The Beast

[Mark Harris]

Interesting Sachin and there is no doubt that moon phases have an effect (stronger currents and big tidal ranges because of the magnetic pulls and spawning cycles).

However, in my experiences, the period just before a full moon is worst time to fish for GTs!  The few days after a full moon and new moon, are best, and the worst times are the run up to each full moon and new moon.

[Dmitrii Novgorodtcev]

Mark and Sachin,
I heard so many and absolutely opposite opinions about GT results in full moon (new moon). Why is it possible?
Can it be possible, that people fish in different places and each place may have its own pattern of currents and tides and other fishing conditions, and the moon phase (magnetic pulls) may affect these fishing conditions differently and bring to different results?

[Mark Harris]

Maybe Dmitrii.

I think conventional wisdom is though (in general terms) that fishing for large predators is best just after full moon and new moon, and not just before?   The magnetic pulls, tidal ranges and currents are all strongest in those few days just after the full and new moons. Those periods also dictate spawning cycles of some species.

[Jay Burgess]

Interesting Sachin and there is no doubt that moon phases have an effect (stronger currents and big tidal ranges because of the magnetic pulls and spawning cycles).

However, in my experiences, the period just before a full moon is worst time to fish for GTs!  The few days after a full moon and new moon, are best, and the worst times are the run up to each full moon and new moon.

Agree with Mark, I've heard a lot of people say that the lead up to the moon is best but in my experience this has been one of the least productive times and certainly those few days after the moon (particularly the new moon) have been the best.

[Jon Li]

Hi Jay ,

I tend to concentrate on the timing of the highest / lowest tide during the period we are fishing , it's pointless to have the best tide during the nite thus easytide.com is very usefull to have in the handheld device .

As for the period leading up to full moon , in general it's the best for marlin fishing offshore due to swell being higher than during the period after the full moon , marlins ride the swell when travelling from one location to another .

Jon .

[Andre van Wyk]

Right you are Brandon, but there can be no denying that a live bonefish is probably the finest livebait you can get your hands on for our North East and the Mozambique Coastline fishery... everything eats them!!!! Sharks and GT's being the main target for our livebaiters, and a live Bonefish is about as close to a guaranteed hook up as you could ever get....

As a side note, the biggest bonefish in the world reside on the Mozambique coastline, but unfortunately not really in fly tackle targettable waters... almost all of them are caught on bait at night in the surf...

Sorry for sliding off topic here! :-)

Hey Andre, what you write below about using a live bonefish would be sacrilege to many!! 

The other issue for anglers such as us is that a really big fish probably needs a popper to appear right in front of it for it to snaffle it. The effort required to chase such a small target has to be balanced off against the meal. A big fish is probably eating large reefies such as a 5kg red bass instead of fusiliers.

This is a great point Brandon... The guys who slide livebaits off the beaches on our north coast and the Mozambique coastline regularly us 3 Spot Pompano and even smaller Travelly such as Brassies or Greenspots up to 5 kilos as live bait.... the most soughyt after bait of course being a big Bonefish in the 4 to 5 kilo range.... these baits regularly get engulfed by GT's in the 25 kilo range, right up to the 50 kilo plus models.... so when one looks at even the biggest stickbaits, like Crusty's Sidewinder, compared with a 5 kilo Bonefish, its still pretty tiny....

[Brandon Khoo]

it's using one of the most desirable sportfish in the world as livebait!! 

[Aaron Concord]

Dre, if the local GT's are anything to go by, replace the bonefish with 4-8kg of yellowfin. 
They smack the living daylights out of them regularly, though I am yet to jag a good photo of such a melee happening yet.  Casting at the melee has always taken priority

Other than that, big structure with deep water close by + large tidal movement + big food items - little GT interference SHOULD = big GT's   

[Andre van Wyk]

Aaron - For the offshore reefs off Moz, nothing beats a live Bonito/Little Tuna in the 2 to 4 kilo bracket bridled and dropped off the transom when one gets a little "tired" from jigging or popping..... we call those little Tuna Jube Jubes, after the little sugary gumdrop sweets of the same name here in SA as they are candy to big and small GT's, and pretty much everything else down there.... I reckon if you've been a right bastard your whole life, Karma will send you back as a 3 kilo Jube Jube....every damn thing will then be trying to eat your ass!!

[Aaron Concord]

Dre,

I agree with you there!!!  The little tuna are like jellybeans (the Aussie vernacular for them) to all pelagic monsters. Jube jubes......hahahahahah!!!!

Funny thing is, for a few years prior to popping the local reefs off Brisbane, if I saw yellowfin breaking the surface around these reefs, I thought that they were just mongrel fussy fish that refused more lures cast at them than I care to remember.

What I was probably not realizing is these tuna were not feeding..............they were being fed upon!

It's only now that I realize why they were so hard to tempt at times.  They were fleeing for their bloody lives!!

Yep, karma could REALLY be a bitch.   If I were reincarnated into a fish, I'd kinda hope to be a dogtooth or a GT rather than a mullet/milkfish/bonefish/fusilier/sardine/pilchard etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaron.