I first became aware of the moon phase theory back in the late 1990’s. As a thinking angler, coming across something that would revolutionise my catch rate in the way that was being declared as fact – well that certainly had my full and undivided attention. So I made it my business to find out as much as I possibly could. I talked to people, and read as much as I could on the Internet including the debate that raged on various forums.

I became aware that there were extremes of opinion, and such that one had to be wrong and one had to be right. After all, if one person is saying that it is the most important factor and carries more weight than everything else put together, and another states that it is all a load of mumbo jumbo, then one of them must be in error. Or maybe they both are, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Well either way I had to find out for myself.

I asked anglers to send me catch reports so that I could log them against predictions made concerning fish feeding times. Of course, the problem with this is that you get lots of promises, and in the first week numerous e-mails, but then in time they fade away to nothing. So I decided to put my own fish caught to the test, and for a while I was a believer. I was convinced that my catch results proved that. And they did.

But then I became aware that subconsciously I was allowing the predictions to affect my fishing. I would look at ‘hot’ days and make sure that I was out on the bank at the key times. In addition, when ‘poor’ days were predicted, I would either stay at home or else I was fishing with a ‘it’s not worth it because I won’t catch anyway’ attitude. Fortunately I am happy to say that this frame of mind did not prevail for very long.

But it’s only when you step back that you see just how subliminally controlling the whole thing is. I do want to look at this in more detail in another article in the series. They are only short pieces, but I am attempting to keep everything together in their various compartments, and this one is about my own personal journey, or moon walk!

So although I am now very firmly in the ‘no, non, nein’ camp, it’s not actually a big thing at all with me. And I certainly have no issues with any individuals that believe in the theory, so please don’t feel that I am being critical or have any personal vendettas, as I don’t. If people believe that it works for them, then that is no problem to me.

But as for me, I will be out fishing at every opportunity that I can, and the phases of the moon or the times that it sets, rises or is at high point will actually have no bearing whatsoever on my planning. Having been on both sides of the fence regarding the theory, I know where I am firmly rooted now.