2008 Tables     2008 Moon Phases

For hours the school of bass had hung suspended outside a shallow water weedbed. Minnows and other baitfish swam nearby seemingly oblivious to the presence of the larger predator fish. This peaceful coexistence was soon to change.

A large female moved from the group and began to flare her gills. Soon another...and another. The baitfish, sensing this change, began giving the bass a wider berth.

The larger bass broke from the group and quickly engulfed a small bluegill. Another bass moved in the reverse direction. Soon the school looked like fighter planes peeling off from formation. Minnows skipping frantically over the surface, bass dashing into schools of baitfish and frogs bounding off their perches in the lily pads.

The action was swift and violent for perhaps a half hour...then, as abruptly as it started, it was over. The school regrouped and once again lay suspended near the weedbed. The minnows returned and darted in and out of the predator school with little apparent fear.

What triggers such behavior, and how to predict the occurrences with some degree of accuracy, is the subject of Solunar Theory.

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