barometric pressure question

[Gregorym38]

How long before a storm does the barometric pressure drop? ///how long before the storm does it trigger feeding in fish

[LrgmouthShad]

Weatherunderground 10 day forecast to answer your first question. Shows a chart of how barometric pressure, temperature, cloud cover, rain, etc all change by the hour. 
 

For your second question, I am inclined to think that sometimes the feeding response in a fish can be triggered even a day or two before the actual storm, or sometimes 30 minutes before. I dunno

[WRB]

When the light changes from bright sun to cloudy conditions.

Tom

[gim]

10 hours ago, Gregorym38 said:

How long before a storm does the barometric pressure drop? ///how long before the storm does it trigger feeding in fish

 

I don't know how long the increased bite window might be prior to a storm/low pressure system coming in, but I try to time my outings either right before or during them if I'm able to.  Bear in mind that I stay on the safe side, so I'm not going to be fishing in "severe" weather like gusty winds, lightning, or hail, but rain doesn't bother me one bit.  I was fishing on Saturday morning prior to a system that arrived around noon and the fishing was pretty good.  Certainly better than it would have been a day or two before when it was 90+ degrees, hot and muggy with high pressure.

 

I've experienced some improved fishing the day before, but it seems that the closer I can fish to the arrival of that front, the better it is.

[Bankc]

It's hard to say anything predictive.  I've seen fronts have the opposite effect you'd expect, many times.  Most often, when a bite is triggered by a front, it seems that the closer to the actual front you get, the better the bite.  Many times I've been fishing with no luck, and then suddenly the fish start biting everything, and I'm almost immediately forced off the water by bad weather, just as they start to bite.  Also many times, I've caught a bunch of fish right after the storm, during the storm, and especially during a small a break in the weather.  You never know what's going to happen until you're out there.  

 

As for where the front is, it's usually accompanied by a change in wind speed or direction.  Sometimes the storm clouds will be out in front of the front.  Sometimes they'll lag behind it.  The atmosphere is a 3-dimensional space, so fronts don't always come in and out in a flat plane.  If you've got any experience as a pilot, you'll find that conditions on the ground can vary wildly from what's going on just a few thousand feet in the air.  

[Mike L]

Fishing a day or 2 prior to the expected drop and a day after can be excellent. 
Down here they become more predictable. 
 

A passing winter cold front is the toughest time to go. I’ve been entered in tournaments that have been postponed just because of it. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[DaubsNU1]

I've been logging / tracking my fishing since the 1990's...with hopes of "cracking the code" and figuring out the best times to fish, the times to stay home. I track lots of factors, including barometric pressure.

 

My findings..."inconclusive"

 

A few situations to illustrate:

• Fishing a local lake...day started off hot, good bite going. Thunderstorm blew threw (I sat in my truck for 40 minutes), then got back on the water, and the bite was on FIRE!
• Three weeks ago...weather had been mild and clear. Front came through night before, temps dropped, cloudy, interment light rain...I decided to get some fishing in before leaving town. The good bite that morning...lots of fish on the board.
• Two weeks ago...weather patterns steady for a week...the bite was non-existent. 

I don't stress too much about barometric pressure...if it's going to rain all day, I'm staying home. If the wind is blowing 25+, I might stay home. Otherwise, if I have time, I'm fishing.

 

[casts_by_fly]

4 minutes ago, DaubsNU1 said:

• Three weeks ago...weather had been mild and clear. Front came through night before, temps dropped, cloudy, interment light rain...I decided to get some fishing in before leaving town. The good bite that morning...lots of fish on the board.
• Two weeks ago...weather patterns steady for a week...the bite was non-existent. 

 

the second scenario is what we've had for the past 2-3 weeks.  Highs in the 85-95 range, bluebird sky, and steady pressure from 29.0-30.0 inhg.  There are fish around, but nothing spectacular.  Combined with the grass die off in a couple of my favorite lakes that ordinarily produce now, its been a tough summer.  I was just thinking yesterday that I haven't had a good frog bite day all year and by this time of the summer I should have had at least one or two.  Next weekend is bringing some high pressure (30.2) so either I'll catch them on the way up this week or on the way down next week when it crashes.  Either way, its like a basketball shooting slump- you just gotta keep shooting.

 

I'm 'shooting' after work this afternoon.  Going to have to try a swing head beaver.  It seems to be a winner...

 

[gim]

2 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

the second scenario is what we've had for the past 2-3 weeks.  Highs in the 85-95 range, bluebird sky, and steady pressure from 29.0-30.0 inhg

We experienced that for almost 2 months on end last summer in June/July.  It was brutal.  Major drought and the hottest summer on record.  When August hit, so did a change in the weather pattern and the bite for the next month was spectacular.  The fishing in that month was better than the rest of the season combined for me.

[DaubsNU1]

10 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

the second scenario is what we've had for the past 2-3 weeks.  Highs in the 85-95 range, bluebird sky, and steady pressure from 29.0-30.0 inhg.  There are fish around, but nothing spectacular.  Combined with the grass die off in a couple of my favorite lakes that ordinarily produce now, its been a tough summer.  I was just thinking yesterday that I haven't had a good frog bite day all year and by this time of the summer I should have had at least one or two.  Next weekend is bringing some high pressure (30.2) so either I'll catch them on the way up this week or on the way down next week when it crashes.  Either way, its like a basketball shooting slump- you just gotta keep shooting.

 

I'm 'shooting' after work this afternoon.  Going to have to try a swing head beaver.  It seems to be a winner...

 

 

Keep shooting!!

 

One thing has lead to better fishing recently...getting back to basics.

 

This spring I decided to focus more attention on my basics -- spinner-bait, jig-n-pig, Texas rigged plastics. I am catching more fish.

 

[casts_by_fly]

28 minutes ago, gimruis said:

We experienced that for almost 2 months on end last summer in June/July.  It was brutal.  Major drought and the hottest summer on record.  When August hit, so did a change in the weather pattern and the bite for the next month was spectacular.  The fishing in that month was better than the rest of the season combined for me.

 

Last year was a 'variable' weather summer for us.  We were just talking about it in the pool yesterday how this year has had so many more hot/dry/blue days than last year.  Last year we barely used the pool and when we did we had to heat it because the air was so much colder and there wasn't much sun.  Last year that led to pretty great fishing in July and August.  Today is bringing a 'colder' front through and the next week shows lows in the mid 60's and highs only in the mid 80's with lots of cloud cover.  Pressure is variable, wind is variable.  So he's hoping that's the break we need.

 

 

18 minutes ago, DaubsNU1 said:

 

Keep shooting!!

 

One thing has lead to better fishing recently...getting back to basics.

 

This spring I decided to focus more attention on my basics -- spinner-bait, jig-n-pig, Texas rigged plastics. I am catching more fish.

 

 

My dad is a 'basics' fisher a lot of the time.  For largemouth, he'll almost invariably have a buzzbait, spinnerbait, jig and pig, and one other thing tied on.  I tend to be a plopper, chatterbait, jig or texas rig, and something else.  It was an interesting comparison last week.  When he fished a buzzbait I fished a plopper (we had the same number of hits there about).  When he went spinnerbait I was throwing a chatterbait or swim jig (he outfished me).  Neither of us picked up a fish on bottom baits.  It wasn't a scientific experiment, neither of us was competing, and the sample size was too low to draw any conclusions.  It was just nice to be out.

 

[WRB]

BR site has 128 pages related to this topic.

Falling barometric pressure is just that lower pressure not necessarily indicating a storm or rain approaching.

Rising barometric pressure doesn’t indicate a cold front is following.

Barometric Pressure is always present and changing. The question how soon does fast dropping pressure with a storm forecasted  affect bass behavior is subjective. Being out in a thunder storm meaning active lightning isn’t safe regardless how active the bass may be. 

Fishing as light rain is forecasted is generally good for Largemouth bass.

Tom 

[Chris Catignani]

1 hour ago, DaubsNU1 said:

...

My findings..."inconclusive"

...

 

Mine too...as well as others.

 

Here is some food for thought:

The barometric pressure increases the further down the water table you go. By this I mean that the pressure at the surface is less than the pressure at say...10 feet.

 

Fish use their swim bladder to regulate the ability to suspend. They can move gas from the blood system to the bladder to rise and reverse the process to descend. The exchange rate (unknown to me) is different for each species...and this rate is unaffected by water pressure and temperature.

 

Here is a good article by Ralph Manns that appeared in In-Fisherman

Barometric Pressure and Bass

Quote

A fish might notice that it's floating or sinking a few inches in response to a change in air pressure, but it experiences larger pressure changes as it changes depth a few feet while hunting prey or moving to a new location. Black bass and other fish with closed gas bladders use their bladders to achieve neutral density and hold at constant depths. This weightlessness conserves energy by reducing their need to swim.

 

[Catt]

20 minutes ago, WRB said:

Barometric Pressure is always present and changing. The question how soon does fast dropping pressure with a storm forecasted  affect bass behavior is subjective.

 

I find sudden rapid changes up or down will give em lock jaw.

 

I prefer stable weather & water conditions.

[casts_by_fly]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

I find sudden rapid changes up or down will give em lock jaw.

 

I prefer stable weather & water conditions.

 

In that case, come up here and get it.  Make sure you take it home with you too...

 

2 hours ago, Chris Catignani said:

 

Mine too...as well as others.

 

Here is some food for thought:

The barometric pressure increases the further down the water table you go. By this I mean that the pressure at the surface is less than the pressure at say...10 feet.

 

Fish use their swim bladder to regulate the ability to suspend. They can move gas from the blood system to the bladder to rise and reverse the process to descend. The exchange rate (unknown to me) is different for each species...and this rate is unaffected by water pressure and temperature.

 

Here is a good article by Ralph Manns that appeared in In-Fisherman

Barometric Pressure and Bass

 

 

This got me thinking about the math behind it.  A foot of water is 0.43 psi pressure.  The atmosphere is nominally 14.7 PSI (which is 29.93 in Hg).  So 35' is the depth where the weight of the water and the weight of the air are equal (which I know from diving since 10m is considered 1 atm).  1 inHg is roughly 1.13' of water.  

 

A normal/nominal change in barometric pressure for a front is 0.2 inHg, which corresponds to about 3" of water.  A big storm or mega stable front of high pressure might be as much as 1 inHG, or roughly 1' of water.  So if a front suddenly comes through (instantaneously for instance), a fish needs only move a foot deeper to equalize.  So anyone who thinks bass go from 3 FOW to 10FOW to escape barometric changes might want to rethink.

 

[WRB]

It’s more about lighting changes, temperature and wind direction then pressure changes. Above water ecosystem like insect activity is more impacted then underwater animals like fish from a few millibars of atmospheric pressure change imo.

Tom

[Catt]

^^2X^^ ?

[fin]

33 minutes ago, WRB said:

It’s more about lighting changes, temperature and wind direction then pressure changes. Above water ecosystem like insect activity is more impacted then underwater animals like fish from a few millibars of atmospheric pressure change imo.

Tom

 

I think if you consider the effect different factors have on whether you will catch a fish, barometric pressure is way down near the bottom of the list.

 

I live in an area where we have hurricanes and tropical systems come through on rare occasions, and I have intentionally fished a lot around those times, taking note of the huge change of barometric pressure, and I could never see any effect.

[txchaser]

One of the BR forum members Josh Alwine wrote a book, High Percentage Fishing, 

that has good data on what happens to fishing in various conditions, barometer included. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/High-Percentage-Fishing-Statistical-Improving/dp/1517384206/

 

It costs about two bags of senkos, and will catch you way more fish than two bags of senkos. 

 

[Deleted account]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:22 PM, Gregorym38 said:

How long before a storm does the barometric pressure drop? ///how long before the storm does it trigger feeding in fish

Depending on the front, the pressure can change gradually or suddenly. Usually I find the fishing starts getting good ahead of the weather caused by a front, and holds up for a few hours to a day.

[uglyasheck]

I live in South Mississippi and when a Hurricane is coming in if its not so bad that i can fish i am out there those fish are crazy and some of the best fishing. 

[dickenscpa]

I'm self admitted barometrically ignorant but I fished as a co-angler last summer of 2021 and the pro I got teamed up with pointed out all of these sticks we saw floating in the water. None of them were floating horizontally, they were all floating straight up and down.

 

After pointing that out he said the barom pressure was too high and fishing would be horrible. It was a lousy day and hardly anyone caught anything. A ridiculously low weight won. Wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or what he said was true.

[papajoe222]

On 7/24/2022 at 9:22 PM, Gregorym38 said:

How long before a storm does the barometric pressure drop? ///how long before the storm does it trigger feeding in fish

Both depend on how fast the storm/front is moving in. I've seen a front move across three states in less than a day and others that took three days to do so.  The easiest answer is to start watching your barometer as soon as you hear about one. That first initial drop of .1Hg will normally increase feeding windows and the faster it drops, the more it will affect the activity level of the fish.

[Catt]

On 7/25/2022 at 10:38 AM, Chris Catignani said:

By this I mean that the pressure at the surface is less than the pressure at say...10 feet

 

Exactly ?

 

Barometric pressure is kinda like water temperatures. Everyone is reading surface temperatures, bass don't live on the surface.

 

Deepwater bass are less effected by frontal changes than shallow water bass.

[Bankc]

On 7/25/2022 at 9:43 AM, gimruis said:

We experienced that for almost 2 months on end last summer in June/July.  It was brutal.  Major drought and the hottest summer on record.  When August hit, so did a change in the weather pattern and the bite for the next month was spectacular.  The fishing in that month was better than the rest of the season combined for me.

This is exactly what I'm hoping for.  It's been crazy hot and dry for the last two months, and I can't hardly buy a bite.  In a few days the heat is finally supposed to break and drop from the 100's to the low 90's and even slide into the 80's for a bit with lots of opportunities for some rain!  Fingers crossed that the bite will finally pick up!  

 

On the positive side, I've seen more finglerlings in the shallows than I've ever seen before.  I think it's too hot and not enough oxygen for the big fish to chase them up there.