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Moon Phases

Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Heavy Metal - Jig fishing
Forum Description: Anything related to jig fishing here
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34424
Printed Date: 29 Mar 2024 at 2:57pm


Topic: Moon Phases
Posted By: Falco
Subject: Moon Phases
Date Posted: 11 Nov 2008 at 9:23pm
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


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as dead as dead is



Replies:
Posted By: biggear
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 7:02am
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.


Posted By: Fissure
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 2:04pm
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


Posted By: JigNut
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 4:28pm
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.
 


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Posted By: Falco
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 7:48pm

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...


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as dead as dead is


Posted By: JigNut
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 7:59pm
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.

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Posted By: nodnod
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2008 at 8:59pm
]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!


Posted By: Whizz
Date Posted: 16 Nov 2008 at 11:47am

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



Posted By: BIG DOG
Date Posted: 16 Nov 2008 at 8:29pm
Have a look at these links about moon phases and animals.
 
http://www.kingsoutdoorworld.com/hunting-guide/deer_activity.htm - http://www.kingsoutdoorworld.com/hunting-guide/deer_activity.htm
http://www.solunar.com/the_real_scoop.aspx - http://www.solunar.com/the_real_scoop.aspx
 
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.


Posted By: bloodnut
Date Posted: 18 Nov 2008 at 9:00pm
i must get me a gold fish pond,i  then should be able  to predict better bite times,

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bloodnut


Posted By: Bottomline
Date Posted: 07 Dec 2008 at 7:19pm
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- 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 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. -  

-  

- http://www.mdr.co.nz/wtides/downloads.htm - 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 - 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/ - 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 - 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.

 

 

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