Moon Phases

[Joe D.]

Posted this in the Tackle Box. Figured I'd get more responses in this forum.

I remember fishing with my dad at a young age on numerous of boats in SJ. Everytime we went fishing, it seemed that there was never a bad day as far as the fish bite was concerned. Or maybe I was just too young to remember the bad days and just enjoyed spending time on the water with my dad.

Anyways, I recently went on a striper trip to the DE bay about a week ago. For weeks they were dominating the fish on every tide. Then comes time for my charter trip that was planned since January, and of course the bite just seemed to drop off completely. At first I just chaulked it up as bad luck; however, there was a full moon 2 days prior that people seemed to believe shut the fish down.

My question is, is there a scientific explanation or theory behind why fishing seemes to drop off during this phase of the moon. Are there any other moon phases that should be avoided that seem to slam the door shut on fishing and does this occur with mostly all species of fish or is it more common in striper fishing?

I don't get to fish often due to having young children; therefore I would like to pick my days wisely if at all or somewhat possible.

[aquasport190]

Some times the fish feed at night during a full moon and just lay around during the day.

[fishingfever]

full moon can bring some pretty nasty currents in the bay and churn up the water a good bit. The darker water might put off the bite for a little while.

Some think that the strong tides can motivate migration patterns, too. The stripers have been spawning up the river recently and could have given them reason to leave the bay temporarily.

[OCR Sean]

I've always heard that fish move before the full moon and then sit during. The only exception I know of is drum fishing. We always did better on the full moon. As far as scientifically I think there are probably arguements each side.

[TWIN D'S]

What you're really referring to is the height of the tides and therefore the strength of the current. It does in fact different fish in different ways. Some fish are better on strong currents, while others are better on weak currents.