Moon phases and carp fishing

This article first appeared on the Quest Baits Blog in June 2010 and is reproduced here by kind permission.

A few days ago we published a post posing the question “Does the moon phase affect your chance of catching carp?”  This post by Shaun Harrison indicates that he thinks it does…

“Big Moon Big Common” is a statement my old mate Dave Booth came out with shortly after netting a 33lb common for me back in April.

For years Dave has carefully monitored the moon phases and atmospheric pressures in relation to carp captures and has indeed written at length on the subject in Carpworld.

I have all good intentions of doing similar but find myself sidetracked with excess work etc and end up not recording as much as I would perhaps like to do. I have mixed feelings on understanding too much about our prey as like most others I fall into the category of angling when I can rather than when the conditions are spot on.

Knowing the conditions are totally hopeless for catching carp has never really bothered me that much as I feel these are the times when the larger fish can and do occasionally slip up.

I find it easier in my mind to run with simple rules concerning weather/atmospheric and moon phase conditions. I don’t really want to clutter myself with knowing that a particular time slot on a particular day so long as the weather doesn’t mess things will be the time for a bite. If I am on a 24 hour session I like to keep it broader in the hope of several chances.

This is why I really like Dave’s comment of ‘big moon big common’. It is vague enough to fit a day either side of a big full moon and you know what it seems to be a very good gauge. Why this one hasn’t struck me before I don’t know but since Dave planted the seed in my head I have been monitoring this and it is proving to be a very accurate statement with big commons coming from several waters I am in contact with around the full moon period.

Saturday 26th June was another ‘full moon day’. I was at the British Carp Study Group A.G.M. and the telephone went. It was John Patterson, he had just landed a 48lb common! The list of ‘Big Moon Commons’ continues!

Best fishes, Shaun Harrison

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