Full Moon Crappie Frenzy

[BIGFISH.JZ 138]

I'm gonna let you in on a secret that I discovered many years ago on a lake that had low numbers of very large Crappies. We all know that sunset is a time when Crappies become hungry and active. They seem to appear out of nowhere and after a half hour flurry of action, they disappear just as quickly. Often when fishing this lake I would get a bite or two if I was lucky. One night a friend and I were set up in my usual spot and right on time, we started catching fish. We ended up catching over a dozen 13.5"-15.75" Crappies that evening. About halfway through the action, as we realized we were doing much better than I ever had on that lake, my friend commented on the full moon. It was just peeking above the trees, and the beautiful sunset was on the opposite horizon. Not realizing what provoked that prolonged action, we both were eager to go back 4 days later. I got 1 fish, he had 1 bite, as was typical for the lake. Puzzled, we were talking about our last trip, and we came to the conclusion that the sunset and moonrise combo was the cause of the outstanding action. People talk about the full moon creating better activity "because the fish can see better". I am VERY convinced that is NOT the reason. 

Musky fisherman know about the power that the moon has. With moon rise, moon set etc. being times when a big fish is more likely to strike. 

Other fish like huge Crappies feel the power as well. When the moon is full, moon rise and sunset occur at about the same time. The combination of both high percentage times at once creates a MAGICAL window that occurs once per month. 

Since then I have capitalized on this monthly occurrence many many times, for walleye, eelpout and musky as well as the crappies. It is way more than just a coincidence it is MAGIC!! Sometimes the days before and after the full moon are also excellent, occasionally 1 is even better than the full moon night. But any time you are planning a trip for a challenging species or difficult location try to be there at that magical period and you will improve your odds of success. 

It doesn't matter if its cloudy and the moon is not visible the magic is still there. Hopefully you can unlock the potential of a lake with this little tip. 

 

Remember that C.P.R. (Catch-Photo-Release) is key to catching bigger fish as well as the key to the future of fishing.