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Solar Eclipse

A few months ago I blogged about one astronomical phenomenon, Black Hole; upcoming events compel me to blog about another one now. . . .

Unless you live, oh say, on the backside of the moon, you have heard something about a little shadow that will be racing across planet earth next Monday, August 21.  My buddy Greg Wagner has already published a blog post with all the details and hysteria surrounding this event, you should read it, Are You Really Ready for the Total Solar Eclipse?  There are some excellent links contained there that you should follow too!

The wide open skies of Nebraska should provide some excellent viewing opportunities and we indeed expect an influx of visitors into our great state for this event.  Unless you travel the world for eclipse experiences, this likely will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of us.

20th_March_2015_total_solar_eclipse_cropped
By Damien Deltenre (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
What do you plan to do?  How are you planning to watch the eclipse?  I am not sure exactly where I will be or what I will be doing yet, but you know me–whatever it is I would prefer to have a fishing pole in hand, line in the water.  As a matter of fact, any angler will tell you that low-light conditions, for example dawn and dusk, are often prime times to be on the water fishing.  There is no doubt that fish activity tends to peak during low-light conditions, and fish that are actively feeding are always a lot easier to catch.

So, I may just find a good fishing spot, a place where I expect fish to be present when they are active and looking for prey, and see what I can catch.  Someplace on the water should be an excellent spot to experience the eclipse, and a person might just catch some fish in the process!

This interactive map shows the timing of the entire eclipse and totality literally from one end of Nebraska to the other, 2017 Solar Eclipse.  You can use that tool to pick your fishing spot and plan accordingly.  Note that even though the total eclipse will last for only a matter of minutes, the entire eclipse phenomenon, and accompanying low-light conditions, will last over a period of hours–plenty of time to fish.

Of course you should know that you cannot look at the sun, the eclipse, directly; be sure to have your eclipse glasses.  I wonder if they will fit over my polarized fishing glasses?

eclipseglasses
Approved total solar eclipse glasses. Photo by Greg Wagner/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

I will always tell you that the best time to fish is whenever you have time; I am not a big believer in magic solunar periods or moon phases (Moon ‘Em).  However, in this instance the phenomenon is a covering of the sun, a dramatic change in light conditions, and I know that is prime fishing time.  I hope to get the opportunity to take advantage of it, and I hope to have a fish picture or two to show you later!

LowLightEffectFishing

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

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