Breaming by the Moon Phase

Lets start by saying this is another one of those “hokey” things that I didn’t put much stock in for a long time. Right up front I will say that this has come from the influence of Scott and Vicki Lear. They will not do some things based upon the phase of the moon at the time. Specifically they really don’t like the full moon. Is it a mental thing? Or is there more to it? 8255

The dandy thing about so many Bream tournaments these day is that you can see all the reports and start to see patterns. Which is partly why I am writing specifically about the moon phase and Bream. The general gist is that leading up to and a few days after the full moon the fishing isn’t so great. Of course this doesn’t mean you will catch nothing at all but it won’t be as good as  the time leading up to and a few days after the new moon.

As a singular example (of which there are plenty more) is the last few years of the Hobie Kayak Bream Series. The Bemm River and Marlo events have been held two weeks apart, one around a full moon the other around a new moon. One year at Marlo around a new moon bag records are broken and two weeks later Bemm is a grovelling, grind for fish (compared to what Bemm is usually like). The next year the reverse happened and Bemm on the new and Marlo on the full. Bemm fishes really well, Marlo is hard. Of course you could look at this and put it down to chance, but fishing is about patterns and now that I have started to look more closely I keep seeing patterns repeated. Leading up to new moons Facebook seems to light up with stories of good Bream fishing. Leading up to the full, not so much. I’ve started to see it in my fishing too.marlo-007 marlo-001

For those of you that fish tournaments this can help because if a comp is around a full moon you will have a good idea that you will need to work harder for fish and that it will be a grind. Or if you suspect the fishing will be good all round, spend more time looking for bigger fish.

The million dollar question is “why”. Well when it comes to Bream specifically, I think they eat all night around a full moon and have had a big feed by the time the sun comes up making them harder to tempt. Alternately, it’s too dark by the new moon and they eat during the day. This rings especially true in systems where prawns are abundant. Prawns come out around the new moon because they know they have less chance of being eaten. Thats why we going prawning around that time (Bream don’t have flash lights).DSC8853

What about other fish species? Well, I have tended to notice saltwater fish are not as good around the full moon but that freshwater fish don’t seem to mind. A lot of times we will go Trout fishing BECAUSE it is a full moon and saltwater sessions are less appealing.

What it all boils down to is that looking at the moon phase can help you when pursuing Bream. Keep one eye on the moon phase and the other on how the fishing is going and make up your own mind if there is something to it. I know I’m a believer now.

2 responses to “Breaming by the Moon Phase

  1. Yes 100% true about the bream around the full moon i also read a article many years ago about this they also may be resting through the day waiting for night fall again, to get back out there & hunt top post

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