Many anglers go fishing early in the morning or late in the afternoon and hope for the best. But the most successful fishermen plan their trips around the rising and setting of the moon.
Capt. Bouncer Smith, who ran charters out of Miami Beach for more than 50 years, learned as a youngster the impact of the moon on fish and wildlife.
“In the 1950s, my dad and I went to Lake Okeechobee a lot to bass fish,” Smith said. “And my dad would be driving up there, and he’d have another adult in the front seat with him and I’d be in the backseat. And my dad would say, ‘Oh look, all the cows are laying down there in the fields, and the fish won’t be biting now. So we don’t have to hurry to get out fishing because the cows are laying down.’ ”…