Solunar Theory and Fishing Results

I have only recently become aware of various solunar applications available on the web. As the theory goes there are factors that will enhance the chances of catching fish that depend on the weather; and more specifically on the sun and the moon.

Here's some information about this fishing theory from Wikipedia.com:

In May 1926, John Alden Knight put together some fishing folklore and other fishing factors such as the sun and the moon, hence the name Solunar (Sol for sun and Lunar for moon) to form a theory on the patterns of animal movement. Knight compiled a list of factors which control or influence the day-to-day behavior of many fresh water and salt water fish. Each one of the 33 different factors were considered. All but 3 were rejected. The three factors retained were the sun, the moon and the tide.^[2]

I don't know for sure that it works, but there are some very big believers in the theory who will swear that they have seen positive signs based on actual results that it does influence the ability to catch fish.

Let's assume that you normally catch fish on 30% of your casts. That would mean you catch fish 30 times out of 100 chances. For discussion purposes, let's assume that paying attention to solunar theory indicators only works 25% of the time. Assuming the sun and the moon influence fishing activity, a 25% improvement in normal results would increase the catch rate to 37.5 out of every 100 casts in this simple example. Who doesn't want to catch 7 more fish? Catching those extra fish could make the difference between you achieving a new personal best during the next few months or not.

I'm actually going to monitor this during the upcoming year and document the results. I hope to post about it here on the carp fishing blog periodically to share my experiences. I still plan to fish all day, but if the indicator is that activity is going to increase between 2:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. I will make sure that I re-bait, re-cast and organize my time on the bank to be very productive. During that particular period of the day I will definitely not stray too far away my rods because indications are that the odds of catching fish are improved. Make sense?

If you'd like to check it out for yourself, a quick Google search will yield several options for solunar information. You can also download apps for your smart phone or tablet and take it with you on your next fishing trip.

Scout Look Weather is one particular website that I find useful.



Screen shot from ScoutLookWeather.com

The graphic above indicates that the best (i.e. "major") fishing times are from 1:15 a.m. to 4:15 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. to 7:35 p.m.. It also indicates that, although not the best time of day, the period between 1:40 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. is a "minor" improved chance of fishing activity.

Please share your thoughts about this theory if you have first hand experience using solunar indicators in your personal fishing strategy.