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FISHING CALENDAR

Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

§        Why are there sometimes discrepancies in the ratings on the Calendar screen and the database?

§        How do I set Fishing Calendar to a particular location?

§        What does ‘Use Major1 Ratings’ mean?

§        How does the Day of the Year Fishing Log work?

§        Why does the moon illumination percentage change after several seconds when the current date is selected?

§        How do I interpret the feeding periods?

§        Why do some months show two days of perigee?

§        Why do you include an alternate rating system?

§        Why do some times show up in color under the Majors and Minors frames?

§        Why do some time slots show up as X’s instead of actual times?

 

 

 

 

 

Q.      Why are there sometimes discrepancies in the ratings on the Calendar screen and the database?

 

A.      The Db is a tool for looking ahead and doing searches

The Db is constructed using the location that the Main Calendar is set to.  If the location of the Main Calendar is different from that which was used in creating the Db then there will be differences.


The Db is created with the option ‘Use Major1 Ratings’ turned on.  If the Main Calendar does not have this option turned on at the time of comparison there will be differences.

 

The Db stores data for an entire year and sometimes daylight savings time/standard time settings may play a part.

 

If there is a discrepancy between the two – the correct data is always that which is on the Main Calendar.  This data is calculated on the ‘fly’ each time a month is changed.

 

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Q.      How do I set Fishing Calendar to a particular location?

 

Select locations from the main menu.  Choose ‘Edit a Location’

For most areas in the United States you may select a state from the left list by clicking on it.  This enables the second list from which you may select a city.  The correct data is then entered automatically.  You may then choose to make this location your default or not and then click ‘Done’ to return.

 

If there is a small difference in latitude/longitude that you wish to change you may edit the Db, though this is not recommended.

To add a location (outside of US) simply edit one of the existing locations and change the Location name, the longitude, latitude and the time zone with correct data and click ‘Make Default’ or not and then click ‘Done.’

 

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Q.      What does ‘Use Major1 Ratings’ mean?

 

With this option not chosen, Fishing Calendar calculates the rating for a particular day based upon criteria for the entire day with no weight given to when the Major1 feeding time occurs.

 

With this option chosen, Fishing Calendar first calculates the same as above but then adds weight when the Major1 feeding period occurs during a natural feeding period.  We consider natural feeding periods to be in the morning, in the evening, and to a lesser degree at noon.

 

What this means is that if you fish during the Major1 feeding period there is a higher rating for that day during that time than if you fish at other times during that day.

 

This reason for this option is that when set, it is time consuming to make all the checks necessary and makes moving from month to month slow.  There will be times when a user will simply desire to get lunar event information and will want to move from month to month quickly.

 

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Q.      How does the Day of the Year Fishing Log work?

 

The Db holds 366 records each corresponding to a day of the year.  Because of leap years the dates will vary with non-leap years.  After February 28 the dates will be off one, but the Day of the Year will remain consistent until the 366th record.

 

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Q.      Why does the moon illumination percentage change after several seconds when the current date is selected?

 

Fishing Calendar gives the moon picture and illumination percentage for 12:00 PM when a calendar date is clicked.  When it is the current date, after several seconds it changes the data to represent the current time as read from the computer’s clock.

 

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Q.      How do I interpret the feeding periods?

 

If a feeding period is shown as being at 9:00 AM then this is the point at which it has reached it’s peak.  Before 9:00 AM the feeding time is building and after it is declining.  One should choose to be on a fishing site prior to 9:00 AM and stay for some time after.

 

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Q.      Why do some months show two days of perigee?

 

Perigee is the time during the cycle of the moon when it is closest to the earth.  Moon cycles do not exactly coincide with the months.  If there is a perigee at the first of the month and at the last of the month, the second is on a new cycle.

 

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Q.      Why do you include an alternate rating system?

 

The times of the day when the moon affects feeding is derived from fairly basic formulas.  There is not a lot of disagreement on when the moon will be where on a certain date.  However when it comes to selecting the best fishing days of the month, everybody has their own opinion.  The rating system is included so that those who through experience know what phases of the moon should be favored, can customize it to their liking.  The rating system shows how we rate days.  Most agree that during full moon and during new moon fishing improves.  But many choose the light of the full moon over the darkness of the new moon.  We slightly favor the new moon because the moon and the sun track together in the sky during the day of new moon.

 

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Q.      Why do some times show up in color under the Majors and Minors frames?

 

This is an attempt to alert the user that this feeding period occurs near dawn or dusk.

 

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Q.      Why do some time slots show up as X’s instead of actual times?

 

That event did not occur on the selected date.  For the Major1 period the time is extrapolated by taking the previous and the next occurrence of that event and selecting a midway point.

 

         

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