area you can put these in and get the transit time for the exact area that you are fishing in.

 

Using these programs you can check the accuracy of times with either sunrise of sunset times from your local paper.  You may get a variance of a few minutes.

 

For the die hard on this I sometime use this http://www.jgiesen.de/moondistance/index.htm  It gives the moon distance which many maintain it is the distance of the moon that determines the dates of the month are the better than others when the moon is futher away.  Light and gravitational factors may have something to do with this so if the weather is not good and you have nothing better to do have a play around.

 

 

Bottomline

Back to Top
Forum Jump
Forum Permissions View Drop Down


This page was generated in 0.248 seconds.

Fishing Reports Visit Reports

Saltwater Fishing Reports
Top of the South Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Tasman and Golden Bay snapper still running hot We are not far away from daylight... Read More >

22 Mar 2024
Saltwater Fishing Reports
Bay of Islands Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Variety is the spice of life On one recent trip, the plan was to spend a... Read More >

22 Mar 2024
Saltwater Fishing Reports
Hauraki Gulf Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Fish where the fish are! Catching fish or just going fishing? I tackle this issue... Read More >

22 Mar 2024
Saltwater Fishing Reports
Inner Hauraki Gulf Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Thoughtful tactics required for better fish Over the course of each year the fishing varies,... Read More >

22 Mar 2024
Fishing bite times Fishing bite times

Major Bites

Minor Bites

Major Bites

Minor Bites