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[mastercaster]

Went fishing with a buddy on the weekend to a couple of lakes at and near my cabin. The weather on Saturday was unbelievably warm, the mosquitos were the worst I've seen them in the last few years, and I suspect the fishing was hampered  by the full moon.
 
Normally my hookup numbers on the chironomid the last 5 weekends has been in the 40+ per day but it was half that on Saturday and Sunday.  I'm sure those buggers were feeding by the light of the silvery moon.  Just wondering if others who have been out lots in the last month to experience the great chronie fishing in the interior were out this weekend and noticed a difference?

It might be easy to blame the moon for a mediocre day but I still think it was the moon because I'm quite sure nothing came off the lake in the dark of the night. There was no evidence of any casings on the water in the morning. They could have been shrimping or going after leeches even though at these two lakes they predominately feed on chironomids.

[newsman]

It is actually a little different than you would think. It does have to do with night feeding activity but it actually starts 10 days before the moon is full. As the moon gets brighter fish feed more and more through the night. It all peaks 5 days before the moon is full and then tappers off to nil on the full moon (the fish are stuffed from a 10 day pig out). Then after thre three days that the moon is full the proccess is reversed. Doesn't apply though if there is cloud cover in the 10 days before the full moon. In my fly fishing classes I explain this more fully, finnishing of by telling my students that when I plan a fishing trip, the first thing I do is look at the calendar to check the moon. "FULL MOON IS THR WORST DAY OF THR MONTH TO FISH!"

[mastercaster]

The full moon doesn't stop me from going but I go knowing that the fishing could be touch and go.

Funny, but in New Zealand the moon works differently on the rainbows. The best fishing in the summer on the lakes like Taupo is at the river and creek mouths on moonless or cloudy nights.  No one fishes there if the moon is out because it's a total waste of time.  It's illegal to fish from a boat within a 100m of shore at the mouths of these systems so you must fish from shore.

The fish treat these large lakes like oceans and gorge on tiny bait fish called smelts but at night (only if moonless or cloudy) they feel unthreatened and feed at the mouths of the creeks and rivers that have much cooler water than the lakes and are oxygen rich and a great source of food.  People line up along these spots just like a picket fence (like sockeye fishing on the Fraser).  I kid you not... every one is 10 ft. apart. You don't go down to the lake/creek mouth until a half hour before dark.

You use the biggest darkest smelt pattern flies that you can throw and the fish see it as a sillhoette.  At times while you're standing in knee deep water casting, large fish (3-6 lbs.) will have snuck by you to feed in the shallows.  You hear them slashing at bait fish.  It is an incredible serene and peaceful way to fish but you can't see a thing because it's so dark.  You have to wear a flashlight around your neck when changing flies, etc.  People who keep fish bury them in the sand on shore to keep them cool.  The law also requires you stop fishing at midnight with hefty fines given to law breakers.

I've tried this method of fishing in B.C. at places like Okanagan L., Shuswap, Sheridan, and other lakes where the trout feed on minnows a number of times but it doesn't work.  After a dozen or so attempts I gave up on it but I can't wait to get back to N.Z. to do it again.  Have had some great fishing up here though at night when the sedges pop.