4. WHICH SHOULD I PAY MORE ATTENTION TO, THE DAILY RATINGS OR THE BEST PERIODS?

Think of these as two completely different factors. The "Daily Rating" (on a scale of 0 - 100) shows how that entire 24-hour day stacks up against all the other days that week or month. It is based on the moon phase, proximity, angle, etc., which basically last all day and night. Meanwhile, the "Best Periods" show those hours of each day when the moon and sun's influence peak, based on their postion in our sky (ie: overhead and underfoot).

5. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "Moon Overhead" AND "Moon Underfoot?"

As the name implies, the "Moon Overhead" period is that time each day when the moon reaches its highest point in your sky. Then--approximately 12.5 hours later, it has moved to being right under your feet on the other side of the earth. That's the "Moon Underfoot" period.

6. ARE THESE THE BEST TIMES TO GO?

Moon-wise, yes.

7. ARE YOU SAYING FISH AND GAME MAY BE ACTIVE DURING OTHER TIMES OF DAY?

The problem with the so-called "moon tables" today is that you can be mislead into thinking their prescribed lunar periods, often called "Major" and "Minors" or "Primary" and "Secondary," are the only times to find activity. This simply isn't true. There's another not-so-subtle object floating around out there that must always be considered, as well. It's called the sun, and it's solar periods of "Dawn, High-Noon, and Dusk" have just as much if not more potential to influence the daily activities of fish and game.

8. EXPLAIN THE THREE SOLAR PERIODS AND WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO FISH AND GAME ACTIVITY.

With the exception of a few nocturnal creatures and most teenageers, Dawn sets the world in motion. After so many hours of monotonous darkness, they can finally see their surroundings. It's time to stretch, flex, and find something to eat. On a year-round basis, no other daily period has as much potential for seeing the beginning of some kind of activity. And no other is as predictable. Dusk, of course, is sort of Dawn in reverse. But since here visibility is slowly being lost, Dusk can be as much of a turn-off as anything. What it does have going for it is it often gets the creatures up and moving back to their liars for the night. Fish may feed in aniticipation of the coming darkness, especially on the insects that become more active as the sun and breezes fade. High Noon is the most ignored and least understood period of them all. Yet, on a yearly basis it's often the best one overall to fish. Here are the major factors High Noon has going for it: 1) With the sun penetrating its strongest into the water of the day, plankton blooms are the greatest. This leads to feeding minnows, which leads to active predators. The catch here is that you must often fish deeper, away from the shorelines so dear to the average angler's heart. 2) If the creatures fed at Dawn, now it's lunchtime…halfway between Dawn and Dusk. 3) It's the sun's highest electromagnetic period of the 24-hours, just like the Moon Overhead period is for the moon. And 4) in the cooler months, it marks the front end of the day's warmest water, which can stimulate fish activity. This solar trilogy of Dawn, High Noon, and Dusk, has and always will lay the foundation for the daily activity cycles of all earth's creatures.

9. IF THESE SOLAR PERIODS ARE SO DOMINANT, WHERE DOES THE MOON COME IN?

If the moon isn't proof God has a sense of humor, maybe it's Nature's way of guaranteeing the preservation of the species. If all life followed a solar pattern all the time, it would be as easy for coyotes to wipe out all the rabbits as it would be for man to wipe out all the coyotes. But, for one reason or another the bass, deer and field mice suddenly stop following a solar pattern and seem to virtually disappear. The availability of food, certain environmental conditions, seasonal mating patterns, and the presence of man himself can and often will be factors. But so apparently is the moon, with its mystical, misunderstood powers. Perhaps a few millennia ago some nonconformist named Grog discovered that land and water creatures often switch over to a lunar cycle and hence kept bringing home piles of meat when no one else was. (Maybe they made him the official outdoor writer of his tribe.) The moon's influence has been documented in the earliest writings of naturalists to as far back as cave drawings. Commercial fishermen and hunters follow the moon, as do guides, horticulturists, and many others who make a living from harvesting earth's bounty.

10. WHAT'S THE POWER BEHIND THIS LUNAR INFLUENCE?

Theories range from the moon's gravitational pull tugging on the water in an animal's body to its electromagnetism realigning the microscopic iron particles in the blood. We do know that back when life was first forming in the sea, the moon was five times closer to the earth than now and the tides were over a mile high! This twice-a-day phenomenon had to have left a deep impression on all life, which perhaps has been passed down genetically to its progeny. Actually, our knowing exactly how the moon influences life is not as important as accepting the fact that, at certain times, it does. From there we can start a retro-study of the big picture and look for patterns to develop that can and will help us better predict the activity times of our favorite species

11. WHY DON'T MY LOCAL TIDE CHARTS AGREE WITH PRIMETIMES?

They should be pretty close, because both are based on the moon's position each day. When the moon is overhead or underfoot, there is a high tide in that area and there's also a PrimeTimes lunar period. If your tide table seems to disagree with PrimeTimes, it's because 1) the time of an actual high tide in any given location is also determined by other factors, such as the terrain both on and offshore, and known lag effects (when the tides come in later than usual for various reasons); 2) PrimeTimes is not meant to be a tide table. It's an activity forecaster. Among other things, it shows you the two times each day when the moon is in position to present it's strongest electromagnetic energy, which are known to affect fish and game. These two periods are actually "windows" with a beginning time and ending time... centered on when the moon is directly over your head and (some 12.5 hours later) directly under your feet on the other side of the earth. The length of these periods changes day to day, due to certain cycles of the moon. In this respect, PrimeTimes is astrophysically accurate. The best advice is to trust and use both PrimeTimes and your area's tide chart.

12. DO THE CALENDARS AND CD-Rom WORK OUTSIDE THE U.S.?

As stated above in #2, PrimeTimes' forecasted times are based on 35 degrees N. Latitude and whichever Longitude runs down the center of any given time zone around the world. So, yes, these calendars work just fine outside the U.S. anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. They can do a good job in the Southern Hemisphere, as well, but with a few considerations.

13. WHY DO DIFFERENT ACTIVITY FORECASTERS OFTEN DISAGREE ON THEIR BEST TIMES?

Since anybody can publish a fish & game activity calendar (and many do), it depends on what they are basing their predictions. These can range from astrology and biorhythms to when Chief Buzzard Feather dropped that monster water buffalo in the Australian spring of 1874.