full moon fishing good or bad?

[tugger]

Around or on the full moon the tides are bigger but does this increase your chances of doing well fishing i'm trying to get out soon and test this theory again. The fishing almanac says its good near the moon how has your trips panned out on the moon?

[madmullet]

i love chasing big fish around the full moon, hense why i have planed to chase jew tonight.

one good aspect is that it cuts down the phosphorous in the water.

all my big snapper that i have caught in the bay ranging from 4kg-7kg whether on harries, curtin and bulwer have been caught acouple of days before the full moon.

[Eug]

be interested to hear the results, i've heard of 3 days before and after the full - but these days it's a good time whenever i get time!

edit: interesting theory kurt, i had a search on the net about phosphorus and the moon phase but found nothing. i'm going off a hunch here and guessing that moon = algae = phosphorus? or am i far off?

[crazywalrus]

be interested to hear the results, i've heard of 3 days before and after the full - but these days it's a good time whenever i get time!

edit: interesting theory kurt, i had a search on the net about phosphorus and the moon phase but found nothing. i'm going off a hunch here and guessing that moon = algae = phosphorus? or am i far off?

maybe the flow of the current ???? i am interested also

[BassTracker]

all interested parties join us for a jew sesh tonight

[aussie123]

If you are fishing the reefs offshore the 3 nights before and after the full moon are the most productive nights of the month.

We used to handline hundreds of kilos of fish each night but the actual night of the full moon you would be lucky to scrape a feed most times so we always had that night off to rest and drink piss.

Just on dark to around 9.30pm was insane fishing and then they usually would always shut down until around 11pm when they would bite up again until around 1am which was then our home time as we found there would be bugger all then until the following evening.

The same always applied to the 3 days after the full moon but the schools of Jews,Ambos,Sambos and Trag were always smaller as they begin to dissipate straight after the moon and catch rates dwindled as each night passed.

As for the rivers and estuaries I have never found much difference to fishing from the full moon except for a smaller window of fishing time before and after a tide change due to the spring tides.

Most fish especially Jews prefer to venture out and feed as the water slows right down so on the spring tides (Full Moon and Dark Moon)you are restricted to around an hours good fishing before and after the tide change.

I always found Neap Tides the best in any river system especially chasing Jews as you can often get 2-3 hours of good fishing where the water flow is slow enough for fish like Jews to wander around and have a feed.

If you are venturing offshore you have to be especially careful of some bar crossings during Spring Tides as you will encounter massive run out tides creating bad pressure waves and at low water a lot of crossings do not have enough water to safely navigate your way across them.

There's nothing better to get the heart pumping than stopping dead on a bar with a 2m plus wave heading straight at you. :woohoo:

[dunney]

all interested parties join us for a jew sesh tonight

you heading to the river brad? Might dump the boat in tonight too

[Guest]

Something i found Tugger

How the moon phase affects fishing.....

The moon and the sun have a dramatic effect on the earth due to their combined gravitational force that they place on any body of water. The oceans are the most noticeable. This gravitational force causes the oceans of the world to move resulting in what we refer to as tides. The moon's influence is more dominant due to it's proximity to the earth.

A complete lunar cycle is usually referred to in one of the following four stages.

1. Full Moon

2. Last Quarter

3. New Moon (also refer to as "the dark of the moon")

4. First Quarter

This cycle will rotate every 29 days approximately.

The effect that this lunar cycle has is so powerful that in the United State of America, crime statistics show that there is a link between criminal/violent behavior and the New/Full moon phases.

Tides

Tides move in 6 hour cycles. In a 24 hour period there will be a high, a low, a high and then a low tide, all approximately 6 hours apart. Various fish species feed more aggressively depending on the tide, the moon and the time of day/night.

When there is a full or new moon the tides are referred to as Spring Tides. Spring Tides are when the water level rises to its highest point for that particular moon (lunar) cycle due to the combined gravitational pull of the sun and moon. Spring tides happen twice per month. In Northern Australia Spring tides can rise over 6 meters (18 feet). The Channel Island of Jersey in the English Channel has tides in the region of 20 feet. Tides of over 20 meters (63 feet) have been recorded in The Straits of Magellan in southern South America and at the top of the Bay of Fundy Nova Scotia, a spring tide can reach an amazing 23 meters (70 feet).

Extra caution must be taken when fishing at these times, especially from rock platforms as the water level can rise with surprising speed. Fishing at night can be even more hazardous and can result in wet/lost tackle or even an unexpected swim for the unwary!

Neap tides are the opposite of Spring tides. They are the lowest low tide for that particular lunar cycle. Neap tides are generally regarded as the worst time to go fishing. You will catch fish during these tides but fish will be more active during a Spring tide.

The animation below shows the gravitational action of the sun and moon on the earth's oceans, bringing this dynamic process to life.

The world's oceans are in constant flux. Winds and currents move the surface water causing waves. Ocean levels fluctuate daily as the sun, moon and earth interact. As the moon travels around the earth and as they, together, travel around the sun, the combined gravitational forces cause the world's oceans to rise and fall.

Imagine the earth covered completely by water. As the earth spins, this water is balanced evenly on all sides by centrifugal force. The moon has a gravitational pull on this layer of water as it orbits the earth. This pull causes the water to bulge toward the moon. Because the earth is spinning there will be a bulge on the opposite side of the earth as well.

As the earth rotates on its axis, each location on the earth will experience both tidal bulges. The areas of high water levels are high tides and the areas of low levels are low tides.

Since the earth and the moon rotate around the sun, there is an added modifying factor. When the sun and moon are aligned, there are exceptionally strong gravitational forces, causing very high and very low tides which are called spring tides, though they have nothing to do with the season. When the sun and moon are not aligned, the gravitational forces cancel each other out, and the tides are not as dramatically high and low. These are called neap tides.

Tides vary from day to day. As the earth, moon, and sun orbit, their positions constantly shift, causing slightly different gravitational effects. This causes the tides to occur at slightly different times. Tides also vary from place to place. Geographical position determines the level of tide. In Northern California there are two unequal tides each day. In the Gulf of Mexico there is only one high tide and one low tide each day.

How can this help me catch more fish?

Imagine a mouth of a river (estuary) at the time of the full moon when the tide is lowering. There would be tons of water moving rapidly from the estuary spilling into the sea. With all this water movement the river and sea floor is disturbed considerably. Food organism that live in or near the bottom then become part of this mass exodus of water that is moving out to sea. Small fish will feed on these organisms, bigger fish will feed on these fish, even bigger fish will feed on these fish......and BINGO!!!! you have a healthy food chain.

The feeding habits of the ocean roaming pelagic fish species also vary depending on the phase of the moon. If you asked ten different marlin or tuna fishermen "when's the best time?" there's a good chance you would receive ten different answers but from catch records of professionals, recreational anglers and scientific studies these fish are more active for 4 days leading up to the full moon and for 4 days after the new moon. There are many other variables to take into consideration as well, not just the moon phases. Things such as water temperature/color, the presence of baitfish/food items, cloud cover, bird activity, ocean current speed/direction and how you scratched your nose last week, but one thing you can be 100% sure about,

"YOU WONT CATCH FISH IF YOU'RE NOT FISHING!!"

One way of finding the feeding habits of a species in a certain area is to keep a diary of your fishing outings. This diary should include date, time, moon phase, tide, method used, catch rate and other information (such as bird activity and current speed). After several entries about a location a pattern may form which will be invaluable for future outings. It may take a long time (perhaps years) to discover what the best fishing conditions are for a location but that's the beauty of fishing. Good anglers don't rely on luck alone.

Cheers

Darren

[mac]

hope you cut and pasted that

kiwiboy

[Guest]

hope you cut and pasted that

kiwiboy

Sure did Mac, can't be bothered writing that much

Cheers

Darren