Moon over Miami might be the best time to catch fish

Many anglers go fishing early in the morning or late in the afternoon and hope for the best. But the most successful fishermen plan their trips around the rising and setting of the moon.

Capt. Bouncer Smith, who ran charters out of Miami Beach for more than 50 years, learned as a youngster the impact of the moon on fish and wildlife.

“In the 1950s, my dad and I went to Lake Okeechobee a lot to bass fish,” Smith said. “And my dad would be driving up there, and he’d have another adult in the front seat with him and I’d be in the backseat. And my dad would say, ‘Oh look, all the cows are laying down there in the fields, and the fish won’t be biting now. So we don’t have to hurry to get out fishing because the cows are laying down.’ ”

In other words, the cows weren’t feeding, so the fish wouldn’t be feeding.

“But if you were getting close to your fishing spot and the cows were standing up, you’d know that the bass are feeding. So we’d better hurry or we’re going to miss the best bite,” Smith said.

“I don’t know how much my father knew about the moon, but he knew that when the cows are active, the deer are active, the elk are active, the trout are active, the bass are active and the swordfish are active.”

Smith said the effect of the moon on fishing was noticed by anglers who went out at night for swordfish, which was popular in South Florida before nearly everyone switched over to daytime swordfishing.

Back then, he said, those anglers would be talking on their VHF radios and asking, “What time is the moon coming up?” because that was when swordfish would bite the best.

Smith made headlines in a nighttime swordfish tournament where the boats were allowed to make a daytime drop before it got dark. The moon rose early that day and Smith’s anglers caught a massive 546-pound swordfish.

Smith said that the moon has the same effect on all species of fish, so it’s worthwhile to pay attention to what the moon will be doing the day before you head out.

“You want to make sure that if at all possible, you have your lines in the water at moonrise,” he said. “Now, the moon rises an hour later every night. So we’ll say that on the full moon, the moon rises at sunset. So in the fall, say the sun sets at 6 p.m. and the moon rises at 6. And then the next night, the moon rises at 7, and then 8, and so on and so forth. And that has a lot less impact on the day fishermen than it does for the night fishermen, because of all the lunar periods, moonrise is the most influential.

“And to give you an idea on how that works, the night of the full moon, the tarpon might start biting right at sunset. The night after the full moon, the tarpon might not bite until an hour after sunset. And then the next night is two hours and three hours. A guy who’s running a set time schedule like 5-9 (p.m.) can end up where the moon doesn’t rise until after he goes home, and he has a period of slow fishing.”

Smith said anglers with more flexible schedules fish for tarpon whenever the moon is rising, which could be in the middle of the night. I once met Capt. Rick Stanczyk for a tarpon trip at 3 a.m. at Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada. We caught and released three tarpon 80-110 pounds in a couple of hours.

“Now, a day fisherman, for the most part, has his best fishing on the moonrise around the new moon, because then the moon is up when the sun is up,” Smith said. “So if they’re planning their trip when the moon rises at 8 a.m., they’ll get out at 7 a.m., and that’ll be really critical for sailfishing and dolphin fishing.”

Smith noted that moonrise is considered a minor period. The bite might last for only an hour, but it is usually intense. When the moon goes straight overhead, that’s a major period. It might last for two or three hours, but the bite is much less intense.

For anglers who head out when the moon rises at 7, the bite should be hot first thing in the morning, then taper off. Six hours later, which would be 1 p.m., the moon will be straight overhead and the fishing should be fairly good until about 3 p.m. Smith said the best fishing the next day should be at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., and at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. the day after that.