full moon affect on the bite

always wondered and Ive heard people say it gets real good and Ive herd others tell not to waste my time. when got time i fish regardless of the moon the tides or whatever when i get time id rather be on the water catching nothing then to be a t work.   

" A BAD DAY FISHING IS BETTER THEN A GOOD DAY AT WORK" 

In my experience: Generally the couple of days before and the couple of days after a full moon can be pretty productive. But ..... it really depends on the species you are targetting. Some are low light feeders (catfish) and a full moon can turn them off some. Some like little change in tidal movement (halibut) and the days around a full moon often are the largest tidal changes. Stripers seem to like a lot of water movement and aren't really shy of much so they might be more productive. On the other hand the extra light from the full moon at least in the delta often schools bait fish up so stripers feeding on the bait fish at night might not be as hungry or active during other times of the day.

Personally I don't worry about it much, I don't get out much so a full moon isn't going to change my plans if it is the only day I can go out. I do try to take into consideration what effects the full moon and tides might cause and try to utilize them more effectively to fish. For instance I will fish different places in the delta depending on what the tide will be doing when I want to go out.

All that being said it appears that I have had better success at least in the delta on the days just before or after a full moon for both black bass and stripers.

Jeff

thanks for the input!

I'm with Jeff on this one.  It really depends on the species. 

I've found that species that are normally crepuscular (i.e. tend to feed mostly at dawn and dusk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular) often bite pretty well during the night of a full moon with clear skies.  Basically they get a full night of dawn/dusk quality low light to continue feeding.  This seems especially true of fish like largemouth bass and black rockfish where the surface action can be pretty spectacular.

As for day time effects of the full moon on the bite, I don't pay much attention to it other than how it influences the tides.

Brian

I'd say none of the above. I tend to follow the moon when I fish for LMB.

....that really depends on who's giving the Full Moon......

(it's amazing what you can find when you "google" )

I did not need to see that.

*edit* OK, at least that pic is not as bad Mooch. Geez, that first one was a horror show!

thanks mooch some of my lunch just decided it wanted out            

I did not need to see that.

*edit* OK, at least that pic is not as bad Mooch. Geez, that first one was a horror show!

 

Full Moon does effect the bite.  Catfish (at night) will turn on.  Bluefin will turn on and feed durning the day because of this.  Marlin and billfish  may or maynot.  Salmon, trout, rockcod and blackbass will turn off.  Stripers will turn on because of the big tides.  Only time it will get better if it is overcast durning this time.

I got 8 albies durning the last full moon because it was overcast.

Ken kickfish

Isn't the always full? Isn't it just the shadow of the earth that makes it partly light or partly dark?

(it may just be the Cabernet talking)

CHEERS!

It's only "Full"  if you live or go to SF.

Ken kickfish

Full moon equals night fishing for stripers/sturgies...

....the Bean was not putting out the "usual" amount of caught fish yesterday.Some did good and some got nada.

Theory=big tidal flow turns the bite off.   

Freddie gets a BIG BUTT..theory= butts don't like big tidal changes.

I have gotten cats to bite during a fullmoon and then othertimes not.

.....when i saw the big change in the books and the full moon the nite before, i still had to go because of the small swell/low winds that were predicted.

Mooch, nice pic of the moon phases, but the full moon is missing 
As for fishing, it is definetly species specific.