The Air Pressure Myth... relating to fishing

[URL="http://www.fishin.com/forums2/members/moveon.html"]Moveon[/URL] posted a link to an article with an interesting title. I haven't had time to read it but the title sure does sound interesting.

[URL]http://www.fishin.com/forums2/indiana-discussion-board/97130-changing-air-pressure-water-pressures.html[/URL]

The last words form the article:

... but it’s unlikely that barometric pressure alone can trigger the sudden bite that angling’s common wisdom often asserts.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

[QUOTE=peter;507505][URL="http://www.fishin.com/forums2/members/moveon.html"]Moveon[/URL] posted a link to an article with an interesting title. I haven't had time to read it but the title sure does sound interesting.

[URL]http://www.fishin.com/forums2/indiana-discussion-board/97130-changing-air-pressure-water-pressures.html[/URL]

The last words form the article:

... but it’s unlikely that barometric pressure alone can trigger the sudden bite that angling’s common wisdom often asserts.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?[/QUOTE]

It assumes that we KNOW everything there is to know about how fish use/manage weather patterns and pressure. We don't.

I can tell you this, and many on this site who have been with me can attest.......I can tell you what pressure is doing within a few hours of a front based on how BAD I feel that particular morning.

I get crazy pressure headaches.......FAST dropping pressure, I get a pounding headache in the front forehead. Slower pressure drop......a nagging headache.

High pressure.......just a throbbing headache, usually feel it around my temples.

Funny thing, my doc and many docs say I cannot tell the pressure change. TELL THAT TO MY FREAKIN HEADACHES.

Now how does this effect the fishing. Maybe fish can tell an approaching storm. If that storm is bringing cold or warm air, I now use that information along with what I've learned from Dave Stewart to identify a particular location on a lake to fish.

NO DOUBT.........

Later,

Geo

It's not just fish, its wildlife too. And there are times when the pressure changes I feel it in an old surgery site and my joints (thanks to arthritis).

Maybe it ain't the fish. Maybe the pressure has an impact on ANGLER behavior. Don't get out as early, don't fish that crank as slow or as fast, maybe assume the lure bite is off and decide to fish crickets, maybe don't run as far to a spot that might hold hungry fish.

AWWWWWWWWW.......BALONEY.

Pressure rise right after a low pressure zone passes and the storm ends is still the best time to see jumps and catch agggressive fish.

Or maybe I just fish better when I'm soaking wet.

Several reasons I don't buy into their opinion 100%.
#1 they are scientists and how many times do we get to hear about how the last data was wrong or not as it seems. Take Global Warming as a good example. Alot of that data was proved incorrect and there were to many assumptions.
#2 there was alot of reference to the ocean in that article which is very deep and has alot of waves plus it's salt water compared to fresh water. Does that matter? I think so.
#3 I have been fishing and have seen something happen with the fishing when a storm is brewing that turns them on. It can get very good.....I believe it was the pressure change.
Fish are living things and living things don't always follow scientific opinions. I just don't buy into what they claim. I like fishing shallow water and maybe since it's so shallow the fish feel the changes quicker? Sure seems that way. Also it makes sense(to me) that deeper fish won't feel those changes as fast.
Maybe the secondary effects from fronts can be the intensity of sunlight? I know it can effect me and how I fish. Shade, sun, wind cold front, warm front,stable weather, depth, location, seasonal patterns and water temp are all pieces of the puzzle and I just don't think it's down to a science yet on what will happen on a specific day. It's still a mystery and that's what makes it a challenge. Jmo.

I used to be what is called a "spoon plugger" it was a system that a guy named Perry[i think] used for bass fishing.It involved a lot of thought, and trolling, not just washing baits but but following a system. Cold fronts do effect fishing, and probably fishermen. What DJ says has been proven many times, just before a big weather change, fish go nutz. two days after is bad fishing. But thats not true of all water[imho] rivers and shallow murky lakes come back quicker. But there is one fact that remains true. "the harder you fish, the luckier you get" and they wont come looking for you.

[QUOTE=kygorski;507538]I used to be what is called a "spoon plugger" it was a system that a guy named Perry[i think] used for bass fishing.It involved a lot of thought, and trolling, not just washing baits but but following a system. Cold fronts do effect fishing, and probably fishermen. What DJ says has been proven many times, just before a big weather change, fish go nutz. two days after is bad fishing. But thats not true of all water[imho] rivers and shallow murky lakes come back quicker. But there is one fact that remains true. "the harder you fish, the luckier you get" and they wont come looking for you.[/QUOTE]

That's old school...but ****, I believe it is pretty much spot on :) :)

The indicaters on my Barometer shows that low presseure is associated with rain amd storms and high pressure is associated with fiar skyes and good weather. In his book SPOONPLUGING, Buck Perry, the Fahther of Structure Fishing (the guy Kygorski was referring to) worte that: "During your fishing, YOU SHOULD NOT THINK OF WEATHER IN TERMS OF TEMPERATURE. .. . . YOU SHOULD VIEW WEAHTER IN THEMS OF LIGHT. . . . THE LIGHER OR BRIGHER IT IS, THE TOUGHER THE FISHING WILL BE. THE DARKER THE CONDITIONS, THE BETTER IT WILL BE." Low pressuer equates to dark skys and high pressure equates to bright skyes.

Buck goers on to explain that the best fishing is prior to the passage of a COLD FRONT (which also corralates to LOW PRESSUER). The PRE-COLD FRONT conditions are usually associated with dark conditions and good fishing, whereas POST COLD FRONT contiions are usually associated with BLUE SKYEW and lots of light.

The bottom line is that the best days for the FISHERMAN is fair weather and clear bright skyes but the best days for CATHCING FISH is pre-frontal dark, cloudy days. That is what Buck says and it has been my exeriance also.

Grumpy

I know a couple of buddys have been with me on Green & I've told them it was getting ready to shut down when I saw the backend of the cloud line where a front was pushing through & it did. WE were catching good fish each time & when the cloud line passed we hardly got another bite the rest of the night when fishing until early am the next morning.I believe it messes it up worse than any other lake I fish. Could be wrong, but I absolutley believe in the barometric pressure in the case of a cold front causing a shut down after or a feeding frenzy before it passes through.

The fact is that rising or dropping barometric pressure has little effect on the fish....they experience way more pressure change when they change depths than any pressure changes associated with changing barometric pressure would have on them.

The dropping barometric pressure with the associated lower light conditions actually effects the plankton (zoo and phyto planktons) by concentrating them higher in the water column in larger numbers which provides a smorgasborg of food for the baitfish and they begin to actively feed...the preditor gamefish is then turned on by this feeding activity and thus join in on the feeding frenzy. Rising pressure after the frontal passage has the opposite effect with the brighter light conditions, then you couple this with some other factors that can be associated with post frontal conditions such as dropping water temperatures which will have an adverse effect on the fish by dropping their body temperatures and slowing the metabolism at a time when they have full bellies from the prefrontal feeding...etc....etc...

Basically, rising and dropping barometric pressure does not really effect the fish, but the conditions that are associated with these conditions can and does have positive and negative effects on the food chain which can have a positive or negative effect on your fishing.

This is the kind of stuff I teach in my class on Eliminating Water....understanding the food chain and recognizing how changing environmental conditions of the different seasons of the year as well as other environment condition changes that can occur from one day to the next or one hour to the next can have an effect on the food chain and your targeted species is how you learn to make decisions on the when's, how and where you need to be fishing to increase your odds of catching your fish....of course in my class I focus on Bass as the target species since that is what I target every day during my guide season.

Have never really heard the angle in which Dave just posted. Quite frankly it makes perfect sense to me. I always believd and knew that pre-frontal was always the best time to fish and it will remain my thinking until I die... Now I know why.

You get the baitfish excited and on the move and it in turn makes the bigger fish all happy happy happy. Which makes me Happy Happy Happy.

Very nice Dave and thanks I will remember what I just read...

Theres probably a lot of reasons why fish go deep,and when they stay deep fishing isn't that great.When I used to ice fish,a few guys had flasher units they would put in the holes, you could watch deep fish ignore baits. But let them come up a few feet, and it could turn into a zoo at feeding time. I believe light conditions had a lot to do with that. Even on a blue bird day, If I wasn't up to trolling I'd anchor on the windiest side of the lake, and catcj something,but that was due to plankton and bait fish following the food into shallow dingy water.Heres something I used to check, major fishing events tried to coincide with "best fishing days",these can be planned weeks ahead of times, but a weather event could put the wjammy on it sometimes.