Thread: Night fishing and moon phase

am not sure myself why sometimes they are on during a big moon and sometimes not ....but i have seen it happen myself as well ....

Dave I have seen it numerous times. Go night fishing on nights the moon come up at say 1030 or 11 oclock at night, and once its up or been up for about 30 minutes, its all over. I know several others who will tell you the exact same thing. That mean sometimes you cant catch them? Not all all. Just is our experience on our middle TN lake we fish......On nights when the moon is already out when it finally gets dark and its a very bright moon, its tougher fishing than on the less bright moons. Each and every night out is different so sometimes there are many factors. Go fish, enjoy catch them if they bite and regardless of how many you catch or dont, you can not catch them on the couch.

The moon has not had an effect on my night fishing. If the fish are not biting in one area I move. Always find more at other spots. I personally think that if the water is clear and shallow then the moon will make a difference. If the water is stained and deep then you have a better chance at catching them.

Originally Posted by SlabSlider

The moon has not had an effect on my night fishing. If the fish are not biting in one area I move. Always find more at other spots. I personally think that if the water is clear and shallow then the moon will make a difference. If the water is stained and deep then you have a better chance at catching them.

Light penetration has the same effect night or day. Reduced penetration could be from a variety of things, clouds, little moon light,
stained water, etc. Full sun or full moon also have the same effect. All about light penetration. Crappie are visual feeders and they prefer low light conditions. Crappie look up to eat, looking at anything above you in water tends to make it a silhouette against the surface. Imagine standing in your yard and you must look up to find food. That sun will blind you, so you make accommodations. Go deeper into the woods, hide behind a tree, look a different direction, put on sun glasses, etc. Crappie do the same thing. However they can't put on sunglasses.

One flash of lightning though and you need to go home. Both for safety and in my experience the bite is done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by cevans

How where you fishing? And were you using live bait? Lights?

I use swimbaits, most fish are feeding heavy, and chasing forage into the shallows...never found a need for lights...I like to bank fish the shallows and travel light. Invest in a good Red Light headlamp, bugs are not attracted to red light but you can actually see real good...my headlamp has red and normal light LCD's.
I fish moonless nights and full moon nights and see no difference in the bite...during the SUMMER, fish will mainly feed at night. The heat of the day leads to stress and they will suspend and not feed. AT 80 degrees a Hunting Crappie will be under extreme stress and metabolize food faster than it can eat...so they will just suspend, save energy, and feed at night...then start the process over again the next day.

Ishields I caught 1 just the other night dragging jigs on the bottom in 6ft of water away from the lights. Never caught 1 on the bottom that way before.

I think if you keep a log on night fishing crappie, the moonless night or almost moonless will be much better. We was out fishing Wed. night and having no luck, We hung with it, and when the moon went behind the horizon we started catching them. I've talked to some top night crappie fisherman, and they all say the darker nights the better the fishing....