We know about fish biting at Sunrise/Sunset. What about Moonrise/Moonset ?
I am not a record keeper of when I buy things and where and for how much. Nor a fishing diary keeper as some are and who say they learn a lot from what they recorded. One who does is the author John RS Allen.
A year ago I had one of my book buying binges. One of the kindle books purcased was "Tenkara Fishing in Dorset", by John RS Allen. John Allen writes in his book that he lived in Japan for six months and learned Tenkara fishing in Japan on the rivers near Osaka in 1991. Being taught by a Tenkara-master who had been Tenkara fishing for over 40 years. He doesn't claim this opinion about the Moon came from his Tenkara teacher but, from his own observations as fisherman who has fished all over the world for every kind of fish using every method.
I glanced through it, read some history and rigging I already knew, then it turned into fishing guide to rivers in Dorset, and lost interest in it. That is until a week ago when I happened to see a review of another of his Tenkara books. ( the third book in his "one man and his rod" series). This one titled. "Tenkara Fishing Ancient and Modern" reviewed by Tenkara Normandie , here:
http://tenkaraenso.blogspot.com/2014...a-fishing.html
This prompted me to look at my kindle edition of the first book. In a section titled "Some thoughts on the year's fishing" he writes about the times he has found the fishing is better than at other times. For example transition of seasons from Winter to Spring or Summer to Autumn. Yes, generally my own experience. Or another we might all agree on is Sunrise and Sunset. About 45 minutes or an hour before and after.
I never gave much thought to the phases of the moon and whether it had any effect on fishing. Yet J.A. writes his experience shows fish bite better at the times of the New Moon or the Full Moon. Specifically the day before, during and the day after.
The other times are during Moonrise or Moon-set. And just like the Sun - John believes the fish bite better for 45 minutes before Moon-set or Moonrise and for 45 minutes after Moon-set or Moonrise. Doesn't matter if the Moon is rising or setting while the sun is high in the sky. His advice is if you want to have good fishing at 2 in the afternoon, pick a day the the Moon is either setting or rising at that time. If it's a New or Full Moon its even better.
Anyone noticed this and would agree?
If you believe this is true I would like to hear your stories of why you believe that times near Moonrise and Moon-set increase your catch.
If you would like to test this for yourself this coming weekend is the perfect time to test it. The Moon is setting near Sunset and Saturday night is a New Moon.
The below webpage will tell you all you need to know to find the local time of Sunrise/Sunset and Moonrise/Moon-set for your location in the world. You can also print out the Sunrise/set times for the entire year in pdf format.
The website is pretty slick I like it.
When you open this webpage you will see a map of the UK. Move the map till you find where you will be fishing in the world. Pin your location on the map. You will get a popup banner at the bottom. Choose your time zone, otherwise the times of Sunrise/Sunset and Moonrise/Moon-set shown on the right side will be in UTC time. ( UTC - 5 hours = EDT in the USA)
When you place your pin on the map at the desired location the Latitude and Longitude numbers shown above the Icons of the Sun and Moon also change to match your location. Click the date on the calendar to get the times for a different day than the present date.
http://sunrisesunsetmap.com/
The above site gives you the dates of the different phases of the Moon but only when you click on the date. The dates of the New or Full Moon are not printed separately.
The most fun place to get the quarter Moon, New Moon, Full Moon information is to download the monthly Skymap in pdf format. It will give you the dates of the phases of the moon. As well as positions of the Constellations, the Planets, the Moon, etc. Mars and Saturn have been in the sw sky this month. A fun view on a rare clear night.
http://skymaps.com/downloads.html
The next few days the setting Moon is approaching the time of Sunset. Until Saturday night when the Moon sets just before Sunset. Saturday is also the New Moon. Sunday night the Moon-sets 10 minutes after Sunset. If John Allen is right the fishing ought to be good near Sundown Friday, Sat and Sunday. ;) Assuming other factors don't gain the upper hand, terribly hot or thunderstorms. John A. also believes fishing is better when the atmospheric pressure is low and the sky overcast at least part of the time. I can't sat I disagree with that, it has seemed that way to me sometimes too. But I am no record keeper.
If all goes according to plan I will get on the road today or tomorrow , to the family vacation house 4 hours away, 2,200 ft higher in altitude with several streams nearby. No cell phone towers nor wi-fi for at least 20 miles.
I keep having a feeling I've been talked into holding a feed sack open in the woods at Zero-dark thirty. Waiting for something to be chased into it. And no one is coming. otoh, I worked round hospitals for 34 years, friends who worked their assured me it wasn't just some fiction told on TV, weird things do happen in the ER during every full moon. So why cant the fish go crazy too and more readily take a fly.
If you test it out this weekend let us if it was a zero day and some day or a many day. :D
D
