Whether you fish or know someone who fishes, or are just curious about how ocean fish feed, the information I’m sharing here will help you predict what the moon phases, tides and currents will do to various fish and their feeding patterns.

Armed with this knowledge, an angler can adapt a fishing plan to match the realities of the day — and catch more fish.

Moon phases drive tides, which are strongest during the full and new moon phases. Unfortunately, this is nearly all the solunar tables use to predict good fishing. It is never that simple; I wish it were.

Some fish, especially white seabass (WSB), often want good strong tidal current flow before they tie on the feed bag. Not surprisingly, some of the best catches occur near the full and new moon cycles. That is a good way to plan a WSB trip.

Moon phases have an influence on WSB fishing because of visibility. They can see better than most fish in dark or murky water, so in moonlit waters they can see incredibly well, which helps them ambush prey — which hopefully includes your bait.

Tuna cannot afford to allow such factors to dictate their feeding patterns. Their job is to follow a rough migratory route and stay within comfortable water – as best they can – during that migration. They need plenty of groceries to keep those high-energy bodies moving, so they feed opportunistically, rather than according to a predetermined schedule.
 
California yellowtail (a warm water member of the jack family, and different than yellowfin tuna) are similar, though they can comfortably move inshore around our islands and adapt temporarily to local feeding patterns.

Consequently, this is a fish you can target at any time of the month or of the day, whether you are paddy-hopping offshore or yo-yoing over structure spots near the islands.

Here is a bit of experience that may earn you some very large steaks … sharks may not key off moon phases or tides for feeding. Instead, they tend to eat whenever their tummies grumble; however, when a strong tidal current forms up a well-defined current break, hungry sharks will search along the current break. That is a dependable source of food for sharkies.

Unlike WSB, which rely heavily upon eyesight when foraging, sharks use their eyes last, after they already know much about the location and nature of possible prey using their sensors and sense of smell.

Consequently, sharks are very efficient nighttime predators during dark new moon cycles.
 
Calico bass are funny about moons and currents. It is not just the presence of either one, because I’ve caught them feeding on a dark night in still water as well as during a moonlit night with a raging current. Yet given their druthers, calico will happily feed during a full moon with a medium current.

Even the direction of the current matters. Many factors push and pull on currents, aiming them in various directions. Bass seem to like a current aimed uphill (opposing the wind and waves) but slanted toward the beach. To be fair, no one fully understands calico bass and they are quite capable of proving us wrong at any given moment.

Halibuteers find their quarry in a favorable mood at high tide during a full-moon cycle. Like WSB, halibut like to follow squid spawns, so this is a good time to target them. But halibut will also show a preference for feeding early in the morning light and just before dusk. A morning high tide is when I most like to concentrate on the tasty flat ones.