By Steve Knight outdoor@tylerpaper.com

I have always subscribed to the theory that the best time to go fishing is when you can. It has served me well.

There are others, however, who time their trips based on solunar tables, a near-century old daily forecast of fish and wildlife movement based on the moon and sun’s gravitational pull on the earth.

The solunar table was the brainchild of John Alden Knight, a Pennsylvania banker and avid outdoorsman in the 1920s. As a fisherman Knight based his table on his view that fish seek two meals and two snacks a day, thus the major and minor activity periods.

“We don’t know what causes that activity, but it applies to all life,” Knight said in a 1940s interview in Time magazine when the popularity of the table was spreading across the country.

Knight came up in the idea in the 1920s based on observations. The times adjust daily based on the moon and sun’s position relative to Earth, and their impact on tides. Those predictions, he surmised, impacted both saltwater and freshwater species as well as wildlife. Over time he was able to adjust the table to where he could offer predictions from east coast to west coast, and from the south to north.

The question of whether they work or not has about as many answers as there are variations in the table itself.

“Use of solunar charts by anglers seems to be much more prevalent in saltwater fishing, alongside use of tide charts and consideration of other factors such as wind/wave direction and wave height,” said Tim Birdsong, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries Deputy Division Director.

Birdsong, who also subscribes to the theory the best time to fish is when you can, which he says seldom aligns with the solunar charts, does say the moon plays a role in fish activity.

“Lunar cycles are known to play a role in spring/summer spawning of sunfish in freshwater systems. It’s especially common for sunfish to congregate and spawn on nests during the full moon. This could likely be used to the advantage of anglers,” Birdsong said.

And it often is. Bass fishermen set their schedules on the timing of the full month in February, March and April in their search for big bass. Full moons in the summer can be ideal for night fishing.

The problem with an absolute feeding time that can be set years in advance is that there are too many other variables including wind speed, or the lack of, and direction. Temperature changes, cloud cover and barometric pressure are also going to have an impact.

Adding to that is the assumption that all fish are going to feed at the same time. You only need to look at the electronics to see fish stacked up and down the water column to know that is not the case.

People who are on the water a lot like BASS Elite series pro Keith Combs of Huntington, say solunar tables are not something they consult.

“You have to catch them no matter what. I don’t look at them too much, but what I do look at is when a full moon is coming around. (The moon) can have some influence on the spawn, but I think fishing is more weather driven,” Combs said.

Beyond the spawning season Combs said he watches the moon during the summer as well. It is something he learned going back to his guide days on Falcon and Amistad.

“With the summer full moons usually the morning bite is pretty tough, and the mid-day is pretty good,” he said.

The same is true with Lake Palestine crappie guide Sam Parker who said he does not use the chart when scheduling trips.

“I believe there is probably some truth in it, but I still have to fish regardless, and I don’t want to go into it with a bad attitude,” said Parker, who operates Freshwater Fishing Adventures.

For his crappie fishing Parker believes barometric pressure has a bigger impact than the moon.

“Barometric pressure plays the biggest part. Like that old saying goes if the cows are laying down the fish don’t bite, and they lay down when the pressure is high. When we have high pressure the fish don’t bite that great. If it is ever below 30 (inches) the fish are going to bite,” he explained.

As for hunting the same scenario of too many other factors plays out. Wildlife researchers at Auburn University attached GPS collars programmed to collect locations every 30 minutes to 38 bucks from August through December over a three-year period. The result was that solunar charts have some association with deer activity, but that “the relationship between lunar events and lunar phase expressed in solunar charts may be misleading.”

In Texas deer movement is first and foremost driven by feeder times.

There appears to have been one research project looking at solunar tables and trout fish and the results were not positive.

With all this said, it is not a condemnation of the solunar table. Too many fishermen and hunters can tell you there are days it works. So, if nothing else it can be a starting spot to planning a trip. Or just go whenever you have chance and hope for the best.