Solar lunar theory

[Steve Burke]

Newt:

Steve - too early to give overall predictions for the days unless someone has bought a years worth.  The free stuff in magazines or on the net is usually current month and maybe a little of the next.  So by May probably.  I can give you an idea of the best times during the day though.  These are based on 92W so about 2ºwest of the beginning of a time zone.  Your location will probably vary but since sunrise time is listed, you can figure out the difference easily.

Thanks, Newt, it'll be interesting to see the predictions in due course.

 

Wingham is less tham 1 degree east of the Greenwich meridian if I recall, so the times will be only about 10 minutes out. (The correction would be an hour for each 15 degrees difference). However, being further north, sunrise is earlier at 4.39 British Summer Time on the 12th.

 

It looks good as 8am is an excellent time for the tench, although an hour or two late for the usual bream and perch peaks.

 

There are two strains of tench (green and black ones) at Wingham with slightly different feeding times. However they generally feed best from soon after dawn to about 10am, although you often get a single fish later than this. Curiously, these are often the biggest ones - perhaps they're loners. Late evening is the next best time for tench, but there's often a brief secondary feeding spell at about 3.30p.m. - as Elton found out on our first Fish-In!

 

Most other Wingham species feed well at dawn and dusk, although in dull weather you can sometimes catch on and off all day.

 

Like at all gravel pits the bream are probably largely overnight and early morning feeders, my 13-14 coming at 6.30a.m. & Steve Randles 10lber on the 2000 Fish-In coming about then as I recall.

 

Mind you, you can never tell, I remember Singy had an 11-08 bream in the middle of the day in the middle of a heatwave!

[Tony 1]

Budgie, it's a shame chris never got back to you regarding your offer, it would have been interesting to view the results.

[wunnus]

For the 11, 12, 13 June err you are dependent on weather factors folks.

 

But I will be looking 8-10 morning and night during that weekend. But There will be little help from the moon's gravity. So you are on ya own.

If you have the times for best catches on that French trip, I am willing to see if any fell at a good lunar point.

[Steve Randles]

This theory has been discussed before here and most of the anglers on this thread will remember that..I'm sure!

 

A few years back there was an fishing e-mail list (sadly no-more..as they have now concentrated on their site and forum) and over a period of time I read the e-mails as they came in of predictions of that nights sport, and good and bad times (periods). It was quite something then to me to watch this happen via e-mail.

 

Eventually this angler joined the forums at Anglers Net and commenced discussions about the sol-lunar theory, and made some predictions of catch times for a winter fish in on the Severn. Three fish where caught that day, two of them where bang on the nose of the time pre-predicted on this forum.

 

Unfortunately there was some squabbling about the third fish which marred the whole exercise, but the fact does remain that these where cuaght at pre-predicted times, and pre-predicted due to the work of Chris with whatever information he has derived from the times/phases of the moon.

 

If you read Chris'e words he has always maintained that the times he predicts are based on a good angler using the right tackle in the right place with a bait that the fish wants to eat..and he goes further by saying that these times are when the fish are "most likey to feed"

 

On the other side of the coin it has to be said that if a fish swims past a bait it wants to eat and its hungry...it will eat it full stop, whether its the right time of the moon or if a freezing North-Easterly is beating down on us at the time.

 

Its an interesting theory to be sure, but it is not the be all and end all of whether or not we should choose to fish, nor is the weather as I will myself go fishing on the days I choose to go. If the wind/moon is right/wrong or not!

 

I have to say it, but it would be interesting to have Chris's comments on the subject once more...from a fresh start with reasonable debate in mind, discussed as we are used to having it discussed here, with passion and restraint.

[wunnus]

Yep Steve I would go with that.

 

IT is a very interesting association. But there are other factors. I can see some link for fish in water but the theory is also applied to hunting. I can see no suitable explanation for that. It does seem to have an impact for bird watching. No idea why.

[Steve Randles]

If the moon has an effect on vast bodies of water and its contents (ie the fish) then surely it follows that it also affects everything on dry land too. I guess that would also include us bipeds..

[wunnus]

The only explanation I saw attempted was centred on free radical oxygen in the blood. NOW I have to draw the line somewhere....Fishing time is just too important to be spent on free radicals.

[Jeff S]

Moon Phases

 

Interesting concept.Maybe it applies to bird watching and hunting since the light at night is better..

[Dick Dastardly]

Wunnus,the real shame about not getting the chart was that it was a whole season on the river not just a trip! Over the season (March to October) working on each guides group using 6 rods for a minimum of 8 hours a day,6 days a week it would have given an awfull lot of rod hours!Regardless of conditions we are always out so it would have been very interesting to see if the moon had any affect on Catfish.