Thread: Solunar effects

good reading speckmaster..the sun-moon moves the worlds oceans as much as 63 ft..the way i see it, anything that can do that has to have an effect on all critters at times...food for thought, eh 5

Originally Posted by fiveeyes

good reading speckmaster..the sun-moon moves the worlds oceans as much as 63 ft..the way i see it, anything that can do that has to have an effect on all critters at times...food for thought, eh 5

Thanks for the kind words. Solunar forces clearly influence life in the animal kingdom. They're at least more easily seen in fish activity than in some other forms of wildlife but I suspect they're more influential on fish too. There are many influences on the activity of fish and wildlife that interact. For example the Moon provides light as well as tidal forces, and the additional light cast by a full moon at night inspires activity, but that effect can be significantly muted in places covered by a heavy overcast. Solunar effects can be similarly muted by other more significant influences at any particular point in time, but that doesn't mean they aren't there or are never an important or even a determinate factor.

I see it this way. Unless you're doing the right thing at the right place you're only going to catch fish by accident. But even if you're doing the right thing at the right place it won't matter if you're doing it at the wrong time. The Solunar tables help to predict the right time. They don't say this is certainly the right time, or there is no other right time, only the relative strength of the Solunar forces on a given day and the times during the day those forces most strongly encourage activity, i.e., during the major and minor periods.

For example, there are a couple of places I fish that often produce well in a North wind, if those winds are moderate and other conditions are favorable and stable for a couple of days. If there was a strong influence that day I would try to be fishing one of those spots on a major period. But if there is a front coming in, bringing storms that will get there before that major period, I would try to fish during an earlier minor period or anytime that day before the front came in, because in my experience a drastic weather change will be more influential than Solunar forces. I would try to take advantage of fish going on a bite as the barometer drops before the storms roll in and they hunker down.

On the other hand, suppose that front is expected to come in an hour after that major period ends. In that case I really, really want to be fishing during that major period, because I see factors aligning to encourage activity, the Solunar forces and the effect of a falling barometer before a front actually arrives.