A lot has been said and written about how the moon affect the tides and how that affects our fishing. Google this subject and you will find thousands of related articles covering this topic.
Ocean Tides
The tide is a standing wave caused primarily by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun on the ocean. The ocean always have 2 high tides, on opposite sides. And these 2 bulges move around the surface of the planet as it rotates.
Spring Tide
New/full moon: When the sun, moon and earth are all in line – which occurs twice a lunar month (28 days) – the tides are the strongest. That’s when spring tides occur, when high tides are the highest of the year and low tides are the lowest. Biggest variation between low and high tides.
New moon: Both the sun and the moon on the same side of the world – sun/moon/earth.
Full moon: Straight line with the earth in the middle – sun/earth/moon.
Neap Tide
Twice each lunar month during the half-moon phases, the sun acts against to partially cancel out the moon’s effect, resulting in the lowest high tides and the highest low tides – called neap tides. Smallest variation between low and high tides.
Best Time To Fish
The best fishing is almost always on a rising or falling tide, not the dead low or dead high when there is little or no water movement. It’s said to be a fact that we can catch fish during noon on a full/new moon. And the fishing is often better day or night. The 4 days before and after accompanying this phase is kinda rule of thumb of sorts for better fishing.
Peak Days: The day of a New or Full Moon.
Peak Times: High tide falls within 30 mins to an hour of sunrise or sunset. Moonrise or moonset even better.
When the above happens during New or Full moon, expect the best action of the season!
Fun spoiler, the weather: Adverse temperature, abnormal water conditions, strong wind, all sorts will offset the effects of the peak periods.
Finally, it goes without saying that given the best time, we must first be fishing where there are fishes!
What about you, how does the moon phase affects the way you fish?
