Have you ever found that some days the fish are attacking everything you put in front of them feeding aggressively, then there are days they seem to refuse every bait/jig or soft bait you offer them?
I had two very different trips only a week apart at my favourite spot not long ago. One week the fishing was lethargic with only a single fish to take home, then the same spot a week later was insane with a bag limit caught within an hour. This got me thinking as to why the two trips were so drastically different regarding the fish feeding behaviour. The reason is that feeding times are related to the position of the sun and the moon in relation to the earth and to each other and this has been well documented in quite extensive research.
Bite times are periods of heightened fish activity related to the position of the moon relative to the earth and are known as Solunar Periods. Scientists have performed numerous tests on wildlife, shellfish and captive fish and have shown an increase in activity during Solunar Periods known as Bite Times or feeding times.
In May 1926, John Aldenn Knight put together some fishing folklore and other fishing factors such as the sun and the moon, hence the name Solunar (Sol for sun and Lunar for moon) to form a theory on the patterns of animal movement. Knight compiled a list of factors which control or influence the day-to-day behaviour of many freshwater and saltwater fish. Each one of the 33 different factors were considered. All but 3 were rejected. The three factors retained were the sun, the moon and the tide.[2] For salt water fishing, tides have long been known as a factor which control fishes' behaviour. As Knight's research progressed, he found that rather than just tides themselves, the relationship of the moon and sun's positions relative to each other may be the determining factor. In addition to the time of moon up (moonrise) - moon down, his research determined that there were intermediate times of the day that occurred in between the two major periods. From that he establishes that there were major periods (moon up - moon down) and minor periods. Knight published the first Solunar table in 1936.
There are usually four bite times during a full day, two major bite times and two minor bite times. Sometimes there are only three because the Lunar cycle is approximately 29.5 days long.
At Bite times we have developed algorithms to calculate each of the 4 bites individually rather than a general overall rating for the day, We do this because not all bite times are equal on a given day and this enables you to pick the best bite time to be on the water and when the fish are most likely to be feeding aggressively for any given day. For example twilight acts as a bite time multiplier as it is a natural feeding period for all creatures. So when a bite time coincides with either sunrise or sunset then the fishing is likely to be even better.
A unique feature at bitetimes.fishing is we have the ability to calculate the fishing bite times for any location on the planet, and more importantly, your EXACT fishing spot. This enables you to get the absolute best information for the spot you are planning on fishing. No more relying on data that could be hundreds of miles from where you intend to go. Just move the X to where you want to go and BiteTimes.fishing will calculate the sun and moon times for you and provide the tide information for the nearest reference tide station.
No restrictions to the dates that you can calculate bite times for. Plan ahead for that fishing trip knowing when the best time to be on the water, when the fish are most likely to be feeding aggressively.
Move the X below and the nearest tide station will be shown, or you can show all the stations at once to see where all our reference points are.
