What are the Best Fishing Times?

As Fishermen we all want to know the best time to go fishing. Nobody wants to spend countless boring hours on the water with no bites. We want action!

That's why Fishing Reminder calculates the best fishing times and can send you email reminders so you wont forget.

So what's the theory behind the Best Fishing Times and Best Fishing Days and how can we calculate them?

The theory is called Solunar Theory and you can take advantage of this knowledge to improve your catch rate and the size of fish you will catch. The "Sol" in Solunar means "Sun" and "Lunar" stands for "Moon". Basically this theory describes how Sun and Moon will affect animal feeding behaviour, especially Salt and Freshwater Fish but also land-based wildlife. Hunters will often use Solunar times to their advantage. We all know that the moon's gravitation has a massive impact on life on earth. It's responsible for tides, currents, insect hatches, spawning, bait movements and essentially affects all bodies of water here on earth. Nature evolves around the phases and cycles of the moon.

That's why Fishing Reminder calculates the best fishing times according to the solunar 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. Of course fishing is not quite that simple. Although the best fishing times will play a big part in your success it is equally important to locate or attract the fish, use the right bait, fish the right depth, know about the season of your target species, learn about the food sources of your target and pay close attention to weather patterns, water temperature and UV indexes.

So what's the story behind those best bite 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 we calculate Sunrise and Sunset times.

This data is now analysed in the following way:

Major Times (Best bite times): Moon Up and Moon Down Times
Minor Times (Second best bite times): Moon Rise and Moon Set Times

Extra Time Ratings: if the Major or Minor Times occur within 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 include predictions from the ancient 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!

What about Weather?

Another important factor for successful fishing is the Local Weather Forecast. Especially Barometric Changeswill affect the way fish are biting. Generally speaking, if the Barometer goes down fishing will become less successful. A rising barometer or the time just before the barometric pressure is about to drop is usually great for fishing. Fish often feed up just before a storm or a spell of bad weather and then again once the weather improves. You also want to pay close attention to the wind strength and wind direction. This will often affect where fish will be found.

Why Fishing Reminder?

The idea of fishing reminder is to send out automatic email reminders before best fishing days.
To really take advantage of Fishing Reminder, you can create a free account and let Fishing Reminder take care of finding those best days and times for your spot.
We will then send you email reminders 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.

So happy fishing everyone and we hope you'll catch some big ones!