Understanding How Moonlight and Moon Phases Effect Swordfishing

In order to better understand why swordfish concentrate their feeding habits in certain depths on any given night or why the bite is better during different times of the month requires you to better understand how the effects of moonlight influence swordfish.

Before you can understand how moonlight affects swordfish, you must understand the moon and its phases. The moon revolves around the earth in 27 days. The first phase of the moon at the beginning of its new revolution is what we call the "New Moon". The new moon is when the moons face is in the shadow of the earth causing the moon to reflect no light and look dark to us. A week after the "new moon" the moon will be in its first quarter, meaning that one quarter of the moons total surface is reflecting light back to earth. Since we only see 50% of the moons surface, when the moon is in its first quarter it is actually referred to as a half moon by many of us since one half of the moons face is reflecting light. One week after the first quarter the moon will be full, and the whole face of the moon which is visible to us will be reflecting light. One week after the Full Moon and again the moon will appear as half since it will be in its last quarter. One week after the last quarter the moon will have completed its lunar cycle and be a "New Moon" again.

Now, if we look back to our past swordfish trips and our catch statistics we would see patterns for a few nights when all bites were at depths greater than 200'. And we would also see a pattern for a couple nights when all bites were at depths less than 100'. These changes are a direct effect from the amounts moonlight which was present during these patterns. We know swordfish are predatory species feeding on concentrations of squid and mackerel which are both diurnal species, meaning that during the bright daylight hours they stay in the deeper darker depths of the ocean and as daylight diminishes and night falls they rise to the shallower depths. Now, moonlight plays a role in where the concentrations of the bait will be congregating. For example, during a full moon, since much of the moonlight is shining through the oceans surface, the bright moonlight will cause the bait to stay deeper in the water column. Conversely, during a new moon with virtually no moonlight breaking the oceans surface the bait will congregate in shallower depths closer to the surface.

Of course, we should always have a bait in both the deeper and shallower part of the water column no matter what moon phase we are in, just in case there is swordfish wandering. Although, the brightness of the moon is an extremely good indication of what depth the majority of the swordfish bites we will be. During nights when the moon is full and bright the majority of baits should be fished deeper in the water column.

Tightlines,

Captain Vinnie La Sorsa
Swordfishing & OffShore Charters

Fort Lauderdale Fishing http://www.GoodFellasCharters.com

http://www.Go-Sportfishing.com

Importance of Artificial Light While Swordfishing

The use of light, either chemical or battery powered plays an important role in catching swordfish. There is no question that the use of artificial light increases the probability of catching a swordfish.

Swordfish have giant pupils, about the size of a racquet ball which makes them extremely sensitive to light. Swordfish are designed to be able to see in extremely low light conditions, this is why they are efficient hunters is the deep depths of the ocean.

Putting a light on your line while swordfishing acts as an artificial magnifier to make your bait spread seem larger then it is and the light attracts attention from both swordfish and bait schools in the area.

Each color of light in the spectrum we use has different qualities. For example, each color of light has a different quality of brightness and water penetration. Water penetration means, how far of a distance the color of light can travel through water before it disappears. The colors in the spectrum which disappear are, from first to last, Red, Green, Blue, and Purple.

Now, when placing your artificial light onto your fishing line you want the light to be far enough away that your bait will be sitting right outside the lights brightest sphere in the shadow line. In terms of what light color is the best depends on any given night, as swordfish seem to have patterned bites based on light color as well as depth. Although, there is a much higher probability for bites on the colors blue and green.

When the moon is full and there is a lot of light penetrating the water column the light on your shallow baits will be diminished due to the large amount of natural light penetrating the water.

Captain Vinnie La Sorsa
Swordfishing & OffShore Charters.

Fort Lauderdale Fishing http://www.GoodFellasCharters.com

http://www.Go-Sportfishing.com