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Getting Moon Tables
Made Easy
By: Craig Sandell ©
2011 |
 The use of sun and moon tables has received a lot
of press lately. Many of the Muskie guides that I have had the occasion to share a beer
with do use the relationship between the sun and moon as an indicator of times with good
Muskie potential. Very simply put, sun rise and sun set are times to be on your favorite
patch of water. Likewise, moon rise and moon set also demand your attention. When either
sun rise or sun set happen at "roughly" the same time as moon rise or moon set,
Muskie are likely to be aggressively feeding. You should try to be on the water and on
your spot a half hour before and a half hour after any occurrence of sun and/or moon rise
and/or set. There is also a school of thought that fishing is likely to be better when the
moon is down than when the moon is up. If you sit down with a sun & moon table and
arrange your fishing schedule by these sun and moon events, you will soon discover, as I
did, that some serious modification to your normal sleep patterns will be required. The
bottom line to all of this is that your personal knowledge about the body of water that
you are on and the action on that body of water that you have experienced can not be
replaced by dispassionate meteorological facts. Sun & moon tables are only another bit
of useful information for you to add to your wealth of Muskie fishing facts as you set out
on your Muskie excursions.
If you want to use sun and moon tables you should keep
in mind certain facts. The sun and moon do not rise and set at the same time in each time
zone. Remember that the earth is not only rotating; it is also tilted on its axis. The
moon is also moving around the earth in its own unique orbit. These physical
characteristics mean that sun and moon rise and set will vary depending upon the longitude
and latitude of a particular location. For instance, a person fishing in Eagle River
Wisconsin will have different times for sun and moon rise and set than a person fishing in
Rockford Illinois.
Getting sun and moon tables for the area you
are fishing is a very simple matter. Simply go to:
http://www.sunrisesunset.com/usa/ and select the state for which you
want your information. Once you select the state, you will see a list of
cities for that state. Find your city or select a city that is closest to
you. Once a city is selected, you will have the option of refining your
information.
 Before
the internet made getting sun and moon tables easy, you had to get a copy of
the Farmer's Almanac and construct you own.
I would still recommend that you get a copy
of the Farmer's Almanac. There is a lot of very useful information crammed
in the pages of the almanac, not the least of which is weather predictions
and patterns in many parts of the country.
As we all know, weather plays a pivotal role
in any Musky adventure. The more information you have the easier it will be
to plan your next Musky excursion.
Tight Lines
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