Best fishing days

How the Moon's phase rates a fishing day

The rating comes from the Moon's phase alone, counted in calendar days. A new or full moon day is Best. Days within three of a new or full moon, along with quarter moon days, are Good. A day or two from a quarter moon is Fair. Mid-crescent and mid-gibbous days, which sit away from every principal phase, are Poor. The scheme is the one the Old Farmer's Almanac uses in its fishing calendar.

Over one lunar month this produces a steady rhythm: two Best days, a week of Good days around each of them, and Poor stretches in between. The table also marks days when the Moon is in a water sign (Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces). Almanac lore favors those days for fishing, but the mark is only a note and never changes the rating.

Solunar times: when the Moon is overhead and underfoot

The solunar theory comes from John Alden Knight, an American angling writer, who held that fish and game are more active when the Moon is overhead or underfoot. A major period lasts about two hours, centered on the moment the Moon crosses the meridian above you (upper transit) or below you (lower transit). There are usually two a day, about 12 hours 25 minutes apart. Each day they arrive about 50 minutes later than the day before, so a time that suits you on one day will have moved by close to an hour on the next.

The table gives times for New York (Eastern), Chicago (Central), Denver (Mountain) and Los Angeles (Pacific). If you fish elsewhere in a zone, shift the times by about 4 minutes per degree of longitude from the reference city. Near the edges of a zone that comes to about an hour. Minor periods, tied to moonrise and moonset, are left out because they also depend on latitude.

How to plan a trip with the calendar

Choose the day first, then the hours. Scan the 60-day table for Best or Good days that fit your schedule, then open the solunar table for the nearest dates and note the major periods for your zone. Anglers treat solunar tables as a planning aid, not a promise, and that is a sensible way to use them here.

Then layer in what the almanacs themselves recommend. The Old Farmer's Almanac suggests fishing an hour before and after high or low tide on the coast, and at sunrise and sunset. It also names a falling barometer before a storm and an insect hatch as good moments. A day rated Poor with a strong dawn bite can serve you better than a Best day with bad weather. Ratings use Eastern calendar days, so a new or full moon falling near midnight can land on a different day in other US time zones.

Do moon phases really affect fishing?

The Moon's pull drives ocean tides, and moving water around a tide change is widely reported to stir bait and feeding in saltwater. That is a tide effect, not a phase effect. For lakes and rivers the evidence is mixed: some angler-log studies report small differences by phase, others find none. The Farmers' Almanac, which prints its own calendar, says local conditions, tides and weather can matter more. Weather, water temperature, season, light and location usually outweigh the Moon, so treat these ratings as tradition and a light guide.