mooning!

I WAS INTRODUCED TO ANGLING AT THE AGE OF THREE BY MY FATHER, PETER, A KEEN BARBEL ANGLER, WHO IN JULY 1967 HAD NEWS OF THE WORLD AND ANGLING TIMES FISH OF THE YEAR A MAGNIFICANT BARBEL OF 12.8 FROM THE ROYALTY FISHERY PETER WHEAT PHOTOGRAPHED IT! YES, FISH OF THE YEAR, HOW THINGS CHANGE. THE FISH CAME FROM THE "TELEGRAPH" SWIM, WHICH MY FATHER CREATED BY FORMING A SLACK BY PUTTING IN HUGE BOULDERS, THEN LAYING ON WITH A FLOAT. PRIOR TO THE FLOAT GOING THE FISH WAS ON END WITH IT'S TAIL OUT OF THE WATER!

As far as doubles are concerned, my first did not grace the net first for another 18 years! A 10.2 from the Thames at Hampton Court in 1985. Since then many have followed from various rivers, but none over 10.10 until 1997 when that was finally beaten with fish of 13.3 and 12.11.

We all know that dawn and dusk are considered the best times to target barbel, especially dusk. We also know that there are other feeding periods during the daylight hours, which move and are nigh on, impossible to pinpoint. I, like many of us, have over the past 30 years spent many, many, fruitless hours sitting blanking in good barbel swims. The river would be screaming fish, nice colour, steady water temperature etc, yet nothing was happening. Other times in exactly the same conditions one would bag up. Alternatively one would bag up when everything looked wrong! There were also numerous times when two of us fishing would catch simultaneously, maybe after several hours of inactivity. This was put down to the water clarity being just right for them, or the temperature, wind etc, etc, but must say I was not that convinced.

By about 1985 I had reached the conclusion that factors which were "supposed" to induce fish to feed in fact had little bearing on the equation; coloured water would only serve to hide the angler and drive fish into tighter shoals. Barbel also feed through and at every water temperature between their highest and lowest cut off points. There had to be a main overlooked and over-riding factor that did induce fish to feed, and when this factor was correct other plus factors would "enhance" feeding. This factor had to be something that was moving (like the feeding periods) it also had to be something outside of the fish. All of the other factors consistently contradicted themselves.

I believed, by process of elimination, that the answer lie somewhere in the moons phases. Having arrived at this conclusion I felt pretty chuffed. Knowing that if this outside influence were correct, fish would probably be active and catchable, if not there was no chance of a catch!. However, one did not have a clue back in 1985 of how to begin working out this moving time and the thoughts about it all petered out.

During my years of fishing, I had the uncanny knack of knowing when it felt right, suddenly being aware that the fish had switched on. More often than not this feeling preceeded a screaming take! A couple of things have been put forward to account for this, the first being some sort of extra sensory perception on the part of the angler, this I do not buy. The second, which I buy even less, is the suggestion by Chris Yates that it is some sort of magic, very romantic! Having spoken to Chris about this he assured me that big carp are aware that you are concentrating on them! It is worth noting that Chris Yates backed out of a planned session with me to do a feature in Waterlog magazine.

What probably does lie behind this feeling became apparent to me one night in 1993 when fishing the river Lugg; I also got a big idea as to what really triggers fish into activity. A friend and I got to our swims, baited up and started fishing just into darkness. Our swims were about 100yds apart and contained a good head of resident fish. The moon was just past half full, the sky and river were both clear, the air temperature plummeting.

.....It did, within ten minutes we had three barbel, of 7+, 7+ and 8+. Then it was all over, as was the breeze. Because I had felt the same during that moon set as I had hundreds of times previously when I wasnt aware it was moon set, I knew that the feeding spree had to have something to do with the gravity change as the moon set, and not simply that it had become slightly darker. If we would have jacked in at 01.10 we would have gone back to the car saying "it must have been the cold putting the mockers on things"! (What I have suggested here for that feeling now has scientific backing, it is now known that the moon at certain positions causes a pick up in wind, which in turn causes us to feel light-headed).

The decsion was made to check what would happen when the moon rose or set during the day. Soon learning that that some of the daily papers gave moon times, so these would be noted before fishing. Over the next few months three things almost always occurred with moonrise or set: A breeze, a positive feeling, and a fish! Even when there were sometimes long periods of inactivity before hand.

Barbel feeding at peaks within these periods are generally over seven pounds, it would appear that the bigger a fish is the more intensely it will react at these times. At other times I believe they are simply dormant, for whatever reason, moving in at these times to bully the smaller fish out.

Other factors which may enhance feeding, but will not, individually or collectively, induce feeding are as follows.

Match results from the Wye were also noted, when fishing took place during what was emerging as dodgy periods; my predictions were confirmed by the poor catches, even when the river looked bang on. Over a period of about three years I kept up this rather intensive study of fish movement, noting my catches (over 400 barbel) monitoring others catches and generally keeping an ear to the ground. I had by then roughly worked out the most likely times of high fish activity for most moon phases and isolated some times of big fish movement, it also emerged that apart from the two periods at rise and set, there were also two periods in between at the transit times.

The Lugg is a beautiful small river, and thought it best to give the fish a break from my mug, so in 1997 decided to further my research on the River Severn. There was soon a break through, when fishing at dodgy times waves were noticed coming UPSTREAM, when they ceased the fish would switch on! This coincided with the right times for the Lugg!

All fish were caught when the pull from the moon was lessening, the equivalent of the run off when sea fishing, and we know how productive that can be. Though the Lugg, severn and many of our rivers are tidal at most only in part, I believe the answer to what is stimulating activity in fish (and other animals and birds) at these times, lay somewhere in the force that generates the tides. This force can cause huge waves to back up on the lower Severn, even above the weir around Grimley and Hallow! Also Undertows on lakes and canals, something this powerful must have a profound effect on fish behaviour, and my studies show that it sure does!

I worked out (with the aid of a tide table) that all of the doubles I had caught came when certain peaks coincided with this ebbing force, as did all big fish brought to my attention, including a few caught at the same moon induced peak time but from different locations, I.E., I may have worked out a peak time and taken a specimen, or see one caught on the lower Severn at say 14.00. In the pub at Kempsey that night could be someone who had one at the same time from the Teme, now water temperature, clarity, the methods in which we fished, baited up, and 100s of other factors which we are told to be so critical, were ALL different, yet the fish did not take until that critical moon time! In the next breath we are told that fish are opportunist feeders, that if we are not catching it is down to our own inferior methods or the way in which we bait the swim! No matter how I bait swims with hemp/maggots or other particle baits, fish will only remain active through the prescribed periods and no longer. Whether that be putting it in periodically with small amounts, to keep them scratching about, or tip a whole gallon in, in one go!

Armed with this new tide info during 97-98 I began to work out the cut-off points and peaks in feeding periods. Believe me, its extremely difficult spending thousands of hours fishing when you already know it is futile! That said though the benefits are immense, it is such a great feeling to sink the hook into a double figure barbel at a time I have given to disbelieving anglers on the bank, or see their faces when they take a new P.B at the time, this I have done numerous times.

By September 98 I was confident enough to approach ANGLING TIMES they ran a small feature and published some peak days to fish. What they failed to publish were the exact peak times I gave. However, one angler contacted me to tell me of a new P.B he had right on one of the times they had put, this was from the Severn, and another had a 12.4 at the same time from the Ouse. This in part led me to give a talk to the B.S at Pershore. This was attended by over 70 anglers, and was a good night despite my nervousness. The best bit was when eight out of eight P.Bs brought to my attention fell no more than 10 minutes outside of peak times for the days caught. Now, eight out of eight may not sound that significant, but put into context it is another eight big fish, on top of all the rest Ive head of being caught, the times of capture which tie in with my findings. As do the times of capture of 600 or so of my own barbel during the years of my research. Plus the match results I monitored during this period. I must point out that mooning applies to all species of fish.

As stated in the beginning dawn and dusk are considered the best times to fish. We are told that falling light values give the fish more confidence that is true only in part. My findings are that fish are mostly active at dusk for 10-12 nights per month, they are usually on the same nights, the first nights are on the peak days around the quarter moons, we then have the longer and most intense transit feeding periods at dusk and dawn. Even so on pressured waters it can often be the case one only manages one fish at the point we change from direct sunlight to reflected light, when the suns light is reflected from the earths atmosphere. The other nights are the peak days around new and full moons, then we have the rise and set periods at dusk, the fish are most active before twilight starts or just into darkness, depending on what phase and month we are in. Again there will be changes in wind at the peaks. Most grim moon days do not have any moon induced feeding periods that coincide with dawn and dusk, so not much happens, these are when you sit wondering what the hell is up!

We have all caught big fish or bags of fish, that appear to break all the established rules, during periods of bright sunlight, and even more commonly blanked on the blackest, muggiest, most thundery nights when the conditions would seem much more propitious. Bright days in winter and spring can be absolute corkers, even with the river low and clear. John Bailey reinforces this in his beliefs about the feeding habits of Wye barbel, in that they are just as catchable during daylight.

My studies with this in conjunction with moon phase show a couple of trends. When it comes to the weather at least we can maybe, nip out and fish, if it appears to suit, and we have the time and a venue on our doorstep! We cannot however forecast it with enough accuracy for short sessions, or control it, only hope conditions suit when we fish. The barometer is of even less use in forecasting our fishing prospects, and ending with a favourable outcome. Mainly because barometric pressure and trends are random. These are therefore my findings against general barometric trends. A rising barometer will achieve nothing during a dodgy moon phase, but it will enhance sport during a good one. However,and this is important a dropping barometric trend will usually render fish inactive. I believe this is why it is often the case that fishing is useless with a cold easterly wind, more often than not where the pressure is dropping creates the easterly. It is not the cold associated with these winds, but the dropping pressure; we catch during other cold conditions, and cold winds, Northerlies from the artic can be much colder. More on pressure here

They have to get hungry at some point" we hear. Well, do they? Fish with pharyngeal (throat) teeth do not have a stomach to get hungry with. If fish got hungry they would do so at different times, therefore it would always be possible to catch something. Any true angler knows this is not the case. Eels are scavengers, yet there can be black nights in what appear good conditions when you wont be pestered by them, even somewhere like the lower Severn which is notorious with them! Everything appears dead.

During a dodgy moon phase you can chuck bait in until the cows come home, nothing is going to eat it. If you put a bait under a barbels nose at these times, you are likely to end up with the "barbel under a bush syndrome". For those unaware of what that means, it is a phrase that Mike Burdon of the barbel society uses to describe barbel, that in plain English "wont have it". According to Mike it is "when you cannot draw fish (in good fishing conditions) from a holding area, say, under a bush. To a feeding area. If you then cast to the holding area you will merely succeed in spooking them and they will group tighter and tighter, becoming uncatchable". Perhaps fish are only "opportunists" if we use "designer" baits!

This article only covers the main aspects surrounding mooning. My original draft article incorporated some peak times to fish but left too many unwritten, it is impossible to cover a whole years angling in relation to moon phase, in a few lines!

The article below I first penned and sent to COURSE FISHERMAN magazine in early 1998, minus the bit about Pershore, they held on to it for several months before deciding not to use it. I then sent it to the editor of the barbel fisher magazine and an edited version went into the spring 1999 edition of the mag. ANGLING TIMES ran a short version in a centerspread in January 1999.
A very good COPY of it also featured in CARPWORLD magazine in August 1999. I have edited the odd word for clarity but in essence it is the same article.