Do Bass Bite After It Rains?

[Tim1212]

Its raining so im waiting for it to stop. Should i go after it rains? Do bass feed after it rains?

[mikey5string]

Bass feed when they are hungry and will hit lures even when they arent.

More than the bass, I would think about the things further down the food chain; the things bass eat and the things that those things eat.

Overall I would say go fishing when you want. Dont get too caught up in the common beliefs on when bass feed or you will start to psych yourself out if the conditions arent perfect.

[BassinLou]

Absolutely. The rain cools of the water and bass in my experience perk up a little bit more. Don't you feel a little revitalized after cooling your self off with cool water after being in the heat for a while? I think the bass react the same way imho.

[redboat]

Its raining so im waiting for it to stop.

I hope you're not waiting in your boat for it to stop. Bass may or may not bite when it rains but lightening definitely does!

[RobertBG]

yes and no...................my best days and worst days have come after it has rained.I still have yet to figure out why but either way in my case it is 50/50 chance it will be a very good day for me after a rain.I like those odds and tend to fish after it rains

[Sun Fish]

I had success this Saturday in between thunderstorms docking hiding in my truck and going back when it clears. I find that after rain if the sun starts shining they seem to get very active and slow down when it clouds up again if another storm is rolling in.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I had success this Saturday in between thunderstorms docking hiding in my truck and going back when it clears. I find that after rain if the sun starts shining they seem to get very active and slow down when it clouds up again if another storm is rolling in.

Yes had the same thing happen last Thursday. Went out after a rain yet still very cloudy for like an hour no bites. The sun came out and bam bam bam 6 fish in and hour. Then it got cloudy again and no bites for another 1 1/2 hours. Sun came out for about another 10 minutes caught another bass. Left and on the way out talked to a man about just this, sun coming out catching them.

[basshole8190]

some of my best number days have been pre, during and post rain periods. My first LM over 5lbs came during a heavy rain in may on a black 10" culprit worm. It was raining so hard i couldnt see the end of the boat dock (about 10 foot away!) but from personal experience ive always done better before and during. dont get me wrong ive still caught em after rain just seems like they bite more eagerly prior to or during rain.

[JShe8918]

There has to be more factors that you need to consider other than just the rain. Pressure changes affect fishing so was it just a summer shower or a storm that moved in with a front? I don't fully understand all those aspects yet, but i do know that its more than just the rain. I have gone fishing three hours before a storm moved in that was a spinoff of a tropical storm and tore the fish up! When the storm hit we went to a restaurant/bar at the marina for about an hour till the storm had mostly subsided. We then hit the lake again and didn't hardly catch anything! Then two weeks later we were having a rough day water temps were 85-86 and we couldn't get bass to hit anything. We received a good rain for 30-45 minutes and it was like the fish hadn't ate in days! After the rain we hit the shallows and tore them up. The rain helps to re-oxygenate the water. Oxygen is of course why fish go deep during the heat of the summer. Oxygen levels go up as you get closer to the thermocline.

[Sam]

Easy question - confusing answer.

The rule is that bass and other species will feel the barometric pressure change and start to feed before and during a cold front passing through their area.

I have fished through the rain and cold fronts and the probabilty of the bite slowing down or stopping is higher after the front passes and we have blue bird skies.

With cloud cover overhead the bass will move around. With sunny skies the bass will hold to cover and structure. Either way, if they feed when they feel the barometric pressure change they may only hit your bait out of aggression and not hunger.

I have articles from 2005 and 2010 regarding changes in barometric pressure and they are very informative. Only problem is that the bass have not read them so no telling what the bass in your area will do when the pressure goes up or down.

The latest article I have is from the March 2010 magazine. Maybe you can go to the FLW web site and try to find the March 2010 article. If so, I think you will enjoy what it says The name of the article is Pressure Release and features David Campbell of Athens, Texas, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries biologist. Matt Williams of FLW penned the details.

The Apri l2005 article does not show the magazine. Ed Harp wrote the article so you may want to Google Ed Harp.

By the way, the reason the fish do what they do is not really known. Ed Harp says there may be two reasons for their behavior: The first centers on the air bladder of the fish making them larger and making the bass feel like they are full of food; while theory 2 believes decreased atmospheric pressure allows small vegetative particles in the water to float up making them more accessible to minnows and small fish and the bass start to actively feed.

So please Google barometric pressure and bass fishing on Bing or Google, etc., find these and other articles, and come to your own postition.

As for me, I know the bass stop or slow down feeding after a cold front moves through. I have been caught in this type of weather pattern too many times.

[NBR]

Before the rain, during the rain and after the rain. I don't know if they feed during thunder and lightning since I'm gone at the first clap of thunder or sight of a lightning flash.

[grumpydog]

Some of my best fish have come on topwater during a summer pop up storm. I always try to fish during the rain, unless there is any lightning at all! Its personal preferance, though, some folks dont like to get wet.

[retiredbosn]

If I'm fishing a river I fish hard before, and right when it starts to rain. As soon as it slacks down or will keep fishing if it is a gentle rain, and right after have always been productive. I don't have enough lake experience to weigh in on that, but I would think that a cool rain would entice the bass especially during the summer. if bugs are flying and the bream are feeding you can bet the bass are to.

[Busy]

Sam,

The most common thing I've heard about why bass get active when pressure is falling (mainly in shallow waters) is that the weight of the atmosphere is decreasing making the fish feel lighter in the water. It takes less energy for them to move around than prior so they move a lot and are active while they can be. As the pressure levels off they feel normal again. Do you think there is any merit to this?

[Mad Fisherman]

Yes. They also bite during the rain. It was raining lightly over here yesterday so I did some shore fishing for about 30 minutes a had a nice hit and caught a 3 lber.

[Fishing Rhino]

I did not read anything about lightning in the first post. My question is why are you waiting for the rain to stop? I love the cloudy, drizzly, rainy days. Those days mean a lot of things. First, there is less recreational activity. The rain on the water muffles a lot of noises that would ordinarily spook fish, and the same could be said for shadows. If you have ever cast a bait over bedding bluegills on a sunny day, you can see what panic that small shadow causes. It also keeps some fishermen on the beach waiting for the rain to stop.

I'm still not getting the barometric pressure thing. The fish we are after can be found at the surface or depths of thirty feet plus. The pressure on a fishes air bladder is much more extreme in a depth change of a few inches than in the wildest barometric swing. One fish, a few inches deeper than another will feel a greater difference in the pressure than any atmospheric change will cause.

Fish suspended at thirty feet will have twice the pressure on their air bladder than those at the surface. It seems to me that if a pressure change makes a fish uncomfortable they can easily make minor adjustments to their depth to be comfortable,...........and active.

Consider this. The "height" of the atmosphere is considered to be 80,000 feet. It takes that to create one atmosphere of pressure. Yet it takes only 33 feet of seawater to equal one atmosphere. Freshwater will take a bit more because it is lighter per given volume. If a fish can be comfortable between the surface, and a depth of 30 plus feet, I don't understand how the relatively minor changes in barometric pressure can have such a dramatic impact on fish behavior.

• Air Has Weight

Yes, air actually has weight. The weight of air experts pressure on your body - about 14.7 psi (pounds per a square inch). This amount of pressure is called one atmosphere of pressure because it is the amount of pressure the earth's atmosphere exerts. Most pressure measurements in scuba diving are given in units of atmospheres or ATA.

• Pressure Increases With Depth

The weight of the water above a diver exerts pressure on his body. The deeper a diver descends, the more water he has above him, and the more pressure it exerts on his body. The pressure a diver experiences at a certain depth is the sum of all the pressures above him, both from the water and the air.

• every 33 feet of salt water = 1 ATA of pressure

Total Pressure at Standard Depths*

Depth / Atmospheric Pressure + Water Pressure / Total Pressure

0 feet / 1 ATA + 0 ATA / 1 ATA

15 feet / 1 ATA + 0.45 ATA / 1 .45 ATA

33 feet / 1 ATA + 1 ATA / 2 ATA

40 feet / 1 ATA + 1.21 ATA / 2.2 ATA

66 feet / 1 ATA + 2 ATA / 3 ATA

99 feet / 1 ATA + 3 ATA / 4 ATA

_{*this is only for salt water at sea level}

• Water Pressure Compresses Air

Air in a diver's body air spaces and dive gear will compress as pressure increases (and expand as pressure decreases). Air compresses according to Boyle's Law.

http://scuba.about.c...er-Pressure.htm

[Busy]

All good points. Barometric pressure no doubt effects shallow water bass more than deep water bass. I think there are a lot of things that come into play like structure, cover, and temperature that control the depth a fish will stay more than pressure. Fish may shut down or become more active due to pressure changes but I do not think that pressure changes will encourage a fish to go up or down in the water. I do not think that bass want to be active. They probably don't mind pressure changes shutting them down until they are hungry.