My guess is that it varies by species. People who fish stripers more than me report the kinds of thing Rob was talking about in the first post.
I was trout fishing over the weekend and asked my guide about whether trout were affected and he said only slightly.
Finally, musky supposedly bite "more" readily on full and new moons. The only one I've ever hooked was on a full moon during one of the windows during that day when the moon was in the sky. Now I superstitiously try to book musky trips for those days.
On Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 11:43:57 AM UTC-4 Doug Parker wrote:
Rob i always heard a full moon hurt the fishing but 3 days after was good. but maybe there is a different lore around migratory or tidal fisheries.
now i have observed a connection between a full moon and panfish getting on the spawn, so maybe it is different for spawning fish.
It could also just be that i am guilty of confirmation bias of what i heard growing up about spawning bream.
Do you believe in the lore of fishing a full moon? Fish spawning, fish feeding, fish more active, etc? Makes me think back to Pete Kaminsky's book about the moon pulling up an acre of bass.
I was out with a client last Thursday morning. The full moon was overnight. High tide was near. Weather was humid with fog shrouding the river.
I've never seen that many stripers of that size pulled out of the river. Merid missed it, Eric (sp?) from Beer Tie was there. Randy too. One of the regulars I've fished near for over a decade was pulling in the biggest stripers I"d ever seen. The river was full of herring and the hickory shad were very aggressive. Two stripers were on our line. One at a shad and one ate a fly. Neither fish was landed.
Not sure if the fishing was amazing due to the full moon or just a good day on the water. And no fears of the poo for me. Water is going to be low and clear for a while. Get out while you can. Call in to the office with the shad flu.
I can guarantee I will be out there for the first spring full moon next year.
Your thoughts?
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