Full Moon fishing

[anthrax2244]

Hey Guys. What’s your personal take on the effect of the full moon on fishing?

Personally I’ve noted the following:

At Round Valley it seems to shut down the day and night time bite for trout, bass catfish etc. I get fewer hits and the hits I get aren’t aggressive/commital.

For stocked trout and smb in the nbr, sbr, Black, Lamington, pequest, musky, rivers I haven’t noticed any appreciable difference.

For carp, in general, I haven’t noticed any difference.

[NJ219bands]

I think best carping is during the full moon in the evening.

[Detour66]

I ocean fish mostly and can tell you that from my experience fishing is not good during a full moon. I never noticed it when I go fresh water fishing but I would not doubt it.

[Capt. Lou]

All depends on conditions and what type of fishing your doing !
Freshwater I’ve seen it both ways on the moon , never paid attention to stream if water is good so was fishing !
Offshore can be dynamite on the moon ! I’ve experienced so many good trips on the moon in the canyons especially when seas were up ! Stripers dynamite as well !
I’ll take fishing on the moon anytime !

[NJ219bands]

A big carp made a long run in Carnegie Lake this evening before swimming under a dredging pipe and cutting my line on the full moon. That was the first carp that I hooked in a long time.

[Chrisper4694]

too many other variables to consider. I've kept an extensive detailed log for years and haven't really seen any moon phase info that i relevant in general terms. If you involve specific species at specific times of the year, though, there are some borderline consistencies, but nothing really that would make me say 'oh it's not worth fishing this or that moon phase'.

and more often than not when someone says a certain moon phase is bad or good...there is another person saying the opposite! in reality there's probably just a better tactic, lure, or area for either one!

fish with as many people as you can and always keep an open mind! stubbornness is a fisherman's worst enemy!

[anthrax2244]

Guys, thanks for sharing your experiences and opinions.

Bands - nice Carp!

So, in support or Chrisper’s post, my son and I caught 4 rainbows at RVR despite it being full moon. This is the most success that I can ever remember having there around full moon. All were over 15”. Hopefully the link below works.

[Chrisper4694]

it works, nice job

[bulletbob]

Up here in NY in the big lakes that are full of alewives[herring in NJ, Sawbellies up here] the general consensus among many fishermen [me included] is this...
During the full moon periods sight feeders such as all the ESOX, , LL salmon, Rainbows and Browns, as well as LMB and SMB are much more prone to feeding on the alewife masses during moonlit night hours than they are during non moon or partial moon phases...
Up here, EVERYTHING suspends, and go totally out of natural character.. This goes for trout, bass, esox, walleys. right down to yellow perch.. The alewives are the food source for everything, and fish here don't relate to depth, temp, or structure as they normally would.. They go where the food is. They are always below the bait pods, looking up into them toward the surface. .. They attack from below, I have seen it personally on my garmin color FF
When the alewives are suspended at say 40 feet, in 150 FOW , they are easy pickings from predators because they are much more visible against the bright moonlight... Can't speak for the shallower, smaller NJ lakes, but here its pretty obvious.. During the full moon the daytime bite is noticeably slower... bob

[anthrax2244]

Bob thanks for the detailed post. Very interesting. Years ago when there were schools of herring in rvr that phenomenon would explain the poor full moon day bite.