Every fisherman needs to know the optimum period of the day for fishing, in order to be pleased with the catch. Many fishes tend to eat more at some intervals determined by the attraction of sun and moon on Earth, but especially the moon phases are very important. For this reason, in 1926, John Alden Knight builds this theory, and later, builds a table that highlights the best days of intensive feeding fish. Using this table, the successes in fishing will become much higher, of course correlated with water temperature and stable atmospheric pressure. Remember this is just one of the factors that have influence on fishing game; the rest would be water, wind, rain, clouds, wind direction and atmospheric pressure. Of all these factors this theory represents 10%. So don’t believe that if the calendar says that a day is a very good one for fishing, you need to take all factors into account. Think very carefully before deciding to plan a fishing day.
As a satellite of our planet, the Moon is rotating around the Earth in a nearly circular orbit with a period to 27.3 days. This period is called the sidereal period – a time when the moon is back in the same position relative to stars. Because of the angle, under which we can see the illuminated region of the Sun, the Moon shows different phases, different lighting percent of the Moon disk. Many people believe that the Moon phases are caused by Earth’s shadow, wrong concept. To explain the phases of the moon we must take in consideration the orientation of three bodies: the Sun, the only source of light, the Earth and Moon.
Phases of the Moon will repeat at every 29.5 days, this period being called the council. The moon phases have the following names: New Moon – when the moon is interposed between the Earth and Sun, the unseen face being illuminated, the first Quarter, when the moon has an elongation of 90 degrees east from the Sun, then we see only half of the lunar disk illuminated, Full Moon, when the Moon is at 180 degrees from the Sun, then see the whole disk illuminated and finally The last Quarter when the moon is at an elongation of 90degrees west from the Sun, when we can see the left half of the lunar disk illuminated.
This principle is verified in practice, based on statistical observations and expresses the relationship between the stars, moon, sun and behavior of creatures, here referring to the fishing. Many don’t understand that this theory makes some predictions, a correlation between a real phenomenon and fish behavior. Like any prediction, the result is not guaranteed because of disturbing factors such as: temperature, atmospheric pressure, and very often the influence of people. Fishing is fun, but the timing is always important!