Bream and the Phase of the Moon

There are some fishermen that will tell you that the effect of moon phases on bream fishing as a myth, or old wives tale. They would be wrong, or trying to keep the good shellcracker (redear sunfish) and bluegill, fishing to themselves.

When it comes to reproduction, bream are the swingers of the fish world. Shellcracker (redear sunfish) and bluegill basically have a free-for-all. While bream form individual spawning beds, these nest consist of several sunfish. Normally these nest are separated by foot or two, but it is not unusual for them to make their beds closer to each other.

In most cases you can see the bream beds from the waters surface, unless the water is very murky. Shellcrackers (redear sunfish) and bluegill lay their eggs in saucer shaped nests that they have fanned out with their tails. The nests will appear lighter than the surrounding area when you look at them from the water's surface. When you run across several of these nests, they are fairly easy to recognize. Normally you'll find bream beds in 2 to 6 feet depth, and these fish prefer shorelines that are protected from the wind.

Many bream fishermen will agree, the best time to fish the bream beds is during the full moon, and I agree whole heartily. While there are other conditions that must come together, like day length and temperature. During the winter months when days are short and the water temperate is cold, bream will not breed. But from early spring on through mid September (depending on temperature), many different species of sunfish complete several spawning cycles. Not continuously, but for those few days each month when the moon becomes full, the shellcrackers and bluegill will be hard at work spawning. After this moon phase is complete the spawning beds will be deserted until the next full moon.

As soon as spring comes, the water temps reach 65 degrees, and the days begin to be longer, bluegill and shellcracker are ready to make eggs. The only need left to be fulfilled is the ever mysterious power of the full moon. When I was younger, I'd laugh at how my father would plan so many things by the phase of the moon. He wouldn't think of planting a tomato or other plant, nor would he bother going fishing until he checked his almanac, and it read that the time was right. As I grew older, frustrated by my lack of success, I would try his almanac, and fish by the phase of the moon. Soon my laughter was muffled as I came to belive that these moon phase ideas seemed to have something to them. After all, the tides of the mighty seas are directly influenced by moon phases, It only makes sense that other things in mother nature would be influenced by them, and fishing, especially bream fishing is defiantly affected by it.

While there are no scientific evidence of how or why the moon phase has such an effect on shellcracker (redear sunfish) and bluegill, most bream fisherman will agree that it does greatly effect when bream choose to spawn. And I can attest to the fact that four days before and four days after the full moon, during the longer days of spring and summer, bream seem to hit the spawning beds, and so does the wise bream fisherman.