Photo: “Fall fishing on the Madison River at sunrise”, Jacob W. Frank, Yellowstone National Park (NPS), Public domain
Every ZIP, every day, four windows
Moon and sun worked out for your spot
4
Solunar windows a day
two majors of about 2 hours, two minors of about 1 hour
7
Days rated per ZIP
Fair, Good, Great or Best, with the best window for each
150
Reference towns, rated live
three in each of the 50 states
198
State fishing calendar entries
quoted from 50 state wildlife agencies
The moon and the sun come from your own coordinates, and the weather from the National Weather Service forecast for the same spot. Each state page adds that state’s fishing year in its wildlife agency’s own words.
How it works
The solunar windows, and how a day is rated
Major periods
About two hours, centered on the moment the moon crosses your meridian: once overhead and once underfoot, roughly twelve hours and 25 minutes apart.
Minor periods
About an hour, centered on moonrise and moonset. Like the majors, they run about 50 minutes later each day, so a dawn window drifts into the morning over the week.
The light
Any window within an hour of sunrise or sunset is marked in gold. Those are the windows the rating leans on, and the days they fall on rise to Great and Best.
Dawn and dusk are the reliable part; the moon windows are the old angler’s rule.
The rule is nearly a century old. John Alden Knight drew it from anglers’ lore and the movements of the sun and moon, and every solunar table since has laid the windows out the same way:
“In May 1926, John Alden Knight put together some fishing folklore and other fishing factors such as the sun and the moon, hence the name Solunar (Sol for sun and Lunar for moon) to form a theory on the patterns of animal movement.”
The modern evidence for the moon is mixed. The best controlled look, from commercial longline catches in the Gulf of Mexico, found the moon mattered for some fish and not for others:
“A lunar effect on catch rates was detected for Red Grouper Epinephelus morio and Tilefish Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps; however, no lunar effect was detected for Yellowedge Grouper Hyporthodus flavolimbatus, Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus, or Vermilion Snapper Rhomboplites aurorubens based on either method.”
So the rating starts from the moon phase, adds points when a window meets the light, and lets the forecast move a day by up to 12 points either way. A day scores out of 100: Good from 44, Great from 62, Best from 80. Each factor and the sentence it rests on:
Moon phase
Up to +40
Most at the new and full moon, falling to nothing at the quarters.
“The strongest activity occurs when there is a full moon or a new moon, and is weakest when there is a quarter moon or a three quarter moon.”
A falling barometer usually means a front is on its way. Read over the last 24 hours at the nearest station, for today only.
“Fishing before a cold front is a good time for catching fish, and if a warm front happens to roll in, get to the water and wet a line before, during, and after.”
Walleye fishing on a northern Wisconsin lake at dusk. The Wisconsin DNR says that in clear waters walleye stay deep in the day and move into the shallows at night, which is why the hour around sunset is shaded on every timeline here. “Fishing in northern Wisconsin for walleye”, Joanna Gilkeson, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest Region, Public domain
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Through the year
When to fish, season by season
The hour that fishes best moves with the water temperature. These are the agencies’ own words for each season; the state pages have the dated runs and bites for each state.
Spring
Fish move shallow as the water warms. By late May the early morning and late afternoon windows are the ones to fish, and bass bite into the night.
“Fish are often shallower in the spring and early summer.”
Heat pushes fish deep in the middle of the day, which makes the dawn and dusk windows count for more. A moon window at first light is the one to plan around.
“Summer heat sends fish deeper to find cooler temperatures.”
Early fall still favors morning and evening. As the water cools, the best hours slide toward the afternoon, when the water is at its warmest.
“Early fall, fish in the morning and evening. Mid to late fall, fish in the afternoon or early evening when the water is at its warmest and fish are the most active.”
An evening on a city fishing pier in Madison, Wisconsin. In fall, the Indiana DNR moves the best hours later in the day: "Mid to late fall, fish in the afternoon or early evening when the water is at its warmest." “Gfp-wisconsin-madison-sunset-on-the-pier”, Yinan Chen, Public domain
By state
Best fishing times in every state
Each state page rates this week for three reference towns and lays out the state’s fishing year from its wildlife agency, with the license, trout stocking and ice pages beside it.
The first and last hour of light, and any solunar window that lands on them. Enter a ZIP above for today's timeline: the two major periods (about two hours each, centered on the moon overhead and underfoot), the two minor periods (about an hour, centered on moonrise and moonset), sunrise and sunset, and the one window the day is best planned around.
A major period is about two hours centered on the moment the moon crosses your meridian, overhead or underfoot. A minor period is about an hour centered on moonrise or moonset. John Alden Knight put the rule together in 1926 and published the first solunar table in 1936; every table since, including this one, lays the windows out the same way.
In the solunar rule, the days around the new and full moon are the strongest and the quarters the quietest, and the rating here follows that. The evidence is mixed: a 2017 study of Gulf of Mexico reef fish found a lunar effect on catch rates for two species and none for three others. The light is the steadier signal, so a moon window at dawn or dusk scores highest.
Early morning and evening. The Missouri Department of Conservation puts it plainly: fish "seem to prefer the low light conditions of morning and evening better than the bright sun of midday." Overcast days stretch that low light, which is why cloud cover adds a little to a day's rating.
Yes, though not always predictably. A gentle rain and the hours before a cold front tend to help; a thunderstorm, the day after a cold front and strong wind tend to hurt; a light to moderate wind beats a dead calm. Each of those moves a day by a few points, capped at 12 either way, so the weather nudges the moon and the light rather than overruling them.
A falling barometer usually means a front is on its way, and the Indiana DNR says fishing before a cold front is a good time for catching fish. So a barometer down 1.5 hPa or more in a day adds 6 points to today, a steady one adds 2, and a sharp rise behind a front takes 5 away. The barometer comes from the nearest weather station and only counts for today.
The moon and sun are computed in your browser for your exact location. The period centers were checked against published solunar tables for nine cities to within 15 minutes, and moonrise, moonset and the moon phases against the U.S. Naval Observatory. The weather comes from the National Weather Service hourly forecast.
All 50. Each state page shows this week for three reference towns and the state's fishing year in its own wildlife agency's words: 198 dated entries from 50 agencies, each quoted and linked.
