Fishing Predictions

The Fishing Almanac provides incredible flexibility when creating fishing predictions as they can be applied to target a specific fish at a specific location.

You can choose the type of activity base by selecting either a Tidal Activity Base or a Solunar Activity Base. Tidal Based Activities are only available in areas where there is tidal movement.

The Fishing Almanac is the first software of it's kind to be developed that has such a high level of configuration. Most solunar calculations are based on averages and generalizations as to when peak days occur, when a solunar period occurs and the duration of that solunar period.

The Fishing Almanac provides you with the following level of specific targeting configuration:

Not every location will have fish present but if you improve your targeting, plan your days and make observations for a specific location and species of fish there will be a significantly higher chance of activity. Over the years there have been many supporters of Solunar Based Predictions solely based upon John Alden Knight's Solunar Theory. 

The Fishing Almanac provides Angler's a choice of predictions that are based on either Tidal Activity or Solunar Activity. It is first software application capable of creating both Tidal and Solunar based activity predictions and those predictions can be configured for any species of fish and location worldwide.

The Fishing Almanac is the ultimate fishing guide to help you choose the best time to fish anywhere in the world

THE BEGINNING OF SOLUNAR THEORY

In 1926 John Alden Knight devised a theory related to prediction of best fishing times, giving it the name Solar, (Sol) for sun and Lunar for moon.

Knight compiled a list of 33 factors which influence or control day-to-day behavior of fresh and salt-water fish. Everything was taken into account that could possibly have any bearing on the matter. One by one the factors were examined and rejected.  

Three of them, however, merited further examination and they were the Sun, Moon and Tides.

Surely the sun could have no effect since it’s cycle was the same day after day, whereas the observed activity periods of fish were apt to be present at most any time of the day or night. The moon had already been weighed and found wanting. Tides? Surely there could be no tidal movement in a trout stream.

But the fact remained, however, that the tides had always guided salt-water angler's to good fishing. Could it be that the prompting stimulus lay in the influence of the sun and moon which cause the ocean tides, rather than the actual tidal stages or flow?

When the original research was being done only the approximate time of moon-up & moon-down were considered. Gradually, it became evident that there were also intermediate periods of activity that occurred midway between the two major periods. Thus the more evident periods were called Major Periods and the two intermediate periods, shorter in length, were called Minor Periods.

One convincing experiment was when Dr. Frank A. Brown, a biologist at Northwestern University, had some live oysters flown to his lab near Chicago. Oysters open their shells with each high tide, and Dr. Brown wanted to see if this was due to the change in ocean levels or to a force from the moon itself. He put them in water and removed them from all sunlight. For the first week they continued to open their shells with the high tides from their ocean home. But by the second week, they had adjusted their shell-openings to when the moon was directly overhead or underfoot in Chicago.

Knight first published his solunar prediction tables in 1936. Precise times are calculated taking into account the geographic location (longitude & latitude), taking into account the time zone, which is adjusted for daylight-savings-time when appropriate.

PROVING THE THEORY

To substantiate the theory in relation to angling, John Alden Knight attempted a systematic inquiry to acquire complete details surrounding the capture of record catches.

He examined approximately 200 of these catches. Over 90 percent were made during the dark of the moon (new moon) when the effects of the periods appear to be greatest, and more importantly they were made during the actual times of the Solunar Periods.

Initially, only the behavior of fish was considered. During 1935 to 1939 Knight made extensive studies of game birds and animals. As had been suspected, these also responded to the prompting stimulus of the periods.

TIDAL MOVEMENT

Higher tides occur at new and full moons, but not because the moon's gravitational pull is stronger at those times. Rather, the tides are higher then because the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in a line and the tidal force of the Sun joins that of the Moon at those times to produce higher tides.

Tides are the continual, alternating rise and fall in sea level with respect to the land on the Earth, produced by the gravitational attraction of the Moon and the Sun. They also occur in the atmosphere, large lakes and within the solid crust of the earth. The range, interval between high and low water, and arrival times of the tides may be altered by non-astronomical factors such as the configuration of the coastline, local depth of the water, ocean-floor topography, and other hydrographic and meteorological influences.

The tidal change at the Earth's surface result from a combination of the following basic forces: 

1. The force of gravity exerted by the Moon (and Sun) upon the Earth; and 

2. Centrifugal forces produced by the revolutions of the Earth and Moon (and Earth and Sun) around their common centers-of-gravity (mass).

The Moon's gravitational pull is the primary cause of the changing tides (the effect of the Sun is approx 47% of that from the Moon). The force of gravity decreases with distance; therefore, the Moon exerts a stronger gravitational pull on the side of the Earth which is closer to it, and a weaker pull on the side which is further away. Since the Earth, and particularly the oceans, is not perfectly rigid, it forms a dome-shape when stretched out along the line toward the Moon.  Two small bulges are visible, one in the direction of the Moon and one directly opposite. High tides occur when a dome of water passes a place on the Earth.  Between each high tide, the water level drops and low tide occurs. 

There are usually two high tides and two low tides each lunar day, however, in a few parts of the world there are exceptions. In the ocean  off South Australia, it happens that the influence of the Sun can be about the same as that of the Moon leading to periodic 'dodge tides'.  This 'dodge tide' is almost kept at a constant level for a lunar day with only one low tide and one high tide with little tidal range between them. Other locations where this can occur are at Torres Strait & the Gulf of California.

When both the Sun and the Moon's effects are combined, they give rise to spring tides (a large tidal range) when they are working together, and are called neap tides (a small tidal range) when they oppose.

PEAK DAYS

The Sun and Moon are the two major sources of influence used in Solunar Theory. The closer they are to you at any given moment, the stronger the influence. The day of a New or Full Moon will provide the strongest influence in each month.

PEAK MONTH

There is also a distance variation between the Earth and Sun (called a Solar perigee) that varies throughout the year. The Earth is closest to the Sun on Jan 2nd, this creates a yearly variation in the strength of the Solunar force; making the solunar effect a little more extreme in December and January and a little less extreme in June and July. This variation is much smaller than the Lunar perigee effect which in turn is smaller than solunar effect variation between spring and neap tides. 

During a Full Moon the sun and moon are nearly opposite each other and very few minutes pass without one or the other being in our sky. During a New Moon, both bodies are in near-perfect rhythm traveling the skies together with their forces combined. Because of the interaction between the many lunar and solar cycles, no two days, months or years are identical.

PEAK ACTIVITY TIMES

When a period falls within 30 minutes to an hour of sunrise or sunset you can anticipate great action!

When you have a moonrise or moonset during that period the action will be even greater.

And, finally, when the above times occur during a New or Full Moon, you can expect the best action of the season!

LENGTH OF ACTIVITY PERIODS

Most angler's know that fish do not feed all the time, they also know that for some reason fish often go on the feed and take almost any offering, be it live bait or artificial. This sort of thing happens, according to John Alden Knight (the originator of the theory) during a period. To be sure, fish usually feed actively at sunrise and sunset, but generally, the real fishing of the day is at the odd hour feeding periods. If the weather and feeding conditions are favorable the fish will be active for one to two hours.

BEST FISHING DAYS

For those angler's who enjoy fishing at sunrise and sunset here are the absolute best dates to be on the water at your favorite spot.

These are the Major or Minor Periods that fall near the times of Sunrise or Sunset during a Full or New Moon. It has been documented that when this condition exists fish will bite on anything they see or smell. Limits are almost guaranteed provided there are fish in the vicinity.

It’s no secret that fish and game tend to feed during dawn and dusk (sunrise and sunset). What amplifies the activity is the effect of a moonrise or moonset plus the specific monthly periods of New (dark) and Full (light) Moons.

When the times coincide with a moon-rise or a moon-set the activity can be spectacular.

Finally, a change in the local weather coinciding with the periods will further enhance the activity.

WEATHER INFLUENCE

Solunar predictions should be used intelligently. Every day will not show a clear-cut reaction to a period. In the case of fish, barometric fluctuations, particularly when the trend is down, often ruin fishing. Wildlife often appear to know what to expect of the weather, birds, animals or fish can often sense the approach of a storm. 

Cold fronts moving may through drive all fish deeper and render them inactive or in some cases drive them to protected waters inside reefs where they will remain active.

Adverse temperature, abnormal water conditions, all sorts of things will offset the effects of periods. However, it is beyond all reason to expect good fishing or hunting every day. The theory will point the way to the highest activity periods each day, but in no sense is it a guarantee.

BAROMETER INFLUENCE

Intensity of activity also varies from day to day, according to conditions in general. If the barometer happens to be steady or rising, if the temperature is favorable (15 degrees Fahrenheit or 8.3 degrees Celsius, higher than water temp) then long and active response to a period can be expected.

MOON INFLUENCE

Another thing to remember in dealing with the periods is that solunar influence will vary in intensity according to the position of the moon. The times of new moon (the dark of the moon), and there is no moon in the sky, is the time of maximum intensity.

Ocean tides reflect this intensity in their magnitude. This maximum will last about three days. Thereafter the degree of intensity tapers off until it is at its minimum during the third quarter phase of the moon.

Tides are governed by the phases and transit of the moon. Certain marine phenomena occur with precise regularity during the lunar month and solar/lunar cycle.

Research has shown that a natural day for fish and many other animal species differ from our own. Their biological clock appears to coincide with lunar time, which is the time that it takes for the moon to reappear at a given point during one complete rotation of the earth (an average of 24 hours and 53 minutes. This is called a Tidal Day and explains why the ocean tides are about an hour later each day - and why most fish, fresh water species included, will feed up to an hour later (in relation to our solar clock) each day.

PREDICTED BEST FISHING TIMES

The key to accurate Solunar Times is the ability to chart the relative solar and lunar positions with respect to a particular location. The major periods coincide with the upper and lower meridian passage of the resultant gravitational (tidal) force.

The minor periods occur when these forces are rising or setting on either horizon, i.e., the right ascension of the resultant force and the local sidereal time vary by 90 or 270 degrees. The major periods occur when these forces are at 0 and 180 degrees apart.

THE PERIOD OF PREDICTION

Solunar times predicted are known as equilibrium tide times, when the times of low and high tides would occur if the Earth were completely covered by water.

There is one day each month (near the last quarter of the moon) on which there is no moonrise. This is normal and occurs because the moon’s average period between two rises and sets is approximately 24 hours and 50 minutes. Thus there will always be a day on which a moonrise (and a Solunar Time) will not fit. Note also that moonrise can occur at any time during the day or night.

Reference: (moon up - moon down, ISBN 0-9716385-0-0, John Alden Knight, 1942)