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Coming to grips with the effect of moon phases was a pretty daunting consideration when I first started fishing for Barra in Central Queensland but over time I have built a reasonable understanding of moon phases and the influence of each moon phase on the feeding antics of Barra.

I have set out my understanding of moon phases below together with an outline of what each phase mean to me in relation to my Barramundi fishing.

Basically the amount of Moon we see changes over the month because the Moon orbits Earth and Earth orbits the Sun.The phases of the moon are caused by its orbit around the Earth.

The Earth rotates on it's axis one complete revolution once every 24 hours exposing that part of the Earth closest to the Sun to be illuminated i.e. to be in day light and the opposite side of the Earth being in dark i.e. to be in night. So, that also means that, in Australia (or in broader terms in the Southern Hemisphere) as the rotation of the earth is clockwise we see the sun first in the morning each day and that is described as the sun rising in the east.

You'll see from the photo above that basically there are 8 phases of the moon but when you analyses those phases you'll see that the 8 phases fit into just 4 quarters which are based on just 4 terms:

• Waxing = getting bigger.
• Waining= getting smaller.
• Crescent= what you can see when the moon is smaller than 50% of its maximum visible size.
• Gibbus = what you can see when he moon is bigger than 50% of its maximum visible size.

I focus on those 4 quarters as described below rather than the 8 parts of the moon cycle.

The first quarter is the New Moon or WAXING CRESCENT quarter i.e. Waxing = increasing amount of moon visible & Crescent = less than half the moon visible.

This quarter begins on the night of the New Moon which is the first day, that from our longitude, the moon is in that part of its rotation that puts it on the other side of our world and it is fully eclipsed by the shadow of the earth.

For Gladstone Qld's longitude the New Moon rise is around 6am and then moves through our sky over roughly the next 12 hours. Each day after that the moon rises and sets about 50 minutes later than on the previous day and less of the moon is eclipsed by the shadow of the earth and so the crescent gets thicker.

When the rotation gets to the stage when the crescent is at its maximum size, and will become a gibbous shape on the next night, that is the end of the first quarter.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support the premise that morning sessions in the first 7 days of waxing crescent moon are a good time for fishing generally. I prefer fishing with the moon above my head even in daylight, when I cant see the moon, and consequently if I have the opportunity of going Barra fishing I like to make sure I incorporate the dawn bite window and the moon rise in my session timing.

The second quarter is the Gibbous Half Moon quarter or the WAXING GIBBOUS quarter i.e. Waxing = increasing amount of moon visible & Gibbous = more than half the moon visible.

This quarter begins on the night of the Half Moon , with the moon in our Northern sky, right through and through to the day before the Full Moon when the moon will be in our eastern sky.For Gladstone Qld's longitude the Half Moon rise is around 12 noon and then moves through our sky over roughly the next 12 hours. Each day after that the moon rises and sets about 50 minutes later than on the previous day and less of the moon is eclipsed by the shadow of the earth and so the crescent gets thicker.

When the rotation gets to the day before the gibbou is nearly a full moon that is the end of the half quarter.

This would have to be my favorite quarter of the full lunar cycle. The waxing gibbous days are great days a for afternoon and evening into night fishing. As you move into the last 3 or 4 days of this waxing gibbous phase you'll also be able to include the sunset which tends to trigger an increase in barramundi feeding or what we commonly refer to as a bite window. Target progressively later afternoon / evening sessions starting the earlier of on hour before the moon rise and sun set and finishing an hour after the later of sun set and the moon set. If you can include a high or low tide and or Solunar major or minor times in your session you that's another bite trigger you may be able to capitalize on.

So, here is an example using for the first quarter that started on 2nd June 2020 at Awoonga as an example. The waxing gibbous moon rises was at 14:35 (2:35pm) and sun set was at 17:15 (5:15pm). As I like to fish a full hour after each of those events so that I can ensure that I cover the moon rise and dusk bite windows that gave me a session start time of 13:35 and a finish time of 18:15 and a 5 and a half hour session. As the moon will rises about 50 minutes later each day that gives me 4 consecutive fishing days where I can fish the moon rise and dusk bite windows.
 

The third quarter is the Crescent Half Moon quarter or the WANING GIBBOUS quarter i.e. Waning = decreasing amount of moon visible & gIBBOUS = more than half the moon visible.

The Waning Gibbous or third quarter starts on the night of the Full Moon and runs to the day before the Third Quarter Half Moon.

After the Full Moon the size of the moon starts to wain i.e. get smaller, and by the time it reaches the Third Quarter it has reduced down to be a Half Moon that is identifiable as a Half Moon because it has a strait edge on one side.

When the moon rise is not visible in the sky until after sunset there is generally hiatus of bites between the dusk bite window and when the moon rises over the Eastern horizon. With other conditions remaining the same, the rise of the full moon after dark triggers the most active bite windows of the month. Those "full moon" bite windows can occur at any time when the full moon is in our sky.

Interestingly, Barra will take advantage of that bite window based on a cycle of its own. After winter as the water starts to warm and bait fish and barra become more active and the night time moonrise bite wind can be quite narrow but very intense. This is believed to be because barra are hungry after the slim pickings of winter.

Then as spring and summer months progress the barra population increasingly spread their feeding times over a progressively long period of night time. This is understood to be because the barra have overcome the hunger pangs from the slim pickings of winter and also as by waiting the barra can take advantage of water becoming just a little bit bit cooler under the prolonged cover of darkness.

Keep in mind that for dams like Awoonga that have significant hills along their eastern side moon rise over those hills will be around 45 minutes after Gladstone. This may be why some bite windows don't occur until 45 minutes or longer after the moon is up but not yet visible.

If you’re into fishing into the night the first 3 or 4 days following the full moon are potentially the most exciting part of the month. Target starting the later of one hour before the sun set and the moon rise and finishing about 3-5 hours later. And if you're into your early morning fishing the last 3 or 4 days of this third quarter is the best fishing time. Target starting the earlier of one hour before the sun rise and the moon set and finishing about 3-5 hours later. If you can include a high or low tide in your session you that's another bite trigger you may be able to capitalize on.

Continuing the example in the First Quarter section above the Full Moon rose on 6th June 2020 was 17:42 (5:42pm) and after sunset which was still at 17:15 (5:15pm). That meant that the dusk and moonrise bite window crossed over with or closely followed the sunset bite window and to take full advantage of that and the next two days leading up to the full moon it would be best to start later each day and finish later each evening than for the previous 4 days.

The fourth or final quarter is the WANING CRESCENT quarter

i.e. Waning = decreasing amount of moon visible & Crescent = less than half the moon visible.

This last quarter begins on the night of the Waining Gibbus Half Moon and runs through to the night before the New Moon. During that period the crescent shape gets thinner and by the time of the night before the New Moon the crescent shape is just a very thin line and by the night of the New Moon there is no crescent to be seen.

On the first day of the fourth quarter for Gladstone Qld's longitude the moon rise is around midnight and then moves through our sky over roughly the next 12 hours. Each day after that the moon rises and sets about 50 minutes later than on the previous day.

During 7 or 8 days the moon moves clockwise from our West to at the opposite side of the earth from us gradually with the thickness of the crescent reducing during that passage. As the amount of the moon that is visible moves from being 50% visible at the beginning of the cycle to being just a crescent slither by the end of the quarter it is referred to as being a Waning Crescent moon.
 

This is generally a tough quarter for barra fishing. I put that down to the barra coming off two moon phases of good bite windows and the moon not having much influence as it wains into a crescent phases. Focus on morning sessions incorporating the last of the moon in our sky and the dawn bite windows. If you can include a high or low tide in your session that's another bite trigger you may be able to capitalize on. For this quarter my preference is to get "brownie points" by focusing on family, the yard and home chores and of course sorting out fishing gear.

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