Fishing calendar
Solunar calendar
When do fish bite best? According to solunar theory, the major activity periods are around the moon's overhead and underfoot transits, the minor ones around moonrise and moonset. Choose a place and a day.
What is a solunar calendar?
In the 1920s the American angler John Alden Knight noticed that the activity of fish and game follows the moon. According to solunar theory the most active (major) periods come when the moon is overhead or underfoot on the far side of the Earth, and the minor periods around moonrise and moonset.
The day rating starts from the moon phase: the effect is strongest at new and full moon and weakest at the quarters. A day scores extra when a major or minor period falls on sunrise or sunset, as these are good feeding times anyway.
Times are calculated astronomically for the chosen place; within Hungary the difference is at most 10–12 minutes. You can open the calendar for your own location or from a fishing water's page.
The solunar calendar is a guide only. Bites depend at least as much on the weather, changes in air pressure, water temperature and water level – keep an eye on those too.