Full Moon

[fflutterffly]

I had a question put to me the other day: Does a full moon have any effect on trout and fly fishing? I'll take your answers of air.
thank you

[Flyjunkie]

In Hot Creek, a Full Moon can slow down the Bite to sometimes noticeable degrees...(with such a High Biomass, the Trout can be particular about what & When they feed)

In Alpine Lakes, I've not noticed any appreciable Shut down on the bite (There's Not much food in Alpine Lakes, so the Trout will constantly be looking for Food, regardless of the Moon Phase..)

I've found that in the Surf, the Bite drags to a Halt when there's a Full Moon, because the Fish can feed very well at night will that big Spot light shining down on them...

Of course, these observations are not struck in Stone and sometimes the Full Moon will effect the body of Water differently... But the above Observations tend to hold true...

[bc6854]

Grandfather always said that fish feed by the light of the moon. Bob

[Benny]

I have never payed to much attention to the moon phase unless I was fishing the saltwater. Intresting observations Dean. I might start giving it more thought in the future.

[anacrime]

good ideas dean, i think you're pretty spot on, at least from an observational perspective.

i was thinking the same in that trout that are more opportunistic (high elevations, small socal streams, etc) would be far less affected than trout from technical, "match the hatch" waters.


when you mention the bite on hot creek, dean, are you considering dries, nymphs, and streamers? would you say a trout would be more likely to hit a streamer during a full moon than hit a matched dry?

[Sasha]

I have seen varying degrees of slow down with a full moon. For example one river I fish up here is awesome unless it is or is near a full moon. Yes you can still get plenty of action but it is slightly slower. Another river you can get some excellent night fishing when it is a full moon as the trout there feed at night. The warm water ponds are where I have observed the largest change in feeding out here in Idaho (the ocean would be my #1 for change back home). I fished one pond the night of a full moon and had great action into the night; I stopped fishing it at around 2300 hours. I decided to go back in the morning because the bass bite was great only to find no action at all.