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Ben Lough Middle (County Westmeath) — one of the area's fishing spots. About 5 ha in area. Close by — Castlepollard and Delvin. A smart bite calendar — moon phase, atmospheric pressure, and weather combined into an hourly fish-activity forecast for the coming days.
Drizzle: 12–14 °C
Thursday, September 3
The bite is moderate — fish feed in short bursts. A thunderstorm is possible: activity rises before the front and drops after.
Best time — 12:00–16:00 (daytime activity).
Chum one spot near a drop-off and wait for fish to arrive — don't chase them.
Today's bait — maggot or small hook with dough bait. In cold or murky water, add scent to your chum.
No special gear needed — seasonal clothing will do. A thunderstorm is possible — bring a rain jacket, and pack up at the first rumble of thunder.
An average day — best chances during peak windows.
The computed water temperature is around 15 °C — inside the 14–26 °C comfort range for Bleak, so baseline activity is high.
Bleak feeds by day — between sunrise and sunset; their times are in the sun-and-moon card above.
Pressure is dropping 2 hPa over the day — fish are usually more active ahead of a weather change.
One more input — the moon's feeding windows: within their hours the score sits higher than across the rest of the day. The window times are in the “Solunar feeding periods” card below.
September is an average month for Bleak here.
These are the same values the bite curve above was computed from. How the forecast works
Cloudy · feels like +17°
The day is 4 min shorter than yesterday.
Sunshine hours count direct sun only — cloud cover cuts it, so it is shorter than daylight.
The windows are set by the moon's transit and rise, and the forecast above already accounts for them: within these hours the bite score sits higher than across the rest of the day, while the day's overall level still comes from the catch-calibrated model.
What are solunar periods?