Wednesday, August 30, 2022. Recently , Its been tough fishing on the lake and forebay. Between the wind keeping us off the lake and the hot temperatures pushing the fish deep, Feeding a dozen fish in a day is a great day. The last couple times out, I just couldn’t crack the code. I was hoping that this weeks full moon would break my streak of bad luck. The solonar tables always show some potentially good days around full moons. Both Brian and I were out on the lake in the morning looking for schools in all the old places. Between the two of us, We covered the Bay of Pigs and the face of the Dam from end to end. By noon , Brian and I had half a dozen each and sore arms form casting. I was getting pretty frustrated with the fishing but forced my self to stay out until the solonar table peak at 12:30pm. Despite the 4 star day that the solonar predicted, I’ve had some of the worst days on the year after full moons on the lake and its seemed that today would just be another disappointment. Around 1:00 I got a text from Brian indicating he got a nice one at the racks (26 inches). I was still fishing the rocks off the dam near Romero when I received it. I could see Brian at the racks working his way down the causeway and at 2:30 he left for the dock. I figured, I would follow him but I decided instead to check the racks one more time before going in. For a couple hours this morning, I fished the entire rack looking for some shallow stripers to cast too. Most fish that I scanned with the livescope were 60-100 feet deep and I only caught one fish early fishing their.
It was 3:00 pm when I located a shallow school of stripers milling around at 40 feet that weren’t there in the morning. On my first cast with a 50 second drop, I did the “Syn Snap” followed by three hard strips and locked on to a healthy 18 inch San Luis Striper. The next two hours, I caught fish or had hits on every casts . I counted down for 50 seconds to get my fly 30 feet down which was critical for success. I ended the day at 5:00pm and left a hot bite. Of the 25 stripers to hand today, 80 percent were caught in the last two hours from 3-5. Had I left with Brian, it would have been a meh day.
San Luis old timers are well aware of the effects of the lunar cycle on fish behavior, and the full moon has long been associated with increased fishing activity. However, an often-overlooked aspect of post-full moon fishing is the late-day bite. Contrary to the conventional wisdom of early morning or evening fishing, some anglers have discovered that the day following a full moon can bring surprisingly productive fishing opportunities during the latter part of the day. The full moon is often associated with heightened fishing activity. This lunar phase brings brighter nights, which can trigger increased feeding behavior among fish species that are more active during low-light conditions. In the days leading up to and shortly after the full moon, many anglers expect to experience a peak in fish activity during the evening and early morning hours. However, an equally intriguing scenario unfolds when the full moon begins to wane, ushering in the period of the late bite.
I used a Pink and White 3 inch long clouser tied with Polar Bear . Steve Adachi gave me this fly a month ago and I also noticed these colored flies in Ken Oda’s box. I’m starting to like long sparse pink and white flies. I used the standard yellow, red, brown shade clousers all morning.
