Bluegill Fly Rodders

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Comment by Andy is OptiMystic on March 5, 2015 at 3:06pm

The weird thing about the moon is I have fished with people over the years at different ends of the spectrum. A few people, like my friend in the boathouse story, swear that the fishing is awful and you should avoid fishing the full moon because they never catch anything then (but they never fish then either). Others avoid the new moon. About the only thing I heard about a moon phase that made sense to me was a buddy that liked to do Summer new moon trips for brown trout in Dillon Res in CO. We used shallow diving Rapalas. His theory was that without the moon there were so many stars that from underneath the Rapala made a silhouette but would go out of sight quickly so the trout had to strike quick. It did seem to work. We caught a lot of them. It was weird though; might cast 50 times with nothing, not even a whiff and the next cast felt like you cast into the open door of a passing freight car.

Comment by Tony Livingston on March 5, 2015 at 2:59pm

David, can you post some links to the studies that claim a connection exists between spawning and the full moon? Would love to read a study that comes from the other side of the fence.

Comment by Leo Nguyen on March 5, 2015 at 2:57pm

Oh David, you made me spit my lunch all over my screen. You and Tony..sheesh..jokster-duo..

Scientific studies are always based on observation studies. When there's enough overwhelming evident throughout the nation/world to drown either the scientific theories or partial document results done only by a few groups, the layman's observation will triumph as factual information. This is the age of techno-evolution. That won't be a problem.

I surely agree with you David. I can't wait. If I have a chance to fish, I don't plan anything around any optimal period. I rather spend 10 hours of poor fishing day for the entire month over 1/2 hour of the best single day of fishing day.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on March 5, 2015 at 2:50pm

I don't get to fish just when the time is right.
I can't wait on Jupiter to juxtapose with Uranus, or for the moon to be in a certain house (or boathouse).
I go when I can. A lot if this is lost on me for that reason.

PS I do tend to agree with the studies that I've read that advocate more bluegill spawning occurs around the full moon. The sheer volume of work devoted to this suggests it's not purely anecdotal.

Comment by B. Waldman on March 5, 2015 at 2:38pm

LOL - Thanks, Jay. One and the same. They kind of screwed up that story - it just hit my mailbox yesterday. I got two state "fish of the year" awards, not two state records :) But they say there is no such thing as bad publicity!

Will definitely have to get together this year, perhaps when the ice finally melts in June :) Been another long, cold winter. Hoping to be ice free in another 2-3 weeks, so I'll be hitting the open water as soon as we get it. Keep in touch and we'll go chasing after something this spring. 

Comment by Jay Fogle on March 5, 2015 at 2:31pm

B Waldman - Is a fisherman's fisherman!

I saw your name in my local paper  (Banner Graphic) a couple or so days ago. I already knew who you were - I think we've even been in contact via email before in regards to the Smallmouth Alliance.

 

Anyway -Congrats on your 2014 accomplishments and let's go fishing sometime soon! Jay near Greencastle

 

Comment by Tony Livingston on March 5, 2015 at 2:29pm

I have never utilized solunar tables or moon phases to direct my fishing efforts. I have always been of the opinion that such coincidences are just that. At best, I figure that undiscovered factors are in play that happen to align themselves with readily apparent visual cues. But, I'm willing to listen!

Comment by Tony Livingston on March 5, 2015 at 2:29pm

I have never utilized solunar tables or moon phases to direct my fishing efforts. I have always been of the opinion that such coincidences are just that. At best, I figure that undiscovered factors are in play that happen to align themselves with readily apparent visual cues. But, I'm willing to listen!

Comment by Andy is OptiMystic on March 5, 2015 at 2:26pm

Many years ago when I was a teenager, my parents had a house on Lake Lanier in GA and it had a 2 boat boat house but we only had one boat. We had power out there and kept an old fridge and B&W TV out there. A friend and I would often take lawn chairs out and fish in the empty bay with a light to get the minnows circling. One night we were really slaying the crappie and I mentioned to my buddy that this sure seemed to disprove the "don't fish the full moon" theory he had espoused a few time. He shook his head and rolled his eyes "Doesn't prove a thing; we're fishing indoors." ... ;^>

Comment by B. Waldman on March 5, 2015 at 2:22pm

This is an interesting subject, because it pits science against anecdotal evidence, which I always find interesting. The science says that spawning around a particular moon phase with common freshwater fishes (bass, bluegill, etc.) doesn't happen. yet, ask most anglers and they'll have a different take.

For example, I am good friends with one of the professional bass touring anglers, and he is always wanting to know when the full moon and new moon cycles are around his tournaments due to the belief that big waves of spawning bass move in during those times assuming water temps are good. Additionally, he's seen the same thing with bluegills in some of the mid-latitude waters he's fished more during summer.

Likewise, my records show that around here, I seem to always find bedding gills during the new moon phase in late May or early June. Even though I know what the science says, what I see seems to contradict it. The difference might be that in the case of observation, every possible scenario isn't documented. In other words, I don't go out year after year trying to see when my gills start bedding and record those dates. Instead, I happen to notice it some years when I'm out on the water, and those times happened to have fallen around key moon phases. What I likely haven't noticed is those times or years when it didn't happen like that - at least that is my current theory.

All that said, here are a few good science pieces on some of these exact same topics we've been discussing so much today:

 

Water temps & spawning

Moon phases I

Skipped spawns

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