Fishing: Cast a line by the light of the moon

The Maori celebration of Matariki around the rise of the star cluster Pleiades and the new moon in June puts some focus on the impact of astronomical movements on food gathering.

In the case of fishing, the two days either side of the new moon are usually good. So are the days around the full moon, though many fishers will argue otherwise. Many stay at home. The fact is that fish are active over the full moon period, it's just that they are active at night rather than during the day.

Maori followed many signals as to when to gather food; it was said to be hard snapper fishing until the kowhai bloom - the kowhai bloom comes in warm weather and snapper fishing improves late-spring as waters warm.

West Aucklander Ken Ring has long followed the co-relation between the phases of the moon and weather, plus the effect of the moon on animal behaviour and fishing results. The gravitational flow of the seas via tides encourages movement in all creatures, he believes.

Tiny life forms are energised during the full moon and their movement sets the predatory chain in motion - small fish feed on crustaceans and bigger fish feed on them. Best bite time on any day, Ring believes, is when the moon is directly overhead; second-best is when it is directly underfoot on the opposite side of the world.

He also associates the perigee, when the moon is closest to earth, and the apogee, when it is further away with bad weather, high wind and swell. At these times the fish are likely to head to deeper water.

That would coincide with experience which suggests snapper in particular do not like dirty, stirred water or too much fresh from rain runoff.

The settled weather that often accompanies the full moon can make fishing hard during the day. Often, the water surface is dead flat and visibility good. There is the suspicion that fish can see your line.

Deep-water fishing can be good, though, as evidenced by Whakatane teenager William King who caught a 16.93kg snapper at lunchtime on a full moon day in March, just short of the world record of 17.2kg.

Fishing off rocks in Northland at full moon has been successful for me. A rising tide at dawn and dusk is good - my Doubtless Bay fishing mate Des Rogers maintains that "only tourists fish in the middle of the day". So we're on the rocks before dawn, usually home by 10am. Often the fishing will flick off like a switch once the sun hits the water.

One theory has it that fish feed in the half-light of the full moon at night and are then so full they will not eat during the day.

Manukau Harbour expert John Moran swears by Ring's predictions. "If I get a free day I'm going fishing regardless what any calendar says, but it is uncanny the number of times he is accurate," Moran said.

Ring lists a bite-time for each day, and when out fishing with Moran makes sure he is ready for it. "We've had days when it's been red-hot around the hour of his bite-time and we've caught little else all day." The only exception he makes is that the Manukau is dead for a day 24 hours after the full moon.

Moran who has fished the Manukau for more than 40 years was once told by an old Maori fisherman that he could tell how good his day on the water would be by the behaviour of cattle he passed on the way to the boat ramp. If they're feeding, so will the fish be; If not, if they're lying still, so will the fish. It's been true more often than not, he said.

Discoloration of the water has slowed both sea and fresh water fishing this week.

In the Manukau, Moran was catching gurnard in the Waiuku Channel but the Papakura Channel has been slow. On the Hauraki Gulf the fishing has been slow in close, better out wide but in close to the islands.

At Taupo, the Hinemaiaia Stream continues to fish well with good condition rainbows at a 2.2kg average. Browns are running in the Tongariro but the rainbow run is expected to be late.

The bi-annual acoustic count of trout in the lake shows the fishery is healthy. The number which have grown over 35cm has increased five times since November. Counts of juvenile fish in the rivers are also high, both results indicating good fishing for the next two seasons.