The solunar feeding times calculator predicts the daily windows when fish and game are most likely to feed, based on the position of the moon. The idea comes from John Alden Knight’s 1926 Solunar Theory, which observed that wildlife activity peaks twice a day — when the moon is directly overhead and again when it is directly underfoot on the opposite side of the Earth.
How it works
Each day the moon transits your meridian about 50 minutes later than the day before, because the mean lunar day is 24 hours 50 minutes (24.8412 hours) rather than 24 hours. The calculator anchors on a known lunar transit and advances it forward by whole lunar days to find the overhead transit nearest your chosen date.
- Major periods are centred on the overhead transit and the underfoot transit (12 lunar-hours opposite). Each lasts about 2 hours.
- Minor periods are centred on moonrise and moonset, approximated as a quarter of a lunar day (~6h 13m) before and after the overhead transit. Each lasts about 1 hour.
Your longitude shifts the transit by roughly one lunar hour per 15 degrees, so the times match your location rather than the Greenwich meridian.
Tips and notes
The strongest fishing and hunting windows are when a solunar period coincides with dawn or dusk, and the effect is amplified around the new and full moon when lunar and solar gravity combine. Treat the output as a planning aid: local weather, barometric pressure, water temperature, and recent feeding patterns all matter too. Because this is a simplified mean-lunar-day model, very high-latitude locations or precise minute-level accuracy should be cross-checked against a dedicated ephemeris or local tide and solunar service.