Does anyone on here believe in moon phases? I was recently going over my fishing records and noted that majority of my Barbel have been caught on a Waning Gibbous, Chub on a Waxing Gibbous and Bream (although not fishing for them dam pellets) on Waning Crescent. Strange but true!! Anybody else have any ideas on this????

Although I am too wary to give a definite answer to this one, I would be very surprised if, in our fresh water rivers, the moon phase had any significant effect on fish behaviour. In the sea, where the moon has a major physical effect on the water, fair enough. Grunnion only spawn on the high tides.

How much data are you lookling at? How many days, how many captures? Are there any other factors that might have been contributary? With enough data it would be possible to say whether the results had any statistical probability of being significant.

In an extreme example, a friend once said he always seemed to get a full moon when he was on a particular night shift. I pointed out that he was on a 28 day shift cycle. Silly man!
Not such a silly example when applied to angling. Weeks are 7 days long, one quarter of the moon cycle. So if you only fished weekends, or alternative weekends that that would skew your results. You would only be fishing at certain moon phases. Not suggesting your fishing is like that. Just pointing out that other factors may come into play that you may not have noticed.

My records span 5+ years of fishing although 75% during 2005/2006 where I was fishing about 3 to 4 times a week and mostly on the River Severn from Severn Stoke down to Gloucester (note from Tewkesbury weir down it is tidal). I’m not saying I believe in it (although I know some anglers do) just merely suggesting a coincidence and wondered if anybody has looked at their record in a similar way? The number of fish caught is not extensive enough to come up with a reasonable theory on this but a good sample including several Barbel to 9lb 14oz (my old pb), Chub to 4lb 5oz (pb) and Bream to 7lb 2oz (pb) and mostly from the River Severn. I’m going to phone my old fishing buddy who still fishes the above mentioned section of the river and see what he comes up with as he was out with me at the time but also has 20+ years of data previous to 2005 and new data including Carp from the tidal section!

do you take a note of the time of capture as well? ,i do beleive there is something in it but have only started taking notes this year,i was chatting to another angler and he says the best times are when the moon is present during light hours also around first and last quarter.i have also been told have a look at the times 2 hours before moon rise and also 2 hours afterwards,i am leaving an open mind at the moment as someone said if you went fishing around moon times you would never be out and to catch the fish you need to be on the bank.

Yes I always take notes place, date, time, bait used, weather and moon phase etc....I’m not sure if there is something in it or not but it is something I’m going to keep my eye on. I’m not even sure why I started to keep moon phases on my records I think it was that I was just keen to keep as much data as possible on my captures!! Very true if you waited for the moon to be in the correct phase and or weather conditions to be perfect I don’t think many of us would be on the bank much of a season, defiantly if you’re on the bank you have always got a chance. I’ve fished in the snow (and it was really coming down), this year later part of last season didn’t get anything but at least I tried!!

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me and a mate were the same in the depth of winter last year we stayed out until 1am in the morning not knowing the the air temp until we got back to our cars -5 to -10 no chance of catching barbel but caught a few chub,great being on the river nobody about.

Yeah I know what you mean I think the night in question the temperature was about -4 and had been out a few nights before then in -2!! I don’t know about no chance of Barbel, I’ve had a Babrel (9lb 8oz) in conditions of -2 in February (fluke maybe but I was on the bank to get him), but I suppose the general rule would be no chance lets go Chub fishing!! Most of the time I go out on the Severn there is nobody about apart from cows and sheep or if somebody comes with me!!!

Oh I’ve had a Chub in thick fog too couldn’t even see the end of the rod (ah touch ledgering to a new extreme) which was fun when it came to landing it!!

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Jam, I am new to this forum and and I believe there is something in what you say, I subscribed to this a few years back got the video and charts. The guy Chris Lyons is passionate about the subject have a look at his website it is a bit overpowering and busy home

Thanks Les, I’ve checked out the website but not an easy website to follow, Chris Lyons could do with my help in website design, ha ha!! Charts for £5 I think, what sort of info is on it? An example would be good if that’s not breaking any rules as I would invest as an interest more than anything else??

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PM sent.

Les