Y0U watch the moon rise hours?

[reelman]

Buddy of mine swears by the moonrise hours… generally 2-4 hours daily…
by coincidence or science I looked up my best scouting for a T day …
which was 5/4/21 when I had 4 bass for nearly 20# which included an 8.04#…
was a very short day so was gone by 9am… sure enough those bites were in the moonrise hours sooo am fishing mostly only moonrise hours the rest of May on SJR as an experiment…
of course bass spots have to have bass for this testing so am fishing my best 2 banks an hour each with the usual 2 baits used there in the past with success…
what say you about moonrise bassin!

[kls2020]

Moon rising , Moon setting , Mood directly overhead , and Moon directly underfoot ( if you believe in this fishing voodoo stuff ) and I do!

[XingEyeballs]

I can’t say I “follow” it but I’m “aware” of the connection with fish and wildlife and moon phase. Musky fisherman in our region follow it. I know I’ve seen situations where biting windows seem to be very influenced by moon phase.

[Almag6]

yes.

There are times when weather, water levels, weekend boat traffic over ride the moon times....
but, they do make a difference. Expecially on lakes with few fish or a poor bite.

[DrewFlu33]

Like others, I have seen it matter a whole lot, and matter not at all. I'm with you all in that I think it's one factor that can matter in bass fishing.

The most striking example where I was sure it mattered was when I was on a sport fishing trip out of Cabo going for striped marlin. For anyone not familiar, the most common way those fish are caught is by pitching a live bait in front of a fish spotted working the surface...or at least that was the case when we were there right before COVID shut everything down in March 2020. We caught 3 that day, the first was during the first "feeding window" (I think it was moon set), the second and third were during the next feeding window (I think when the moon was directly underfoot). Though the first one felt a little fluky as we just happened to stumble upon one hanging at the surface, the second and third were caught during what I can only describe as an absolute eruption of feeding activity all around us. Marlin everywhere, whales surfacing everywhere, smaller tuna blitzing bait balls, birds diving, etc. It was insane. We spotted and chased at least 10 marlin in a 45 minute span in an area that had been seemingly lifeless for hours before. I suppose that could've been some other condition change, but the captain and mate had been telling us it was going to happen around that time referencing the moon. It was exactly in line with what my app that highlights those moon phases was telling me, too.

[kls2020]

Bass spawns are primarily during the Full Moon and New Moon periods . I read somewhere this was a instinct bass have retained for successful spawns . During these two periods the water levels are at their highest and lowest points due to tidal fluctuations so spawning at this time insures the nest will not be left high and dry when the water goes out on low tide .
Even though bass in lakes don't have to worry about this it is ingrained into them .Kind of makes sense .

[reelman]

My thought is in a freshwater river system little impact outside of the spawn due to crazy tide and current factors ...freshwater lakes "more stable" so maybe more of a factor
BUT unless the bass are there in your spots and have bait around which is why they stay there...cannot say moon a big game changer...
I experimented recently on the St Johns River...went to best most consistent 2 banks May 23rd and not a bite of anything... moon time elapsed about 9:30am so hit 4 more spots after that also for zero...

Today May 24th I went to Lake Crescent connected to the SJR...moon said 8:11 to 10:11am moon best...
all 3 bass bites were after 10:30am! on my best $$$ bank...12 inch bass 14.5 inch bass and then boom 21 inch shallow bite of 4.90#...in that order...then zero an hour so left at 12:45...wind was up/down 3-4x...
my moony buddy that swears by this moon overhead thing is still an apostle of it after texted him last 2 days...

Since I fish "by the cover" plus shade and try to "be the bass"... am still a skeptic unless I am reading whole moon/rise overhead times all wrong...

[Fishysam]

ill say its important, but not as important as the sun, wind, air temp, clouds, barometric pressure, water temp. these all come first