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Moon phase charts

S

Stephen Goderski

Senior Member
Many moons ago (do you like what I have done there?!) Chris Lyons used to produce moon phase charts predicting good, bad or indifferent days based on the moon phase.

I should state now that I have never been in the happy position where I can base my trips around the moon phase, weather conditions or anything other than work, but it was fun to look back and see what the moon phase prediction was on red letter days - and it did throw up some interesting patterns (for example, one season as it happened, a large proportion of my trips were on days predicted to be excellent; that season I did in fact catch substantially more double figure barbel than usual).

Anyway, are such charts still available now from any other source now that Chris has stopped producing them.

Thanks, Steve
 
Stephen Goderski said:
Many moons ago (do you like what I have done there?!) Chris Lyons used to produce moon phase charts predicting good, bad or indifferent days based on the moon phase.

I should state now that I have never been in the happy position where I can base my trips around the moon phase, weather conditions or anything other than work, but it was fun to look back and see what the moon phase prediction was on red letter days - and it did throw up some interesting patterns (for example, one season as it happened, a large proportion of my trips were on days predicted to be excellent; that season I did in fact catch substantially more double figure barbel than usual).

Anyway, are such charts still available now from any other source now that Chris has stopped producing them.

Thanks, Steve
Click to expand...
i use the App fishing times free
 
Chris Lyons grim,good and excellent days were pretty much set by the 4 quarters/phases of the moon each month with the main day being excellent and the days immediately either side of it, or two either side of it, being good. The rest mainly grim. All you need is a calendar with the moon phases on it, or even google them. He also used to swear by moonrise/set as being good times and I have often found this is pretty accurate. But it's very true, you can talk yourself into a blank if the moon isn't in your favour and subconsciously make less effort.
 
I’m not sure why but I can’t quite work out exactly what your saying there Alex. Which particular portion of the moon phase was classed as excellent, or did this vary?
 
Rhys Perry said:
I don't understand why moon phases should have any bearing, it's only shadows!
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I think the theory is based around gravitational pull.

I've never really got my head around the theory mainly because my fishing has to fitted in around work and family commitments. Like Stephen, I'd rather not know if the moon phases are looking iffy if that's the only day I can get on the bank that week/fortnight. Ignorance is bliss!
 
Stephen Crowhurst said:
I’m not sure why but I can’t quite work out exactly what your saying there Alex. Which particular portion of the moon phase was classed as excellent, or did this vary?
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When you look at a calendar with the moon phases on you'll see a little drawing of the moon at either new moon, first quarter, last quarter or full moon. The days with these little drawings are what the moon phase theory was about, in general way that is. If I remember rightly the two days either side of this were usually good with the day of the moon change itself being excellent. That is roughly it Stephen, but there is probably more to what Chris Lyons researched, his articles on it were very interesting. I remember Archie Braddock doing a similar piece on it. Moon rise and set times were considered the best and you can find these in most daily newspapers.
 
Rhys Perry said:
I don't understand why moon phases should have any bearing, it's only shadows!
Click to expand...

A lot of well known anglers have rubbished the theory Rhys, Stef Horak was particularly scathing of the theory, and he seems to do OK. I wouldn't want to base my fishing around it to any degree, not that I can with work etc. but it's interesting to look at if you have a really good day for no obvious reason.
 
Stephen Goderski said:
Many moons ago (do you like what I have done there?!) Chris Lyons used to produce moon phase charts predicting good, bad or indifferent days based on the moon phase.

I should state now that I have never been in the happy position where I can base my trips around the moon phase, weather conditions or anything other than work, but it was fun to look back and see what the moon phase prediction was on red letter days - and it did throw up some interesting patterns (for example, one season as it happened, a large proportion of my trips were on days predicted to be excellent; that season I did in fact catch substantially more double figure barbel than usual).

Anyway, are such charts still available now from any other source now that Chris has stopped producing them.

Thanks, Steve
Click to expand...


looky here

tides4fishing.com

Tides and solunar charts for fishing in United Kingdom in 2024

Tide tables and solunar charts for United Kingdom: high tides and low tides; sun and moon rising and setting times, lunar phase, fish activity and weather conditions in United Kingdom.
tides4fishing.com tides4fishing.com

I have been usin tff for years but never once botheref with the moon phases.

Davr
 
WillyWeather has moon phase info. Like my other webpage based fishing info, like BFW, club forum, Avon temp, etc, I’ve got a shortcut icon on my iPhone home screen.

Like others, I only check retrospectively (sometimes) and definitely don’t let it dictate the timing of trips.

I personally believe that it does have an impact however, probably more than the naysayers think and less than those the diary their sessions around it. It’s just another element of nature that contributes to the overall picture.

Like most, I’ll stick to looking at the weather, water & air temps and river levels. Then I’ll go regardless because of work/life getting in the way of alternative options. I’ll look at the colour when I arrive. Invariably, one or more of these factors are wholly responsible for the blanks... 😂
 
A carp angler mate the Late Rod Hutchinson who was very meticulous and kept every detail of every trip one day checked the details of all his biggest fish and best sessions and noticed most of them all happened on a New moon
he then at this stage in his life with his business and limited fishing time made the decision to plan all his trips around every new moon so convinced it was the way to go
 
There have been a few moon phase charts over the years. The Abu Tight Lines catalogues used to publish their predicted good/ bad days a year in advance.

The late Professor Barrie Rickards kept meticulous records of his pike catches over many years, with their correlation with the phase of the moon and weather conditions. I remember he published his findings in his 'Fishing for Big Pike' update. I never purchased it so cannot make comment on his findings.

Dave Horton, one of the most successful big pike anglers of recent years, I know plans his trips around phases of the moon. Personally I go fishing when I want to, when I deem the conditions are good, and when I have field break work time off. I've been twice so far this season and that had nothing whatsoever to do with the moon phases. Not that there isn't something in it though. Lots of variables to confuse making a definitive correlation. Temperature (dropping or rising). Atmospheric pressure. Flood water (coloured or clear). Angling pressure. Good bait or otherwise.
 
Hi. I don’t often post, but this subject fascinates me and I have written about this in a fishing mag previously.
In broad terms, the conclusion I have come to is that fish activity peaks 2-3 days after either full or new moon when tides are highest (approximately every fortnight). Fish activity is lowest between these times (at 2-3 days after first quarter and last quarter).
As noted by others, there are more important issues (eg weather & water conditions) and we can rarely pick and choose when we go. But for me, this knowledge can highlight when I need to pull the stops out and get fishing (when big tides and good conditions coincide); and when we can stay at home and earn brownie points (when we have poor conditions and low tides).
The obvious question is why freshwater fish are affected by tides/moon. My hypothesis is that freshwater fish, and the food they eat, evolved in the sea when the world looked very different. Fish and prey behaviour was locked into the tidal pattern, which has been retained even though inland waters are not affected by tides.
This is a really interesting subject and it feels to me that it rarely goes beyond the anecdotal. It wouldn’t take much to do a proper piece of research that would nail some of the answers once and for all.
 
Richard Howkins said:
Hi. I don’t often post, but this subject fascinates me and I have written about this in a fishing mag previously.
In broad terms, the conclusion I have come to is that fish activity peaks 2-3 days after either full or new moon when tides are highest (approximately every fortnight). Fish activity is lowest between these times (at 2-3 days after first quarter and last quarter).
As noted by others, there are more important issues (eg weather & water conditions) and we can rarely pick and choose when we go. But for me, this knowledge can highlight when I need to pull the stops out and get fishing (when big tides and good conditions coincide); and when we can stay at home and earn brownie points (when we have poor conditions and low tides).
The obvious question is why freshwater fish are affected by tides/moon. My hypothesis is that freshwater fish, and the food they eat, evolved in the sea when the world looked very different. Fish and prey behaviour was locked into the tidal pattern, which has been retained even though inland waters are not affected by tides.
This is a really interesting subject and it feels to me that it rarely goes beyond the anecdotal. It wouldn’t take much to do a proper piece of research that would nail some of the answers once and for all.
Click to expand...
Interesting observations Richard. Quite different from Chris Lyons theories which, if I remember rightly, pretty well always had 3 days after any phase as grim days. I also read somewhere, not sure if it was Chris Lyons or someone else, that the day directly after the first quarter was the prime time. I guess with so many different theories it makes you wonder just how important the moon phase really is, and if results are dictated by more obvious conditions that just coincide with a particular moon phase. I expect most of us can conclusively provide proof of blanks on supposed good and excellent days!
 
A few years ago I managed to fish a full winter with a pal ( before floods). I would roam around baiting multiple swims for chub, he would sit it out for a big barbel. He would always call me prior to ' the moon being directly overhead' to ensure I was in a swim I fancied with a bait in the water. It was too coincidental the amount of times we would both get bites in this phase, nothing before and often nothing after.
Anyhow last night I got to the river in good time, put some bait in, left it for a good while etc.. then put 2 rods out..nothing
Conditions were good, not brilliant but I was reasonably confident. Nothing. My pal ( who is on one of those golden streaks at the moment) nothing.
I have the Deeper app on my phone and after a few hours and for the first time in a long time I had a look at the calendar function. I believe this is based on moon phases and it basically rates the days in the month in terms of how productive the day will be. It rates 1 to 4, yesterday was a 3 which is good if you believe it.
You can then look at the day in question on a 24hour clock and the App has a bar graph that yesterday said the best time to catch was from around 20-00 to 22.30
So I'm sat about 20-15ish looking at the App thinking "what a load of b******s, it's dead as a nit" when my upstream rod goes into a cartwheel, the tripod nearly goes in the river, the butt grips fail and purely instinctively I catch the rod as the reel clatters against snag ears😲😲
Awesome battle, nice 9lber landed
Re-cast same bait to same spot, lean down to check the butt grip and it does the same - again I manage to hang on 7-14
Re-cast same bait to same spot, now holding the rod- whack - another one but this time I pull out of it.
And again same cast, after such a lot of commotion I don't fancy it but why not and 20 minutes later another screamer at 7 dead.
Then nothing until a chub at about 10pm
Coincidentally my pal had a 5lb chub and a 6lb bream all in the same feeding period.
All true, can we draw any conclusions?? Probably not but personally I think there's something in the moon phases.
Like a number of people have said , I go fishing when I can and don't have the luxury of picking ' prime times' nor do I abstain when I know it will be hard.
But interesting that yesterday on our river the fish had read the text books. And how ironic that the technology that's designed to help me catch fish, very nearly lost me a good fish, an Armalite and a 6000 GTE. There should be a ban on using a mobile phone when barbel fishing.
 
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