Anything at Frenchman's Bay?

[MuskieBait]

(05-27-2016 10:49 AM)Abu Garcia Wrote:  Good point MuskieBait about the tides - indeed lakes does not produced that many. Maybe I should have rephrased with "moon rise" and "moon set"

Though based from my experienced - moon phase does help.
Otherwise the Canadian web sites that publish these lunar phase will not bother providing the information on which days are best to fish.

Believe what you may. The fact that these charts are published does not make the prediction factual.

From personal experience, I've learned that solunar charts are not accurate. In fact, often the fishing experience seems to be completely opposite of what was predicted.

Much of fishing success depends on understanding the fish behaviour. If a moonrise causes a particular tide change and forces fish to move off the flats into deeper water, you may find luck if you happen to fish in the deeper water areas, but completely out of luck if you happen to fish on the flats.

Thus, the "prime activity" predictions are manifested based on where you fish and what you fish for. It is heavily dependent on the species as well as the location.

It is also a self-fulfilling prophecy when you concentrate your fishing efforts based on the "prime periods", as opposed to simply fishing all day and critically review on the activity throughout the entire day. A lot of people will only fish muskies on new moons or full moons, proclaiming that these two periods produced the best bite and biggest fish. But if you only fish during these periods, and only catch fish during these periods, are you able to rule out that any other time of the month can't be just as good? By fishing only during the predicted "prime time", you are essentially biased and the data collected is biased.

Often, more detailed observations, and deeper thinking, can yield fish even when you are fishing during periods that is not "prime". For example, many people think that steelhead fishing is best during morning and evening. Yes, fish are indeed more active during low light period, but that's mainly due to their restricted ability to see an imperfect presentation with heavier line, bulkier split shots, larger hooks and an unnatural drift. Fish also move out of cover to feed when the low light conceal your presence much more. Adjusting your rig to eliminate any spook factor, adding stealth to your approach and fishing locations where steelhead retreat for protection during midday, you can still do just as well, if not better, for steelhead between morning and evening.

The same can be said of solunar charts and tide changes. Understand where fish relocate at certain phase of the tide, and how their feeding activity and prey items change with the tide, is more important than believe "prime activity" predictions.

At the end of the day, my advice is simply to go fishing when you can. Don't worry too much about the factors that could affect fishing. Adjust your technique based on what is given or presented to you that day, and be proactive to reactive to any changes that may come.

If you worry too much, you will never get to wet a line. You can't catch fish with the lines out of the water.