Daytime fishing for bass, I’ve never noticed a difference with moon phase outside of the spawn. I have found bass on beds a month later than typical of a cool front occurs a day or two before a full moon.

 

Obviously everyone is aware of the correlation between a full moon and bluegill bedding. Bass do belong to the same family which I believe may attribute to seeing them on beds late if the moon and weather line up.

 

Nigh fishing I have found full moons to produce better numbers of smaller fish, most of my bigger night catches have come on a new moon.

 

Saltwater fishing is a totally different ball game, particularly with bottom fishing in deep water. It’s just about been a waste of time to try for grouper the day after a new moon. Never paid attention to the moon inshore saltwater, but the tide plays such a big factor in location and fish activity I would think there has to be some connection.

My previous experience fishing around the full moon held true, this weekend sucked. 

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

My previous experience fishing around the full moon held true, this weekend sucked. 

Let me guess, you caught 23 fish and the biggest was only 3.5 pounds…….. ? 

 

I didn’t get to fish much this weekend but I only managed 3 dinks. I’ve had good days with full moon but not many 

23 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Let me guess, you caught 23 fish and the biggest was only 3.5 pounds…….. ? 

 

I didn’t get to fish much this weekend but I only managed 3 dinks. I’ve had good days with full moon but not many 

I wish, I went to the river and only caught 2 wipers, 2 gar, and 2 turtles.

Just now, Bluebasser86 said:

I wish, I went to the river and only caught 2 wipers, 2 gar, and 2 turtles.

Ouch. I know it’s bad tough if you ain’t on em 

On 8/13/2022 at 6:24 PM, Catt said:

Sounds kinda like fishing in the daylight!

This is a logical statement. Light is light. Right? Shadows are shadows. Yes? Not exactly, IMO. Steely white moonlight directly over a lake is somehow different than sunlight, and the fish behave differently.

 

I do more lake wading than anything else because it's my best option close to home. I'm really just a glorified bank angler with less constraints. Our lakes are tree-lined right up to the bank with occasional cuts to fish from on the bank, so I can reach stretches a bank-bound angler can't, and can hit offshore cover they can't because I can wade out. Being in the water I also can observe certain things.

 

On just about any night when there isn't a bright moon overhead, bluegills constantly peck at my wading boots if they're in the area. I often set up where I've found small baitfish gathered, so gills are always close by or mixed in. If I shine a light onto them, they'll scatter in all directions, but will return quickly.

 

During bright moon nights small bait is rarely seen unless I stir them out of weeds, then back they go quickly. On these nights when I come across a random bluegill in these zones, they're literally frozen belly down on the bottom. Shine a light on them and they won't even budge. I need to practically step on them to get them to move. They never peck at my boots either. The only other time I see this behavior is when they first move up to the bank in early March when the water is still very cold. I encounter them randomly, belly down, and seemingly frozen in place. Shine a light on them and they don't move, like they're hypnotized. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, if the surface is calm it's exceedingly rare for anything to break it. Unless I'm missing something, the entire lake seems to go into lockdown.

 

I've never once had a bass hit a bait aggressively on bright moon nights. When it happens, and that's rare, it's always very subtle. More of a slurp, or a nip on a tail or appendage. However, that's here in unusually shallow NY water. Perhaps I'll figure it out someday. I've failed to so far, and so have the local hammers I know. It's possible that all of us lack the creativity to break the seal, but I'll keep trying to crack the code.

The metal and emotional attraction is strong with this one... 

 

2 hours ago, PhishLI said:

Steely white moonlight directly over a lake is somehow different than sunlight, and the fish behave differently

 

Everything you mentioned can be seen during daylight.

 

Bright bluebird day the bait are in the cover. Overcast days they're more out in the open.

 

It doesn't matter if you're fishing in the day or at night you have to consider all the conditions. 

I figure fish would treat the moon like the sun....hide more when it's bright, come out more when it's dark. Guess I read it somewhere, maybe here? I have no opinion of my own on this.