Myth
Bonefish feed at night on a full moon, so fishing is poor during the day when the moon is full.
Truth
There are many variables in bonefishing much more important than the phase of the moon – weather being the biggest. We think planning your bonefishing trip to avoid a full moon is a little bit silly.
Bruce Chard just returned from an epic week of bonefishing at Andros South that included – guess what – a full moon! So…
If You Don’t Believe Us, Believe Bruce
I am going to try to dispel the myth that bonefishing during the full moon timeframe is poor.
I just had one of the best weeks of bonefishing in my life at Andros South Bonefish Lodge in January 2011. The weather was calm for 4 out of the 6 fishing days and the bonefishing was off the charts. Every boat came back to the dock daily with big numbers of both fish sightings and catches. The full moon was super bright every night, reflecting big and bright on the water and beach at the lodge. Beautiful!
I have heard stories of anglers not booking bonefishing trips on the full moon because they believe that the fishing can be affected by the full moon. I believe that the weather actually has much more to do with how good the fishing is than the moon phase.
If you have poor weather, whatever the moon phase, your fishing can be tough. But during good weather, on South Andros at least, whatever the moon phase the fishing will be great.
So if all weather was equal, would a pro angler prefer to book on a non-full moon?
At least moons can be predicted, versus weather!
I am the angler in the blue shirt pictured in the “full moon” blog. I have been fishing with Andros South for the past five years, and I have to say that this January with the full moon is easily the best fishing for sheer numbers of fish and size of fish on a daily basis. Bruce is right, if the weather is right, the moon phase is not a factor
For me, it’s all about tide…but I swear I’ve seen bones get picky and spooky on the full moon or right after, especially if the weather is fine. The old folks say they feed all night by the moon. Whatever the case they’re certainly more picky.
At the same time, some of my best experiences fishing have been around the full moon. I remember fishing a Blue Moon a few years back where the flats were littered with tailing bones… and they were biting. I also remember maybe 3 years ago near New Years fishing with a buddy the day before the full, and the fishing was insane. I lost track of how many double headers we had. He also landed a nice snook and jumped a few tarpon. We were in fish all day and could do no wrong… but then the next day, the actual full moon, fishing plain sucked. We fished different areas but the bones were picky and simply not in the mood.
I guess I’m saying if you’re there on the full, you go fishing anyways–it could be great–but all things considered, I’ll study a tide chart and book any other weeks than the full. Boom or bust because of some mysterious cosmic influence isn’t the way I want my fishing.