A little grumpy, so excuse the cynicism. With regards to solunar theory, I've long believed it has substantial basis in the ocean (I grew up in Port Angeles fishing salmon and rockfish, and tides were no question a first-order effect). However, with respect to inland waters, I've long been dubious, based upon a lack of a scientifically robust argument, and an utter lack of correlation in my own fishing records and those with long, extensive records over a couple of decades.

However, I know fisherman far better than I'll ever be who fully follow solunar theory, and believe it has a significant effect on inland waters. So I've been watching the solunar tables, and yesterday morning and this evening were supposed to be as good as anything in months. So I figured I'd go out and (1) hit I-82 Pond #4 for perch on my pontoon boat if the wind wasn't blowing, or (2) head to Ayers Boat Basin for channel cats if the wind was a factor.

I got there between 5:30 and 6:00 pm. Immediately got into a moderate bluegill frenzy (nothing huge, but a consistent enough bite that I had trouble trying to tie up my second rig). Caught 3 decent bluegill in the ~7.5" range. Then things went sour fast.

I had hoped to find the yellow perch, which reach decent size in this chain of lakes. However, for the next 2 1/2 hours I worked my butt off, and didn't see a scale of a yellow perch. However, the bite for 4" bluegill was pretty consistent by the edge of the weedbeds, using worms below a slip-rig bobber. 2' down? 4" bluegill. 10' down? 4" bluegill. 15' down? 4" bluegill. 20'+ down? Absolutely nothing.

I tried Jiggy's jigs, tipped with various baits and by themselves. Casting, jigging off the bottom, suspended, in the middle of the lake, a bit off the weedbeds, various presentations, ... not a damn thing. Pretty sure any bites I had in towards the weedbeds were bluegill, and not perch. Finally I just gave up in disgust and decided to go home. As I was freeing the three bluegill out of my brand new $15 collapsible wire fish basket, it came unhooked from my bungee cord and went to the bottom. A suitably crappy end to a $hitty fishing day. I'd probably be more honest to rate it a 2, but I'm so offended at the other things (particularly the loss of the basket), that it gets a -1 rating.

And with regards to solunar theory applied to inland bodies of water - count me even more dubious than before. I don't buy it. Most of my killer days had low solunar rankings, and more than a few of my awful days were high solunar rankings. The best I can say is that it is not a high order factor in a problem with many factors...