# Moon and Tides?



## cdre (Jul 10, 2010)

Anyone willing to share their take on how moon phase and tide state factor into the Tarpon bite?


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## Hunter (Sep 3, 2004)

I loathe fishing on a full moon. But if it's flat I go anyway. This weekend (full moon) all the conditions were right but we fished pretty hard to no effect. 

I haven't observed an effect of tides in the Galveston fishery. In POC and places farther south you somtimes benefit from a falling tide that flushes baitfish out. That said, I tarpon fish a lot and do not plan the days I go by the tide.


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## Tarponchaser (May 25, 2005)

Tarpon have huge eyes and feed at night a lot as can be seen by the numbers caught at night at Boca Grande. The numbers caught at night are huge in portion to the number of boats fishing day/ night.

I have had very good luck fishing the PA jetties at night during the full moon using the rule below. Not so good fishing the days of a full moon.

Totsy Belcher is a 74 year old guide at PA that is the garu of jetty fishing.

He shared this with me about tides. The fish feed on the first part of any tide.. in or out. The tide moves bait... they feed... then become full/lazy/dormant....lay down.. digest food... then the tide becomes slack ... then begins to move... fish feed... this repeats itself over and over..

This can be seen at Boca Grande.. "the hole" is packed with tarpon... can be seen on fish finder... stacked 20' thick for several hundred yards.... but only the fish on the front edge of the moving tide are really feeding.... of course there are always exceptions but the hungry fish move to where the tide is serving crabs or whatever.

I have found this to be the most active feeding time with all spiecies at the jetties. 

Tarpon in the Gulf .... probably are not dictated by these rules as much or at all.... but still can not feed all the time... I think that they can catch bait anytime that they want and feed at random as the opportunity presents itself.

Was at PA Sunday a week ago... not at the right tide time... saw two.. no bites.... thousands of 5 -6" mullet at ends of jetties..... acres and acres of menhaden a couple hundred of yards S. of S. jetty... nothing bothering them.... ran 12 miles North... saw mile afer mile of menhaden within two hundred yards of beach... only small sharks biting.

There was so much bait that it would take a very lucky fisherman to get a bite.

Unfortuntly the "right tides" happen two or sometimes four times a day. Usually one or two are during the night. This means that during the day... there are only one or two hours that are prime fishing times... much of the rest is just sunbathing.

Hope this helps.

TC


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## cpthook (Jan 16, 2008)

Calm conditions do not come often and especially this year. I've tarpon fished less this year than any other, and fortunately I can fish almost any day I want. Unlike trout or reds, when tarpon fishing it only takes 1 or more fish to make it a successful day in my book, and most others would agree. The point I'm making is even though moon, tide etc do play a role like with any other game, when the conditions are right (calm enough to cover and read water) all other factors go out the window. I like to look at solunar tables even though when tarpon fishing I do not use them as an indicator as much as calm conditions. Just my opinion.


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## Scott (May 24, 2004)

Just as a reminder guys - http://www.projecttarpon.com has all the weather, weather forecasting and tide predictions you could want for Texas tarpon fishing. There are pages for each state with links to all the weather information you might need, radars, pinpoint marine forecasts and beach webcams. All this is available for free. It is just a one stop for all the links that most of you already have on your computers anyway. Just makes it easy for you to go to one source and just click away. Each window generally opens in a new window so you don't have to keep navigating back. If there are any additional links anybody would like, we'll get it up. Just PM or email me.

The Texas page is at http://www.projecttarpon.com/texas.html

(And yes, ProjectTarpon.com advertises on this site as well - through banner ads.)


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## Capt. Lowtide (Jun 30, 2004)

Tarponchaser said:


> .
> 
> He shared this with me about tides. The fish feed on the first part of any tide.. in or out. The tide moves bait... they feed... then become full/lazy/dormant....lay down.. digest food... then the tide becomes slack ... then begins to move... fish feed... this repeats itself over and over..
> 
> ...


Some of the best information ever posted on this forum. Takes some people many hours targeting tarpon to figure this out and others simply a click of the mouse


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## Bill C (May 23, 2004)

Tarponchaser did a great job of laying it out.

I personally like to fish the full moon. There is light enough to see the fish cruising through the water and the sight of a big tarpon leaping out of the water into the moonlight is really cool.

The other nice thing is that most of the time you will have the water to yourself when fishing at night.


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## Tarponchaser (May 25, 2005)

Thanks
Capt. Lowtide & Bill.

Had hand surgery today. As soon as i can... I will peck out "the rest of the story".....very few understand the tide.


tc


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## Bill C (May 23, 2004)

Hope you have a speedy recovery-there are lots of tarpon out there waiting to meet you.


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## cdre (Jul 10, 2010)

This is great stuff! Looking forward to "the rest of the story," tc!


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## cdre (Jul 10, 2010)

So when you say the first part of any tide, you mean just as the current shifts through slackwater, or at the peak of the tide?


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## Tarponchaser (May 25, 2005)

*"the rest of the story"*

By general rule you will have a slack tide and then it starts to move one way or the other. That begins a feeding cylce.

The best tide info that I have found is at ikitesurf.com. It explains it all.

High or low tide are just about elevation ....great information if you need to get a sailing ship over a bar or reef.

High or low tide can last for a long time. Like high tide at 5PM... current continues to run in til 6 or 6:30.

See above tide site.

TC


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