How much do you count on lunar charts

Will a lunar chart cause you to go or cancel a fishing trip?

I don’t use it to plan a trip, nor let it sway me from fishing. However, it’s my “go to” excuse for when I suck.

Rarely follow lunar charts but of course I do follow moon phases/schedule when planning a night trip.

I’ve never looked it at.

Dan I night fish for crappie. So what moon phase do you like best. I do know it defitnetly effects deer movement.

Very nice ! Well said.

Absolutely!

Never I fish when I want to could not even find them if I wanted to, dont care.

When life gets busy you just go when you can and if you catch them it makes it that much better .

When I can plan it, I go about one week before a full moon and fish three or four days. Same with deer hunting. That period has always been the best for me, a rising moon rather than a waning moon. I've read just about everything on fishing and hunting the moon, and I'm a believer in it. Still have to watch the weather but the moon phases do effect the weather, too
Now don't go catching a 10 lber during the last of a waning moon and blow the theory
Good luck

Rick Taylor's prime time calendar...it is good to use
for moon over head and moon under foot...never cancels a trip but helps know when better days or times...

Saltwater it can be big.

Zero

I have always done better with new moon at night than full moon, always. Just know the area well cause it's gonna be pitch black.

I've studied it extensively. I wrote about it in High Percentage Fishing. Personally, I put zero stock in it, but I know some great fisherman who value it greatly. It's just not supported by the large pile of catch data that I have seen. I do agree some bodies of water have short feeding windows that occur throughout the day, but they are not driven by the movement of celestial bodies.

I remember one night being driven by the movement of a celestial body. We were both young and had a few drinks and...

I freshwater fish when I have time to do it. Only things that will keep me from going when I get time is the weather and more recently the government closure of ramps. With that said I do believe that it can change when and sometimes where the fish feed. In freshwater it's not nearly as big a factor as it is in saltwater fishing.

Go into the saltwater world and it changes things a great deal, and I have booked many trips based on the moon phase. The tides change with the moon cycle. Saltwater fishing is all about tides. When you get out into deep sea fishing there is no doubt that a full moon scatters fish. Don't believe that? Book you some night time tuna trips around the floaters. On a full moon the bait and the fish simply do not congregate around those rigs like they do on a new moon. Fishing around those deep rigs is drastically better when it's not a full moon. If I lived on the coast and could go any time I wanted I guess it wouldn't matter much, but since I don't I would rather go when my chances of catching are better.

I use them to give me the dates of the full and new moons

WTH is a Lunar Chart?

That's my basic use. A lunar table never dictates if I go bass fishing.

I was referring to Bass fishing for planning a night trip on the moon phase.
For Crappie or Sand bass at night I fish under a lighted dock or bring my own light but don't consider moon phase in that situation.

You ain't joking. Steady weather and moon underfoot is and has been so remarkable, it's almost unbelievable. Doesn't matter what time of day it is, but my best days on trout in the surf have been when the moon was underfoot in the 11:00 am to 1:00 pm range. I used to get in the surf at daylight in Surfside, catch a few, then come back at noon or whenever the moon was under, wade through and past all the swimmers, then put on a clinic catching trout. I've been seeing the same exact thing fishing for red fish in the marsh here in Louisiana, I've made a believer out of many people. We'll be out at daylight, catch a few, maybe none. As soon as that prime period of moon underfoot hits, it's game on. 6 straight trips in the marsh with 10 keeper reds in less than 2 hours, using that chart. Moon overhead has been the second best bite for me. If the weather is steady, it's literally like flipping a switch on and off for these redfish, when it's over, you may catch a bite here and there but for the most part, it's over.

I've seen a difference in fresh water too, just not near as obvious as on salt/brackish water fish.

I went back and looked at some of my fishing pics. Take it for what it's worth, but here's an experience at the THSBA State Championship on Ray Roberts in 2016 that is about lunar charts.
I'll start with I cannot stand that lake, had never caught more than 12-14 lbs there and affectionately named it "aintnevergoingback" lake.
We prefished the lake, all over the areas I thought should have fish and areas they wanted to fish. We had 2 fish all day in practice, but both came from a very small area. Day 1 of the tourney, I think they had 3 fish for 10 lbs or so, and I take the blame for not checking their line. They broke off 2 or 3 big fish, their line was junk. We re strung their rods that night. I noticed that their bites all came in about a 2 hour window. I was heavy into surf fishing for trout at that time, so that night I checked my tides4fishing app and lo and behold, their bites came in the prime time for that day, moon was overhead. First pic is of the app, screen shot was at 8:55 p.m May 20th.
Day 2, we went right back to the area to start, fished it hard for 2 hours, not a single bite. Moved off to another spot within sight of their hot spot, one of my guys caught a 3. They caught a few small fish mixed in. We watched 3 separate boats work the exact sweet spots of their hot spot, not a single bite. My guys were going nuts, I told them hold on, they're not going to bite for another 30 minutes or so. As soon as the last boat moved out, it was just about prime time. We pulled over there, and they went to catching. They finished out their limit, culled 2 or 3 times, added a smallie to the mix and ended up with 17 lbs, big bag of day 2. This all happened in about 2 hours. Once prime time was over, the bite quit. We fished the rest of the day without a single bite. The 7 lber was wrapped around a stick, my guys got it out, big moment for them. We had a boat that was fishing for sandbass about 50 yards away, he was hooting and hollering and said that was the funnest thing he'd ever watched seeing those boys catch 'em like that, they were doubled up a couple of times.
So yes, in my experience, lunar charts sometimes impact freshwater fishing as well.

Someone mentioned that the Lunar charts are more effective in salt water rather than fresh. That is true, but every body of water is effected by tidal pressure coming from the position of the sun/moon.
I use a little app called "best hunting times"
It works the same for hunting or fishing, and it gives the information that you really need. Take a look at it.
Also, for good reading try to find "Moon Up, Moon Down" by John Alden Knight. Still makes sense after all these years
Good Luck

This....

Randy... we're discussing fishing here, dammit!!!!

Hey, I've been doing pretty good lately around both sides of the Pace Bend peninsula. And last Thursday, supposedly the best day of the season, I told my buddy to go to Fayette that morning and he wound up catching his PB on a spinnerbait, and 7.5 lb hawg.

Never have ever looked at one. I just go fishing