Moons to bright!!

[Gordie]

What do you guys think about the full moon for cats I havent had the greatest luck but there has be a couple of good fishing times with it up there.

I already know what rushing will say. kiss my ... moon

[DTro]

Well I've done a little research and just about every other species has the biggest recorded fish caught during the full moon.

What I don't know is if they were caught during the day or night. If during the day, that would change things a bit.

[Carp-fisher]

I've always had really good channel cat fishing at full moon. When I was a kid, my dad would plan catfish camping trips for the full moon and we always did unusually well. Speaking of, I caught my Minnesota River PB channel last night.

Flatheads are a different beast though...I have no idea how the moon affects their feeding....

[Scott K]

I know the moon was a blessing for me last night, as the spot light only held up to less then half of the ride home

Although the fish didn't seem enthused about the big bright thing in the sky.

[rushing]

From what I understand a full moon is a great time to fish. Just not at night. This Fri should be a great day to fish.......between 11a-1p. lol

[Shack]

I just have come to find that a full moon night does ring out as an awesome time to be out fishing. I have fished a couple full moon nights this year and did not do well. I can not recall a great night from years past where I said "thank you full moon". Cloud cover or not, I would not schedule my flathead catfishing nights accordingly to fall on/during a full moon like you would during Mille Lacs walleyes and fall time. Just my opinion though.

[Scott K]

I just fish when I can and don't worry about whether the moon is full, baro rising or falling, if there is a front coming or leaving, if there is rain, cold hot, whatever, if I can fish, I do! And the days that I am out fishing is when I catch the most fish .

[uppdacreek]

I just fish when I can and don't worry about whether the moon is full, baro rising or falling, if there is a front coming or leaving, if there is rain, cold hot, whatever, if I can fish, I do! And the days that I am out fishing is when I catch the most fish .

Well said! With the exception of the barometer. If I see the baro is changing, I always make it a point to get out. Especially if it's falling I'll be out tonight regardless of the moon.

[Ed Carlson]

The full moon tends to draw fish up, higher in the water column. Dirty of clear water, things tend to move up. Bugs move up, Baitfish move up, most hungry things fallow.

Often it is a matter of changing your presentation a bit to find feeding fish.

[Blue Kayak]

A few years ago I was lucky enough to fish with Dean Opitz for a BPCL outing. His favorite time to fish for flatheads is during a full moon, but during the day from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. On my outing with Dean I caught my first two flatheads, so it was a memorable experience.

[wastewaterguru]

Ode to the full moon.....by doctor Wastewater Suess.

"I have caught them in the moon,

On sunny days or rain in June.

In the creeks...or in the rocks,

holes or seams...or by the locks.

From shore and boat...wind calm or gusty

With lively bait or some that's musty.

The only truth that I bestow,

Is "If you sit at home you'll never know".

If you lurk on here for active bites,

and sit at home the other nights,

Then you will sit on here and whine,

while those who lead are out to shine.

[DTro]

And to think that only took you a half a day to compose You are in the wrong field buddy.

Nice one John.

We need to get you a Seuss hat.

[Shack]

I think elwood's question about full moons was a good one. I think the reason elwood started this thread was to gain some knowledge to optimize his time spent on the water and rule out (or in) some factors to use for his benefit, not to wine .

May Full Moon Flathead Action!May 9, 04:01

A couple reported in May.

June Full Moon Flathead Action!June 7, 18:12

Piers buddy did get a PB!

July Full Moon Flathead Action!July 7, 09:21

HP's buddy got a PB!

August Full Moon Flathead Action!August 6, 00:55

Nothing reported on the 5th or 6th, but HP with a nice one a day or two after!

The true full moon should be this morning or tomorrow night so we will see.

I think when this has been brought up other years, the full moon has been nothing people have bragged about or compared to the pre-spawn spring time bite phenomenon. But it does seem things change with flatheads every year. What was killer last year was slow going this year, which in turn gets people to try new things.

Cool poem WWG

This is interesting Take a look at the "New Moon" action from this summer:

May's New Moon Flathead Action May 24, 12:11

Starts out slow, but some flats caught!

June New Moon Flathead Action!June 22, 19:35

I kind of blew me away at what was caught on and around June's New Moon.

July New Moon Flathead Action! July 22, 02:35

Kind of slow going on the reports, but some fish.

August New Moon Flathead Action!August 20, 10:02

Again slow, but elwood reported a nice slurry of action.

I am not sure if any of the above proves anything, means anything, how/what landed on leagues nights, mid week verses weekend and who and how many where fishing on or around these nights. If I had to choose by the limited, sketchy, non-certified look back performed above, new moon nights do tend to favor a better bite (IMO).

[phishnerd]

I was out last week and was forced to chuck out the old corkin' rod due to uncooperative kitties. There were quite a few fish busting up the surface so I thought why not eh? Bingo!! Them fishes was kitties!! We managed a couple of channels over 10 Lbs with most fish around 8 or so. Not huge but holy cow does that get the adrenaline pumping when they smoke that bait just beneath the surface... WHOOSH!!!!! Weeeeeeeee!!!!

[Gordie]

Shack always tring to gain knowlegde but that wasnt really my intention was told once by an old old river rat That you cant catch flats on a full moon. and my response was Bullpocky it was the next morning and the night before we put three fish in the boat that were over 30 lbs and the biggest was 42lbs.

I was fishing last night and the moon was so bright and as 4we satated it was a good thing for him but the bite was slow and I did notice that the baitfish werent as plentiful as they have been lately not that this has anything to do with the full moon. I have experienced Octobers full moon with the bite going nuts from 11:00am to 2:00pm in rivers and lakes.

the last few times I have been out I have noticed that the bite hasnt really started very well for me untill the moon drops behind the horizion.

WWG that is a awsome poem and now you got me thinking of one,so it s off tio the composeing room

[ec30_06]

The moon sure didn't chase the fog away. I didn't get any bites after 9 tonight, but caught 3 fish prior to that between 6-8:45.

[Papa Grump]

I still hate the full moon, unless it's something else, if you know what I mean

[MinnesnowtaWild]

I have a feeling there will be some big cats caught tonight by some of you guys in the BPCL and others...just a gut feeling I have after spending the night outside even with the full moon.

As Shack brought up, full moons don't always mean bad fishing. Nick Nutter and I had a night during a full moon where we caught 7 or 8 Flatheads in a short period of time and this was early May.

Good luck to all.

[hanson]

For what its worth, I don't think you can compare the effect of the moon pre-spawn vs post-spawn. If it played that large a role, this forum would be full of posts like this one every 28 days or whatever the moon cycle is. I don't think the moon has been mentioned this year.

It may be worth paying more attention to the moon rise & moon set times and if there is a bite that corresponds to those periods. Its pretty well proven in the muskie world.

There's been a few interesting observations made however that are probably worth exploring, and thats fishing "up" in the water column. Its the food chain. Small bugs are attacted to light, minnows are attracted to those bugs, larger fish eat those minnows, and even larger fish eat those fish. Its something I've never tried extensively but I do know Rushing has had great success with bobbers later in the year.

If all else fails... fish in the shade, eh?

[Gordie]

well said hanson and thats exactly how it played out last night watched the rise then accually did fish the shaded area of the river and well not monsters caught but we got fish and it was about a 25 min window of time just as the moon came peeking thru the trees.

Ialso tried the bobber but no luck last night most if not all fish came from about half way up the break from the deep water