TackleTour

Can anyone explain why moon underfoot is the best major? When there is a full moon I've felt drawn to it so I assumed moon overhead might actuall pull the fish up and get them moving, sort of like pulling tides. After further investigation underfoot is actually considered the best major but haven't found a good explination as to why.

I don't have an answer but maybe your initial assumption is faulty?

I don't quite understand your question. It needs a little clarification. Which moon table are you using?

I'd say they're talking about fishing between dawn and dusk since during a new moon the nights are considerably darker which reduces a fishes ability to hunt, so they remain more dormant to save the energy required to feed during daylight hours. Kinda like when the water is completely stained and makes them want to hold tight to cover instead of roaming around in search of a meal.

On the flip side, I've had better luck fishing at night when the moon is out presumably because the fish can see better and are therefore more active.

Obz wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 06, 2019 5:36 am

Can anyone explain why moon underfoot is the best major? When there is a full moon I've felt drawn to it so I assumed moon overhead might actuall pull the fish up and get them moving, sort of like pulling tides. After further investigation underfoot is actually considered the best major but haven't found a good explination as to why.

Observable activity levels. Periods considered "major" are simply those moon phases where the most fish and game activity is observed. Major for more activity, minor for less activity.

https://www.acurite.com/learn/weather-s ... ng-fishing

Never heard it had anything to do with gravitational pulling on fish and game that I am aware of. Never heard of that, but interesting just the same.

Anyone have a good link to a moon phases for dummies...? Also wondering if the basic principles apply to all fish, or just some more than others... Thanks in advance!

From my understanding there are majors and minors every day. Moon over head and moon underfoot = majors. Moon rise moon set = minors. Moon underfoot is supposedly the better major. The new moon makes sense hindering their ability to forage at night but full moons also have increased activity, I thought it was because insect hatches correlate with the full moon. So the lower an animal is on the food chain the more affect the moon has on behavior. This is the moon table I use.
http://www.solunarforecast.com/solunarcalendar.aspx

I went musky fishing on Monday. We had five follows my friend lost a musky and I had a blow up over the course of two hours. They are tough to get in the boat but it felt like non stop water wolf action. It was a new moon and moon underfoot while all that went on.

I stopped paying attention to this stuff a long time ago after comparing my success to the tables presented. I still think it’s fun to check in on them to see how wrong they were For example, my best night of trophy trout fishing last winter was on a low activity night according to the chart, and the best bite was during a time period that wasn’t even on the chart. Same thing happened the year before. Just go fishing!

JBcrankaddict wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 08, 2019 1:10 pm

I stopped paying attention to this stuff a long time ago after comparing my success to the tables presented. I still think it’s fun to check in on them to see how wrong they were For example, my best night of trophy trout fishing last winter was on a low activity night according to the chart, and the best bite was during a time period that wasn’t even on the chart. Same thing happened the year before. Just go fishing!

Same here! The older I get, the more I think people are over-thinking things. We spend $50,000 on a boat and electronics, then drop another $5 grand on gear, all in an effort to outsmart an animal with a brain the size of a peanut. Just go fish!

I've noticed the lunar tables DO matter. I ice fish quite a bit on a good day I'll graph nearly the same amount of fish on the flasher as a bad day, the difference is on the high percentage days they don't dawg me. Musky fishing too, I fish enough to have the spots dailed but I see more fish on good lunar days.
With bass fishing I don't pay as close attention because I can always catch them, BUT I haven't boated a bass over 3.5lbs. And last year I had 2 or 5lbs by this time. I blame the way my work schedule has correlated with the moon.

I try and watch the lunar tables and I try and go along with them, and to some small degree I have noticed some correlation between them and the fish biting or not...

But, in truth, on days said to be 15% out of 100% have actually been more productive than days above 85% out of 100%. So I tend to agree with those who say "just go fishing."

And, since electronics was brought up... I fish in central Florida and most of the water I fish in is less than 8 feet deep. Fish finders do nothing for me here except provide me with a depth and nothing more. I still use my own wits to find fish and carefully watch the surface for feeding fish activity and just go fish to have fun and to heck with electronics and solar/lunar calendars to a large degree.

But if I fished in deeper waters above say 20 plus feet, then I might have to rely on electronics more so, but central Florida really makes it near impossible for me to use fish finders successfully in such shallow waters.

I go by the Fisherman Table, go when you can. A day lost is gone and you can never get it back.

Obz wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:12 pm

I've noticed the lunar tables DO matter. I ice fish quite a bit on a good day I'll graph nearly the same amount of fish on the flasher as a bad day, the difference is on the high percentage days they don't dawg me. Musky fishing too, I fish enough to have the spots dailed but I see more fish on good lunar days.
With bass fishing I don't pay as close attention because I can always catch them, BUT I haven't boated a bass over 3.5lbs. And last year I had 2 or 5lbs by this time. I blame the way my work schedule has correlated with the moon.

As I always say on these moon table threads, the moon phase is only one variable, and often not the most important variable. I spent my teens and early twenties paying attention to the moon phase and keeping detailed logs of my 100 average excursions per year. I thought that I was going to be the next Doug Hannon.
There are so many other variables that trump the moon on certain lakes. Wind, current, or water generation often trump everything else. My home body of water, Diamond Valley Lake, fishes much better when it has wind because it is gin clear. I have caught at least one largemouth over 6lbs. on all but one trip this spring. All but one of those big fish came in the wind and low light that comes in the last two hours of the lake being open. That's not coincidence. One of my best days did come when the major moon phase did line up with the last two hours of daylight, but I would have not experienced some of those other great days if I overanalyzed the moon phase. I would have put the boat on the rack because the moon phase was not supposed to be a productive one.
I like to pay attention to the moon phase during tournaments because it can be a time when I am more likely to hit paydirt on reaction baits when other conditions are also right. I like the multiplier effect that comes with multiple variables in your favor.

I wouldn't sit a day out, I've noticed a difference since I've been paying attention. Can anyone go into further detail on why there is more fish activity during majors and minors throughout the course of any given day.