What are the Best Fishing Times?

One of the most frequently asked questions of fishermen around the world is:
"When is the best time to go fishing?"

Fishing Reminder not only aims to provide an answer to this question but even more importantly a practical solution.

In this article I'm going to explain the theory behind the Best Fishing Times and Best Fishing Days and how Fishing Reminder calculates them.
I will show you how you can use Fishing Reminder to take advantage of this theory and how it can help you to improve your catch rate and the size of fish you will catch.

Fishing Reminder is based on John Alden Knight's Solunar Theory. Sol stands for Solar and Lun for Lunar.
This Theory describes how Sun and Moon will affect animal feeding behaviour, especially Salt and Freshwater Fish.

Fishing Reminder calculates the best fishing times according to this theory, accounting for the Geographic Location of your Fishing Spot, your Time Zone and adjusted Daylight Savings Time.

So all you really need to worry about is picking your favorite fishing spot on the map and then let Fishing Reminder take care of the rest.

So how does Fishing Reminder finds those times?

Firstly to find the Best Fishing Times for a day, Fishing Reminder calculates the Moon Up and Moon Down Times for that day.
The Times are calculated from Moon Rise and Moon Set, which are specific to your longitude, latitude and current timezone.

Secondly Fishing Reminder calculates the current Moon Phase and Moon Age.

And thirdly it calculates Sunrise and Sunset times.

This data is now analysed in the following way:

Major Times = Moon Up and Moon Down Times
Minor Times = Moon Rise and Moon Set Times

Extra Time Ratings = if the Major or Minor Times occur withing one hour of Sunrise or Sunset those times get an extra rating added, because this means better feeding action.

Peak Days are those days when Sun and Moon are closest to earth.
Those days occur during New Moon and Full Moon and get a day rating of 3 stars.

Other day ratings are taken from the Maori Fishing Calendar which has a specific rating for each day in a moon cycle.

Finally The Ultimate Best Fishing Times are those Major or Minor Periods that are close to Sunrise or Sunset during a New Moon or a Full Moon.
If that is going to happen you most certainly want to be reminded, to not miss those great action days.

What about Weather?

Another important factor in determining the bite behaviour is the Local Weather.
Especially Barometric Changes will affect the way fish are biting.
Generally speaking, if the Barometer goes down fishing will become less successful.

The old Maori Fisherman knew that if his "seaweed barometer" was dry when he left home, his catch would be better then if it was limp.

Why Fishing Reminder?

The idea of fishing reminder is to automatically remind fishermen of best fishing days.
To really take advantage of Fishing Reminder, you should create an account and let Fishing Reminder take care of finding those best days and times for your spot.
It will then send you automatic email reminder just before best fishing days, so that you don't miss out on those opportunities.

Fishing Reminder was created with the goal in mind to make it as easy to use as possible.
That means no one should go through long drop down lists to select timezones, locations, weather stations and so forth.

Instead Fishing Reminder aims to do this all automatically for you and all you have to do is click on the map to select your favorite fishing spot.
If you are visiting Fishing Reminder for the first time, it will try to automatically detect your location from your IP Address.
Of course you can then change it to wherever you want.
If you select a different location on the map Fishing Reminder will adjust all times and dates to this new location.

It will also try to find nearby tide prediction stations and the closest live weather station.

It is always a good idea to check Fishing Reminder before setting out on a fishing trip, to see at a glance at what time you should be on the water to expect best action.

Also it is possible to view a monthly forecast of Solunar Times.
And very soon you will be able to print the forecast, so you can take it with you, in case you don't have Internet access - or you are on a holiday.

Some Technical Stuff

Fishing Reminder is an Web 2.0 Application or Rich Internet Application, created with Adobe Flex.
It is running in your Web Browser and only requires Adobe's Flash Player to run.

Comments (7)

this phenomonen is valid for lakes too

Mark,

Thanks for “Fully Explaining” really needed as there seemed to be a lot of confusing and second guessing…. It’s really easy to become overly dependent and have more expectations and get poor results.

Last Month…. June 2011, started off (much like July as well); showing Excellent Three Star’s, Barometer marginally high for bass, high temps ambient as well as surface waters. I mention these because there are probably a hundred more to take into account, Including Operator Error and adjustment for Summer Pattern Changes, etc. However, the first 6 or 7 days were fruitless…. Nothing, Nada, Zip, Zero…. Soon afterward, and on Poor Days, luck would have it that several of these following days, my friend and I had probably some of our better fishing days. BUT NOTE: The Times Were Within the Major or Minor Times, a few stragglers were a bit out side but towards the ending times…. So where one might expect the best, which is always good, be prepared to have those occasional days of indifference of the species you’re fishing.

I do think that there are other factors, other than that of the fisherman, and those would be the weather. Either Wind, Wind Direction, and Barometer Pressure should be considered almost equal to the SoLunar Tables.

Why fish choose not to bite, I think could very well be that they are probably feeding, just not on Mine or Your Stuff…. As I have seen top water activity during these peek times as for bait fish… Just Not on My Baits…

I have been tracking my catches, beginning in June, and pretty much Only the Fish Caught…. And making a point to hit the major and minor times as I could, meaning those from like 3 AM to like as late as 10PM, living 40 feet from the shore line, make this possible; but June ended up being my most productive in total weight of Lg Mouth Bass for me to date, 78 lbs caught and approximately 35 lbs dressed of filleted and freezer. Not ready for the tournaments but 78 lbs better than last June! These Were Just The Keepers.

To all that may doubt this table or site, 99% of All of My Catches were with in last 45 minutes of the posted major or minor times. To benefit most from this site, I feel that you have to fish a lot more than just now and then….It is not always the Great every time it Says Excellent, so don’t get discouraged, if you fish 5 to 10 times a month, there Will Be A Payday…..

MOParker

i catch fishies.

Hi Perry

Thanks for the comments. It is actually possible to print nicely formatted fishing calendars.
But you need an advanced account for just 10$ per year.

Cheers
Mark

I new here and I love this web page! Lot's of good information. I printed out yesterdays and todays Bite Times. When I did this, the entire site was printed and all areas which are black also printed!! This used ALOT of black ink. Why not print the times only and fix your program to NOT print the black areas. Hope this idea brings you more customers,
Perry

Hi Mikala

The Maori charts that I'm using are from an old book written by Bill Hohepa that is out of print now.
It should come close the charts you are after.

I'm looking for the old maori charts, they use to post them in outdoor life a few years ago, but unable to find them know...any suggestions?