Moon phases and night fishing: what really matters after dark

New moon: the darkest nights of the month. Great cover for wary fish and for catfish and eels, but harder for fish that hunt by sight. Waxing moon: light builds through the evening, so the first part of the night gets brighter as the week goes on. Full moon: bright, often all night, and many carp anglers' favourite. Waning moon: the moon rises later and later, giving dark evenings and brighter early mornings.

Moonrise and moonset times shift by roughly 50 minutes a day, so it's worth checking them. Some anglers find short feeding spells around moonrise or moonset — treat this as a clue to watch for rather than a rule.

A full moon behind thick cloud is basically a dark night. A clear sky with a full moon can be bright enough to read by, and on those nights fish in clear, shallow water may be very cautious. Always look at the cloud forecast alongside the moon phase — our Weather page shows both.

Many fish move into the margins after dark, especially in summer, because that's where food is and they feel safer. Look at shallow bays, reed lines and marginal shelves you'd never dream of fishing in daylight. On bright moonlit nights, the deeper margins and areas with some cover (trees, lilies) can be safer bets.

On cold winter nights, fish usually sit deeper and move less, so night fishing is mainly a summer and autumn game for most species.

Choose a peg you've seen in daylight and know how to fish safely: clear casting lines, no snags you can't see, firm ground and a safe landing spot. Set up before dark, clip up your rods to known spots, and note your marks so you can recast accurately without a head torch blazing over the water.

Fish rely more on smell and touch at night, so baits with a good attraction — fishmeal pellets, boilies with a strong flavour, sweetcorn, halibut pellets for catfish, worms and dead baits for eels — come into their own. Bright hookbaits matter less in the dark, though a pop-up still helps fish find your rig on a weedy bottom.

Keep feeding steady rather than heavy: a bed laid at dusk and topped up quietly works better than spodding at midnight and spooking everything.

Keep it simple and tangle-free — you can't see what's gone wrong in the dark. Back-lead your lines in the margins, use reliable bite alarms and indicators, and keep a landing net and unhooking mat ready. On bright nights, keep lights off and movement down: fish can see your silhouette on the skyline, and a head torch on the water is a sure way to spook a margin swim. Use a red light where possible.

Always check whether night fishing is allowed — many day-ticket venues are dawn till dusk only, and some need a separate night ticket. Tell someone where you are, know the way back to the car, and carry a charged phone. Never wade or fish steep, slippery banks in the dark, and be aware that clear moonlit nights are usually the coldest — take more layers than you think.

Blaming the moon for a blank when the water was 6°C and the wind was a bitter easterly. Using lights near the water. Setting up after dark on an unfamiliar peg. And moving swims at 2am — usually it's better to wait for dawn.