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Perigee Full moon (Thats a big one)

Jon Frisby

Jon Frisby

Senior Member & Supporter
Whats your thoughts lads, for me its the kiss of death, but then again I love proving old fishing tales wrong and I shall be out on the highest TT tide of the year.

Jon
 
I've read elsewhere that barbel aren't spooked by headtorches when approaching a landing net, and if that's the case, why should thet be bothered by a full moon, even a perigree one? Do they remain in places of safety because they are more visible to predators or is it a gravitational effect that allegedly turns them off? My money's on you catching, whatever the day, moon phase, prevailing conditions etc. etc.

Let us know how you get on.
 
In which case I won't be but might venture up to the TT Friday till sat pm. Tides still pretty big friday, 8m at hull. I will be out mud pigging Wednesday, there's two commons that are eluding me in my syndicate, and allegedly big moon means big common.
 
I too have heard all the fishermen’s tales about the Moon phases, such as:-

"Full Moon is the time for Commons (Carp)!!"

And others, to be fair I know little of Carp fishing and indeed a full Moon may be good news if you are fishing for pond pigs, but I must say that over the years I have found that a full big Moon is the kiss of death for Barbel and I have also never done any good for Roach during these periods either.

It seems to make little difference if there is a good cloud cover or not, even if I cannot see it, a full Moon seems to kill the fishing, both day and night.

I have tried many times to dis-prove this without success, so these days I tend to avoid a full moon if I can.
I am sure there will always be exception to this, indeed tidal rivers provide such an exception, but with conditions in general on non-tidal fisheries I tend to play the percentage game, for me a full moon is a perfect opportunity to gain some brownie points!;)
 
I have always struggled on the trent of full moons , as for barbel not spooking off head torches am afraid I have seen them do it and mine dont go on til fish in the net and even then its a red beam . Me and mater were fishing the middle trent 6 weeks or so ago and I had no one opposite me and caught from dusk into early hours , mate had 3 guys using very bright head torches and they had them on constant even when sat doing nothing and he couldnt buy a bite then about 1am they reeled in and got their heads down and withing 15 mins he started getting indications
 
Keith Speer said:
I too have heard all the fishermen’s tales about the Moon phases, such as:-

"Full Moon is the time for Commons (Carp)!!"
Click to expand...

I'd never heard this until a mate mentioned it to me earlier this year. I'd popped down to the lake to see him when he came out with "full moon equals big commons" and the moon was full at the time. Didn't take much notice of it until he phoned me at the crack of dawn to photograph a lake record common.:):eek:
 
I'm sceptical myself of the big moon-big common theory. Clutching at straws to catch two fish that have tormented me for 4 seasons now! To be honest, I tend to take very little notice of the moon phases in regards to timing my sessions. A friend of mine was determined to prove a correlation between moon phase and catch returns on our syndicate. He concluded that around 75% of the fish caught were about 4/5 days either side of new and full moons. I pointed out that those 20 days out of a moon cycle were pretty much 3/4 of the cycle! Poor chat really thought he was on to something!
 
Robert Edwards said:
A friend of mine was determined to prove a correlation between moon phase and catch returns on our syndicate. He concluded that around 75% of the fish caught were about 4/5 days either side of new and full moons. I pointed out that those 20 days out of a moon cycle were pretty much 3/4 of the cycle! Poor chat really thought he was on to something!
Click to expand...
Perhaps he was on to something. Look at the figures you've given:
Say there were 100 fish caught during the cycle, then then 75 were caught during the 20 days. That's 3.75 a day. The remaining 10 days would account for 25 fish, that's 2.5 a day. So the catch rates during those 20 days were actually 50% higher than during the moon cycle :cool:

Of course I don't know how accurate are the figures you given (I've based it on the 20 days not the approximate "4/5" days you also mention) so it doesn't really mean anything, it's just more interesting than the work I'm supposed to be doing. :D
 
The figures were approximate andy, can't remember what they were exactly. The lake in question was more like 10-15 fish per month at best, think that season it went 23 days with no bites! Does anyone know it the moon phases have any effect on the weather or air pressure?
 
I Fished Overnight tue/wed on the Trent. At one point I could have read a book as the moon was so bright. Fishing was good with a brace of carp to 14.02 & 5 Barbel to 12.12. A fantastic session imo and my first carp from this section. I did turn in from midnight to 0430 as I felt like a kip.
 
That is very interesting Jon.

To be honest I would not have bothered, I know you have to be in it to win it, but I would have been limited by my own experiences.


Just goes to prove we are not nearly as clever as we think we are!!
Or at least I am not.:mad:


Well done mate:D
 
interesting comments on light on the river at night. when i`m out on very late night bailiff patrols i`ve put the powerful torch beam on some of the shallow margins only to see lots of small fish scatter out of the water as if a pike is in the area ?.
 
I recall Nick Helleur and I think Terry Hearn on a mission to track down a large carp in the GU canal a good few years back. They used powerful lamps at night for spotting, and it didn't seem to bother the fish.

I think it is more the case that showing yourselves silhouetted by light and moving about on the bank at the same time, or flashing moving lights about in the water that bothers them. I have carefully and slowly moved a torch around to spot fish in the margins, and they didn't seem alarmed at all.

Cheers, Dave.
 
As for bright lights!

If you were to shine one on on the water for a period of time, Salmon (if they are in the river of course) will often come up and swim through the beam (at a speed whereby one could, if one were of that mind, touch them with a landing net handle or similar long pole).

Of course I would not know of any reason why one might do this, I am just saying it is possible.

Not sure how I know this?;);););););););););)
 
:)
Keith Speer said:
As for bright lights!

If you were to shine one on on the water for a period of time, Salmon (if they are in the river of course) will often come up and swim through the beam (at a speed whereby one could, if one were of that mind, touch them with a landing net handle or similar long pole).

Of course I would not know of any reason why one might do this, I am just saying it is possible.

Not sure how I know this?;);););););););););)
Click to expand...

I agree Keith, and I can just remember how I know this! However, the only clue I am prepared to give is to say that I grew up among the mountain streams of Wales where salmon were once prolific :)
 
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