Occur when the moon is directly overhead or underfoot. These are the strongest feeding times of the day.
Minor Periods (1-2 hours)
Occur during moonrise and moonset. Secondary feeding windows that still offer good activity.
August 2026 Fishing Calendar
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1🌖B
2🌖B
3🌖B
4🌗C+
5🌗C+
6🌗C+
7🌘C+
8🌘B
9🌘B
10🌘B
11🌑B+
12🌑B+
13🌑B
14🌒B
15🌒B
16🌒B
17🌒C+
18🌓C+
19🌓C+
20🌓C+
21🌓C+
22🌔B
23🌔B
24🌔B
25🌔B
26🌕B
27🌕B
28🌕B
29🌕B
30🌖B
31🌖B
Best (A/A+)
Good (B/B+)
Fair (C/C+)
Poor (D/F)
Top 5 day
Grades rate solunar timing and moon phase for the whole US. Water temperature moves a fishing day more than the moon does and depends on where you fish.
Get the full A+ to F grade for your water at bestdaystofish.com
Summer Fishing Tips
Summer means early morning and late evening are prime. Fish deeper, cooler water during midday heat. Night fishing can be exceptional during full moon periods. Target structure and shade during bright conditions.
Best Fishing Days in August 2026
The top-rated fishing days in August 2026 are August 12, August 11, August 10, August 27, August 28, ranked by solunar activity, moon phase, and the strength of each day's major and minor feeding periods. Those are the factors a national calendar can actually know. Water temperature moves a fishing grade far more than the moon does, and it depends entirely on where you fish, so enter your location for a full grade that adds water temperature, weather, and barometric pressure.
August is the hardest month for many species and the best for a few. Sustained heat pushes water temperatures past what coolwater fish tolerate comfortably, oxygen drops in still water, and the daytime bite narrows to the low-light hours at either end. Late in the month the first cool nights start reversing this, and that shift is often the most productive stretch of the second half of summer.
Want it on the boat or the fridge? This page doubles as a free printable fishing calendar for August 2026. Use the Print or Save as PDF button at the top and your browser produces a clean one-page PDF of the whole month, grades and moon phases included.
What the Fish Are Doing in August
Pre-spawn (2 species)
Chinook Salmon, Kokanee feed hard before spawning in August, and our scoring raises their activity by up to 1.30x. Look for chinook salmon on staging off river mouths and in the harbours 20-60 ft.
Spawning (4 species)
Red Snapper, Snook, Wahoo, Yellowfin Tuna spawn during August. Fish on beds are harder to tempt, so our grades apply a spawn-lockout penalty. Target pre-spawn and post-spawn species instead, or fish deeper staging areas nearby.