What solunar tables are really telling you

Major and minor periods, moon overhead and underfoot - what solunar theory claims, where it helps, and how to read a modern fishing forecast today.

Where the theory comes from

Solunar theory dates to John Alden Knight in the 1920s: fish and game supposedly feed more when the moon is overhead or underfoot. A century of anglers' logbooks keeps the idea alive - believers plan trips around it.

Major versus minor periods

Major periods - roughly two hours around moon overhead and underfoot - are rated strongest; minor periods at moonrise and moonset are shorter and weaker. Dawn or dusk overlapping a major is the window everyone talks about.

A hint, not a guarantee

Solunar tables ignore the things fish actually react to today: wind, water temperature, pressure swings, tide movement. Treat the table as a tiebreaker between similar days, not a promise.

Reading a modern forecast

HookTime layers it together: live tide and weather data plus its offline station and geo databases, then an on-device AI writes the plain-language version - which windows matter today, and why.