Night fishing in summer and the full moon

[Steve]

Read anything that has to do with moon phases and fishing, and youll always read that the full moon is best for fish activity. Many people think fishing is best on the full moon.

In the spring, Ill always try to fish the full moon with hopes of intercepting a wave of spawning fish. And in the summer Ive always tried to night fish the full moon based on what Ive read. Also, Ive tried fishing the Delta during the full moon with the idea that larger tides were better.

Well, I think Im done with the full moon theory (but its hard to ignore the little pie chart in Bill Murphys book). Im sure if I think back really hard Ive had some good nights in summer during the full moon, but I can remember way too many disappointing nights under a bright moon. To be honest, the full moon stinks when night fishing in the summer. From now on Im gonna try to fish the time period of the new moon in between the half moons, with the 3 days before and after the new moon being the best. I know the moon phase is but one variable, but it just seems like the full moon overpowers all other variables to make the fishing horrible.

Any comments from other summer nocturnal nut cases?

[Mattlures]

Murphy fished in the day time. Its diferent at night. I have been keeping a log over the past 5 years. I just recently went back and checked out all the fish I caught over 5lbs at night. I especialy looked at the nights where I had several fish over 5 in a single night. After checking the conditions and the moon phases i came to a conclusion. There was no pattern. None at all. I caught big fish in every moon phase and multiple big fish in every moon phase. The one thing I noticed was the night bite always seemed to last 1-2 hours. Before or after it was real tough. But during it was good. most of the time I just had to wait it out and they would start to bite around midnight.
Also everybody says to use black. I found color has no importance. People always say to use black and it works so its as good a color as any. I also tried glow in the dark. I fished a 5in swimbait for an hour. I worked every angle of a spot that i knew should produce. I got zero bites on the glow bait. I switched to a regular pearl color and I caught 3 fish in five casts in the exact same area that I threw the glow bait. It was an identicle bait except for the glow. I will not use glowing baits in freshwater again.

[mark poulson]

*NM*

[BigWorm]

Hey Buttafucco, Sometimes you just might have to put down the swimbait for a little while and throw those big worms! The other thing I was thinking that we used to do on Clear lake was find the moon shadows. Visualize your spots and fish where the bass can ambush from that dark spot. Your starting to get spoiled if you whine about not catching fish for one night!! Although I agree with you the full moon does suck sometimes especially in clear water. But it sure is nice not to have to use your headlamp so much! Later Homey

[Steve]

You just keep tossing that worm of yours and see how far it gets ya! And what do you do when there aint no shadows? Thats what I was doing fishing the mission fish like a jig in the weeds, figured on a bright night thats the only place they could go to escape the light. Dang it, I should have bounced a great big worm in those deep weeds. Oh but wait, I forgot, Im all outta big worms. Ha ha ha....

Does this mean you are gonna be a regular poster now so that I have to constantly be reminded of 8 years getting spanked on the big fish? And dont forget, you are the one that got me started on this moon thing.

And BTW, after tomorrow morning, Im seriously contemplating learning to troll. Only thing is I need somebody with me to reel in the fish! Doh! The next month is gonna suck. I know, you can visit and when I stick a toad you can reel it in