You’ll probably be aware that many people believe that the phases of the moon have an effect on animal behaviour and in particular the behaviour of fish. Â So is your chance of catching carp affected by the particular phase of the moon?
Well, you’d be surprised to learn that many well respected carp anglers pay a lot of attention to this and even plan their French carp trips around their favourite moon phases.
For example, Shaun Harrison favours a full moon for catching large fish, but not for catching lots of fish.
His theory is that carp are less inclined to feed on a full moon, but large carp have to feed to maintain their bulk. Â So without the competition of other fish they are much more likely to be the ones that pick up your bait.
For your information you can access a daily moon phase calendar here.
You will see the current moon phase and you will also be able to look at the full month as well as previous and future months.
Take a look at your own captures and those of others then look back at the moon phase. You may be surprised how much it effects the carp.
Over the next few weeks we’ll publish more articles on this fascinating subject.
I am not sure that the moon phase has any effect on catch rates. What I think is that when you can see the full moon e.g. high pressure then it can be difficult to catch carp especially in summer, but it can be difficult to catch carp whatever the phase of the moon in high pressure. When it is low pressure and the moon is hidden it appears to have little effect on catch rates. I feel that we don’t catch, see the full moon and blame it rather than blame the pressure. In winter I have sometimes had my best catches during a full moon. I have often wondered if the extra gravitational pull gets the fish to move a little in winter. What do others think? Or has it been just a coincidence.