barometric pressure

[iiTzChunky]

I've always heard about the "sweet spot" in BP but never really check when I go fishing, mostly bc I'm limited on the chances I get to fish so if I get the chance, I'm going. But does anyone check and go fishing depending on it? 

[12poundbass]

Nope! I just go fishing.

[A-Jay]

No, I don't plan my fishing solely around barometric pressure.

Instead, it seems to be one piece of the puzzle that comes into play 'some how'.

What that is and how if effects my fishing I haven't quite figured out.

In fact, I don't know anyone who truly has. 

I will say that when I am selecting days I hope to be big fish days,

several other environmental factors beyond the BP, seem to effect my results more then BP.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/211811-brown-bass-tools-~-questions-answers/?do=findComment&comment=2893464

A-Jay

 

[GRiver]

I’ve never planned on going fishing around BP but I have taken advantage of it when it happens. Here in  Fl,  showers roll up and you feel the pressure drop and the bite will turn on, and I’ve fish back over the exact same area that before wasn’t getting a bite, and then catching fish. 
Trick is to try and make sure you don’t push it and have a shower become a storm or squall and you’re caught out there, lighten can be scary. Or at least for me it is.

[river-rat]

I don't plan my trips around the barometric pressure, but I want to know if it's rising or falling.

 

I can say that fishing gets very tough for me when the pressure reaches 30.30 or more after a cold front. It doesn't stop me from going, but it does make fish much more slowly and deliberately.

[Catt]

Uhhh! No!

[Pat Brown]

I don't think I've ever seen barometric pressure directly affect fish, but I think the reason that we talk about it is because it is a indicator of some sort of front moving in which usually is good for fishing. 

 

Do fish feel changes in barometric pressure and react to them?

 

Probably?

 

Does it dramatically increase or decrease catch rates of largemouth bass on artificial lures? 

 

Maybe Sometimes?

 

Do I have bad days with cloud cover and falling pressure?

 

Yes.

 

Gotta be other factors at play IMHO. Solely thinking about barometric pressure doesn't seem to catch me many fish.

 

Now:  low pressure system accompanying a cool rain in the fall after a week of stagnant heat?

 

Better get out the poncho and the rain boots!

[5by3]

I don’t plan my trips around the pressure but do follow it closely every time I fish. A “normal” pressure is 29.96. my best fishing usually comes before a front when the pressure starts to fall, but I’ve also found that extremely low pressure for my area (29.50) can be just as tough as high pressure (30.30). 
 

It doesn’t mean they won’t bite, but I take this into account with the baits I choose. 

[DaubsNU1]

I've been tracking / logging my fishing trips since the 1990's.

 

The hope is that somehow I can "crack the code" and figure out the best days with regard to temperature, water temp, wind, sun / clouds, barometric pressure, moon phase, etc., etc., etc.

 

Well, I haven't figured it out yet  : )

 

Some days the fish bite...other days they do not. Kinda of like chasing ducks...some days they fly, other days, not so much.

[DinkDonkey30]

Lower than normal psi generally leads to more active fish, higher has the reverse effect. That’s not to say they won’t bite you may just have to look in different areas. Like in my case right now fish have been up extremely shallow. Yesterday was high psi and muddy water but a ton of boat traffic and high winds. The fish that were shallow were not biting. Went deep 10+ ft and found fish that would bite on a C rig over rock piles. 

[Catt]

Barometric pressure is a measurement of the air pressure in Earth's atmosphere. 

 

What amount of pressure does it take to affect a bass at 10', at 20', at 30'?

 

Barometric pressure to this Cajun is kinda like water temperature. Both are measured at the water surface.

 

I'm aware of em!

[gim]

18 hours ago, GRiver said:

I’ve never planned on going fishing around BP but I have taken advantage of it when it happens. Here in  Fl,  showers roll up and you feel the pressure drop and the bite will turn on, and I’ve fish back over the exact same area that before wasn’t getting a bite, and then catching fish. 
Trick is to try and make sure you don’t push it and have a shower become a storm or squall and you’re caught out there, lighten can be scary. Or at least for me it is.

 

Same here.  There is a fine line between being out there when a new low pressure (dropping barometer) is approaching and being out there during a thunderstorm/severe weather.  Yesterday I was out there during this exact situation.  There was no lightning/thunder, just about 40 minutes of rain that rolled through.  This is when I caught the biggest fish of the day.

[dodgeguy]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I don't think I've ever seen barometric pressure directly affect fish, but I think the reason that we talk about it is because it is a indicator of some sort of front moving in which usually is good for fishing. 

 

Do fish feel changes in barometric pressure and react to them?

 

Probably?

 

Does it dramatically increase or decrease catch rates of largemouth bass on artificial lures? 

 

Maybe Sometimes?

 

Do I have bad days with cloud cover and falling pressure?

 

Yes.

 

Gotta be other factors at play IMHO. Solely thinking about barometric pressure doesn't seem to catch me many fish.

 

Now:  low pressure system accompanying a cool rain in the fall after a week of stagnant heat?

 

Better get out the poncho and the rain boots!

Right before a thunderstorm fish go wild. After the front goes through and pressure drops they shut off. I've seen it plenty of times.

[Zcoker]

I never do. What the day (or night) brings is what it brings. I deal with it accordingly. Often, I've seen things related to barometric pressure go off the rocker, like with a high pressure bluebird sky with the sun blaring, catching big bass topwarter. That's not particularly a good time to do that and I know a lotta guys who don't even bother. I guess that's my point: just fish no matter what.  

[LrgmouthShad]

You know, I’ve always heard pre-frontal can be excellent. Sometimes it is. I do like to fish during those times. But just as often, I’ve seen an incoming front shut fish down. 
I don’t like really high barometric pressure. Never really seen a scenario where that’s turned out to be good.

[MIbassyaker]

I pay attention to immediate conditions like levels of light, water temperature, and wind. 

 

The problem with barometric pressure is that it coincides with other changes in more immediate weather conditions like cloud cover, sunlight, and wind, which certainly affect fish. So if you want to know whether you should be checking the barometer, what you're really asking is if it is important to know about change in pressure itself, above and beyond the change in immediate conditions that come along with it, that you can see without a barometer.  I don't need to know barometric pressure to see that it is getting cloudy, darker, or that the wind changed.

 

Frankly, I see very little reason to believe fish are responding changes in air pressure itself up here above the water, which is a drop in the bucket compared to variations in water pressure they can experience on a moment to moment basis simply by changing their depth by a few inches.  And to the extent that bass do respond to changes in barometric pressure, they are still far more responsive to changes in light, heat, oxygen levels, and so on.  So as long as I can see immediate weather conditions, I don't feel the need to check a barometer.

 

 

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

When I see a forecast for rain it excites me. Some of the best fishing I’ve experienced in my life has been right before and during a storm. 

[Pat Brown]

1 hour ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

When I see a forecast for rain it excites me. Some of the best fishing I’ve experienced in my life has been right before and during a storm. 

 

 

Same here but is it a change in pressure or merely less sunlight and maybe a little more wind generated current that makes them active?

 

I've had numerous occasions where I'm watching a fish study my lure and then a cloud rolls over the Sun momentarily and then that fish bites.

[Bankc]

I don't watch barometric pressure directly.  However, I do follow wind speed and wind direction, and that is usually regulated by barometric pressure.  So I kind of follow it indirectly and plan fishing around that.  Mostly in form of:  I can go fishing one day this weekend, so which day I chose depends on the weather. 

[Zcoker]

I've come to appreciate the wind more than anything else. Barometric pressure has it place, I reckon, but the wind is something I can actually see and feel. It's effect is immediately known and understood, espeically at night. 

[WRB]

A few decades back falling barometer pressure was sold as a measure of fishing catching activity. 
We now know lower barometric brings cloudy and possibly rain from a low pressure system. We have good weather forecast with visual satellite images tracking weather systems. No need to watch your home barometer to know a low pressure system is approaching or a high pressure cold front is following the low pressure. 
It’s common knowledge today how high & low pressure systems affect fishing.

Tom

[casts_by_fly]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

Barometric pressure is a measurement of the air pressure in Earth's atmosphere. 

 

What amount of pressure does it take to affect a bass at 10', at 20', at 30'?

 

Barometric pressure to this Cajun is kinda like water temperature. Both are measured at the water surface.

 

I'm aware of em!

 

Fortunately, we can calculate that!

 

29.92" inches of Mercury is the equivalent of 1 atmosphere which is considered 'standard' pressure and what we'll use as a baseline.  You know what else you can measure pressure in?  Inches of water.  29.92 inHg = 407.2 inH2O (the difference is the density in the two).  

 

The barometer will vary from 29.5 to 30.5 most of the time.  That change of ~0.5" of mercury on either side of normal equals .....  drumroll.....  6.8" of water.  A bass needs to go up or down in the water column less than a foot to feel the same pressure change.  Something tells me that the actual pressure felt in the water isn't the driving factor.

 

Using that logic I've always said that the barometer isn't a driving factor of largemouth behavior.  Though, my dad swears by a moderate barometer, not too high and not too low, not changing rapidly, for fish to be active and anecdotally it seems to hold up for him.  A slightly lower barometer (like 28.5 to 29.5) will favor topwaters and as it goes up the fish start looking down.  I think that ties to the light level typically associated but who's to say.  I don't get to chose my days by the barometer, I just fish when I can get out.

 

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

9 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

Same here but is it a change in pressure or merely less sunlight and maybe a little more wind generated current that makes them active?

 

I've had numerous occasions where I'm watching a fish study my lure and then a cloud rolls over the Sun momentarily and then that fish bites.

Probably 

[LionHeart]

Barometric pressure is only usefull if you need to tell yourself why you got skunked.