Whats best time - tides - dawn/dusk - moon phase?

[reelcrazy]

Of course the best time to fish is when dawn/dusk, tide, and moon phase line up, and of course weather.

But in your experience how would you rate these factors, from the highest to the lowest.

My personal experience is moon phase in conjunction with tides is best all round.

What's yours?

[SeaSaw]

Most important thing is location - you need to be where the fish are, so seasons and location are most important. After finding the fish, the next most important thing to get them to bite, for me, seems to be Dawn/Dusk and then moon phase.

Cheers,

Mark

[reelcrazy]

Reason I'm asking is that I'm going to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks in early August. Never been there before, but from all accounts this area hasn't been hammered.

It's on the Pacific side, at a place where estuary/river/mangroves meet the surf. The place looks the goods, and fishing reports are excellent - world record snook, roosterfish and cubera snapper (looks to be some form of jack)

I've never caught any of these species, but the snook sounds similar in habits to a jewie, and the roosterfish and snapper similar to jacks, so I'll be taking my surf and medium estuary gear to have a crack.

[Mick]

All different times of the day and night, depends on what fish is being targeted. For example, Coral Trout can be caught all day, no matter what the tide or moon is doing, and Spanish Mackerel are usualy more active when the sun is highest in the sky as bait balls give off more "silver reflection".
One week, Mangrove Jack will be eating on low tides during the night and next week their feeding on high tides during the day.
I think sea saw is closest to the money here, fish move to where the food is and sometimes fish will have to adjust to feed outside normal peak periods if the food is scarce or in a different area.
I think the only reason why dusk and dawn are peak feeding times is because day active fish and night active fish overlap each other, hence, a higher percentage of total fish are feeding.

Mick

[Morlers]

Tom
What's taking you to Costa Rica...holidays or work?

:) :)

Morlers

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

new moons rise at dawn, full moons dusk etc

try the old reliable 4 days before the moon trick, don't they catch monster bone fish around Costa rica, drink white rum, & not have enough lycra to put the back on their bikini bottoms ?

[reelcrazy]

Thanks fellas food for thought here. It's a holiday, the northeast american winter has been brutal for this lad, and I need a troppo fix, Costa Rica is almost on the same latitude (N) as Darwin.

The challenge with new water is to get some sense of the place, feeding times, techniques, fish habits, and of course what they are feeding on.

Next stage is packing enough gear to cover within reasonable weight limits, but I've got it down to 2 rods, reels and assorted lures and plastics, and of course a small cast net for the lagoons out back of the house we are renting.

Easy to get carried away, but apparently the Tico's (locals) fish with handlines from shore and beach - so there is a lesson there somewhere.

There'll be a new moon a week into my trip, and I'll definitely be there at sparrows feeding the mangrove mossies.

And Chris, the local booze is called Guaro, translated means hooch - typical cane spirit - told it definitely does the job, though the local beer is apparently excellent - bit like San Miguel.

Bones and tarpon are on the caribbean side, this is Pacific.

As to the non feathered variety of birdlife, I'll have to report at a later date, but others report the place is excellent for optic nerve exercises. Dark sunnies when with wifey of course.

Tom

[DaveSue_Fishos_Two]

Hope you have a great time!!

Dave

[reelcrazy]

Hope you have a great time!!

Dave

Thanks, I'll post pictures, should be interesting to fish new water and species.

[westie]

Here is something that may help answer all your questions.
I have be using the Anglers Edge Plus AE2 for some time now and it seem to be on the money, it tells you best time for the day Moon phase Sun Rise & Set Times ,Moon & Sun Positions, Baro, Time of the Day plus weather for the day, and it has a Storm warning alarm, you can set a day in the future to get the best times taking in account all the Info in the unit and combine this with tide times at the flick of a switch and it work World Wide using Lat & Long. These are made By Speedtech so are a Quality Product.
In the States they have one that tells tidal Info for the states ONLY.

[TonyM]

Westie - that sounds a lot like some software I have written. I'm currently writing version 2 which should include tides for all major australian ports, although I created all the solunar functionality in Ver 1

[westie]

Tony....... tell me more about this program. What is it?

[TonyM]

Westie - sent you an IM Mate

[westie]

Thanks for that will have a look at it

[outsiderskip]

tides dont matter outdide follow moon for best results bay fishing early morning late aftnoon fish deeper water when moon no moon shallow