Full Moon

[ScubaRu]

Anyone ever had any luck gigging the big moon? Historically I have not done so well but was wondering what everyone else's thoughts were. I'm thinking about giving it a try tonight.

[WestEndAngler]

I've actually had one of my best nights on a full moon!

[YellowCat]

What is the specialty of the full moon. It it cause the flounder change their eating habits so they are not shallow or is it cause they can see you coming from farther away? I have always heard its cause they can see you.

[corndog]

Anyone ever had any luck gigging the big moon? Historically I have not done so well but was wondering what everyone else's thoughts were. I'm thinking about giving it a try tonight.

Heres the rule of thumb. Uness you live on the water and have all the time in the world. When you can go fishing GO!!. You increase your odds by going more often. Even if the conditions arent right!! fish on!!

[2112]

That's an ageless gigging question and here's a few of my thoughts.
first and foremost, you cannot gig what you cannot see. I like to to gig the pass but due to the dynamics of the area, clear water can be difficult to find.
On a incoming tide, the passes clarity is at it's best. But here is the problem with clear water. The fish lies on the bottom looking up and during a full moon and clear waters the fish does not have to come in so shallow to see the prey silouetted against the moon so the fish can afford to stay in deeper water.
My best nights always seem to be partial moons with slightly turbid waters and of coarse, no wind. In these conditions they get very shallow but then again I've busted them hard on full moons as well so it's like corndog said. Just get out and hit it, just don't try it in a gale.

[2112]

As a after thought...I don't give the moon phase much thought anymore and pay attention to the incoming tide only a little...My big concern is wind speed because the big ripples distort the clearest bottoms.

[ScubaRu]

That's an ageless gigging question and here's a few of my thoughts.
first and foremost, you cannot gig what you cannot see. I like to to gig the pass but due to the dynamics of the area, clear water can be difficult to find.
On a incoming tide, the passes clarity is at it's best. But here is the problem with clear water. The fish lies on the bottom looking up and during a full moon and clear waters the fish does not have to come in so shallow to see the prey silouetted against the moon so the fish can afford to stay in deeper water.
My best nights always seem to be partial moons with slightly turbid waters and of coarse, no wind. In these conditions they get very shallow but then again I've busted them hard on full moons as well so it's like corndog said. Just get out and hit it, just don't try it in a gale.

This is pretty much spot on with what I've experienced. In talking with some old timers, they say that with the full moon, there is so much ambient light, the fish stay deeper so they themselves don't feel as vulnerable to predators. Last quarter / first quarter moon, incoming tide- that has always been my ticket to a good trip.

I was really just looking to see what other peoples thoughts were, no where else do you have a forum just for hardcore flounder gigging. Kind of like spearfishing, it's a pretty small and specialized community and we share what we can when we can. I've grown up on or in the water, intentionally work a 4 on 4 off schedule just for outdoor purposes, so the "Just Do It(s)" are understandable, but not really the advice I was looking for.

[2112]

Search for a web site called "Pensacola Fishing Forum".
They have a flounder sub forum that has much more traffic than ours so
you can glean a lot of info from surfing there.