Whats the deal with the BLUE MOON?

[Night Shift]

For the most part I fish with 30# mono leaders. When the moon is bright, I sometimes knock it down to 20#. Sometimes I feel that it gives me a better chance and like you said, confidence is the key.

As far as losing fish on lighter line, here's my take.

I fish a particularly nasty stretch of water on occasion. I probably only land about 70% of them on average (at best). I frequenly lose fish to submerged rocks, lobster pots, and mussel shoals. It gets quite frustrating at times. Out of desperation, on one trip I tried bumping my leader up to 50# mono and my main line up to 30#. After swapping back and forth between my normal setup and the heavy artillery, the fish gave me the answer I really didn't want to hear. I didn't even get so much as a sniff on the heavy gear, and 3 fish between 25 and 35#'s with one lost on my normal setup. Personally, I would prefer the latter. Some nights I land them all, other nights, none at all.

Is heavy line the reason for your bad full moon mojo? I doubt it is the single reason. But it may be one of the small pieces of the puzzle.


And my hat is off to you for sticking with wood, no matter what.

[the point]

"ay Buddy Any Bait in Da Wata"

[Zeal]

Originally Posted by Night Shift

For the most part I fish with 30# mono leaders. When the moon is bright, I sometimes knock it down to 20#. Sometimes I feel that it gives me a better chance and like you said, confidence is the key.

As far as losing fish on lighter line, here's my take.

I fish a particularly nasty stretch of water on occasion. I probably only land about 70% of them on average (at best). I frequenly lose fish to submerged rocks, lobster pots, and mussel shoals. It gets quite frustrating at times. Out of desperation, on one trip I tried bumping my leader up to 50# mono and my main line up to 30#. After swapping back and forth between my normal setup and the heavy artillery, the fish gave me the answer I really didn't want to hear. I didn't even get so much as a sniff on the heavy gear, and 3 fish between 25 and 35#'s with one lost on my normal setup. Personally, I would prefer the latter. Some nights I land them all, other nights, none at all.

Is heavy line the reason for your bad full moon mojo? I doubt it is the single reason. But it may be one of the small pieces of the puzzle.


And my hat is off to you for sticking with wood, no matter what.

I remember watching people doing gamefishing on ESPN years ago and they would color their lines because the heavier lines would spook the fish, does it happen on bass? I dunno but I thought that was interesting.

I'm with Numby, plugging all the way (though I don't have a choice) but I have used my 20# braid without a shock leader *DUN* *DUN* *DUNNNNNN*. Never saw a difference. *shrug* what do I know, I could just be fishing it wrong which is very possible. Though I can never resist fishing a full moon regardless (its a free light!).

Though I will say this, I have gotten hits and just missed but I did notice that the action reflected the actions of the animals in the surrounding area such as deer making their presence known when I'm driving to the beach and nearby inlet with a backbay.

[Saltheart]

Try using a piece of braid for the leader. Sounds strange but guys do it and swear the thin-ness of the braid makes up for it non clear nature relative to equal test mono , especial when you get to the 50 + lb test mono range.