weather, pressure, moons

[jb_from_texas]

can someone give me a cliff notes version of how cold fronts, hi pressure, lo pressure and moon phases make a difference in fishing?

I have always heard about the full or new moon being a good time to fish but i'm a little shaky on the hi/lo pressures.

[Raul]

Don 't pay attention to moonphase, solunar tables, tarot cards or fortune tellers, the only good thing I have to say about the full moon while fishing at night is that I can see where I 'm casting my lure instead of trying to figure it out.

High pressure means clear skies and increased light penetration, depth, shade and cover play a big role in your approach, you have to fish deeper, slower, in cover on the shaded side. Cold fronts are associated to high pressure systems.

Low pressure means cloudy skies and possibly rain, diminshed light penetration which will allow you to fish shallower.

[gajpb]

And speaking to the high pressure--post cold front conditions, I've always read and experienced the best bites to occur two days AFTER the front moved through. For instance, let's say a front moves through (wind, rain, etc) on a tuesday night, then you can expect high winds and cold temps the next day, then after that the wind lets up so going out on Thursday is ok, and especially friday, just so long as the weather has remained stable. Again, I've always heard the three day rule for stable weather(allow three days of same weather patterns before heading out), but sometimes you can't stay off the lake, no matter what's going on.

[Matt Fly]

jb, welcome to the forum, I brought up an older thread on Barometric Pressure.  Much easier this way.

[Peter E.]

Hold on there Raul, there is a relation between moon phases and fish activity, let me explain with the basic two extremes.

New Moon or No Moon:

Fish will concentrate most of their feeding activity to the day light hours and also makes fishing in the early mornings more productive due to the lack of feeding during the night time hours.

Full moon:

The increased feeding activity during the night time hours make fishing in the morning less productive and afternoon fishing more so. The really good bite will not take place until afternoon.

With a full moon think of it this way: if you are up all night partying how well do you get going in the mornings?

You can take this lesson by looking at a lunar chart and determining when the hottest bite will be during a 24 hour course.

Peter

[roadwarrior]

Weather, pressure, moons...

Maybe there is something to all this voodo on lakes, but on a big river the only thing that counts is current.  

[KU_Bassmaster.]

And speaking to the high pressure--post cold front conditions, I've always read and experienced the best bites to occur two days AFTER the front moved through. For instance, let's say a front moves through (wind, rain, etc) on a tuesday night, then you can expect high winds and cold temps the next day, then after that the wind lets up so going out on Thursday is ok, and especially friday, just so long as the weather has remained stable. Again, I've always heard the three day rule for stable weather(allow three days of same weather patterns before heading out), but sometimes you can't stay off the lake, no matter what's going on.

The best time to fish is anytime you can get out there!!!!

[Raul]

Peter, don 't try to lecture me, in 32 years of fishing, and I 've read all the "thories", not once ever the moon phase has had anything to do on how much fish I catch in the lake in any day.

Moonphase is important in tidal systems not in inshore systems.

[Peter E.]

Raul i apologize if it seemed that I was trying to lecture you. But I was simply giving my ideas on the subject based on my observations and yes I do alot of inshore fishing every time I get the chance. I would like to say that I have great respect for anglers that have had the number of years fishing as you have and the obvious experience that you seem to have from what I have read on your thoughts on the forum. This said, I have noticed that the hottest bite has a coalation between the moon phase. Please however consider my points, even if they are in your opinion false. Let us agree to disagree on this issue. The whole point of this and all of our forums is to express an opinion that we beleive would be benefical to our fellow members.

I hope that whomever reads this reply takes a lesson of how an angler should conduct themselves by being respectful to all fellow anglers.

God Bless you Raul,

Peter

 

[Fisher of Men]

Woah, that was shaky for a moment. :-/

Raul, I just had a thought. When I watch the weather here in the DFW area, it seems like our cold fronts usually stall out about Brownsville. They very seldom penetrate the valley region of Texas, although they have in the past. So, are you ever affected by a front? Also, respecting both of your opinions, Raul, do you think IF moon phases could affect bass, perhaps the bass in Mexico are not affected because of the mild climate there. My opinion is that the full moon does seem to take it's toll on daytime bass fishing (based on my opinion here in North Texas). I'm not sure of new moons or last quarters. Research does show that the full moon will trigger the spawn, which, personally I've never quite got a handle on.

-FOM

[Chris]

Hold on there Raul, there is a relation between moon phases and fish activity, let me explain with the basic two extremes.

New Moon or No Moon:

Fish will concentrate most of their feeding activity to the day light hours and also makes fishing in the early mornings more productive due to the lack of feeding during the night time hours.

Full moon:

The increased feeding activity during the night time hours make fishing in the morning less productive and afternoon fishing more so. The really good bite will not take place until afternoon.

With a full moon think of it this way: if you are up all night partying how well do you get going in the mornings?

You can take this lesson by looking at a lunar chart and determining when the hottest bite will be during a 24 hour course.

Peter

For myself If given a choice I go night fishing on a full moon. On a new moon I fish during the daylight hours. I do it because it ups the odds to stick a big fish. Moon phase also effects spawning time and you can guess with good accuracy when the fish should start bedding.  Active fish inactive fish changes from hour to hour and the time frame that a bass is truly active is short. Most guys wouldn't know the difference they figure that they caught fish therefore they must be active which isn't true. Tide changes effects fish activity greatly because there is serge of water and the bass puts on their feed bag. I think in lakes bass become more active because bass are able to see better when it is full moon. If you like to flip and your pitching to targets no moon would be your friend. I say this because a bass will be tight to cover and ambush anything that gets close. If your a crankbait fishermen or topwater then full moon would be your friend because the bass is willing to chase it down. Maybe it is just in the head but I find Peters statement to be true for me.  

[basser89]

I'll add this strictly for topwater night fishing that I have experienced.

I've had more luck here (in MD/PA) fishing top water in the summer on a new moon. It seems whenever the moon comes up, the bite dies!

I have to agree 100% with Chris about the moon phase and the spawn. On the one lake I fish (505 acres), I've been monitoring it for the past 5-6 years and can (within a few days) usually predict when the mojority of the bass go on the beds. Last year was the first time in a while that I actually could not figure them out! I've looked over my notes over and over and still haven't understood where I went wrong! Oh well, its a new year and more opportunities to learn more!  ;D

[Z71]

As far as moon phase, I really haven't been able to make any correlation between the moon and being more or less successful. I generally pay more attention to time of year, water temperature and approaching high pressure, (cold fronts).

I like to concentrate alot of my time, effort, and days off to the prespawn. I usually start in early March on Santee Cooper and work my way throughout the state, ending up fishing prespawn in several different lakes over a 3 month period.

On Santee Cooper everyone will say to fish the full moon in March, thats when the bass will be on bed. Thats true as long as the water temp. is right, but let a cold front move in and the moon doesn't mean squat. Let a high pressure move in, and prespawn bass wil move back out and be harder to catch.

I personally try to be on the lake the day or two before an approaching high front. The only thing I know for sure is that fishing is always tougher for me after the high pressure has arrived, especially during the spring.

[basswest1]

Ok......Well go through them one by one

-High & Low Pressures:  First of all you need to know how barametric pressure affects fish..........it actually affects their swim bladder.  The swim bladder is a little baloon like organ in the bass which the bass can inflate and deflate to maintain equilibrium in the water.......so for example they can stay at 10ft without having to move their fins too much and expent energy.............When hight pressure moves in.........that puts pressure on this bladder and makes it hard for them to stay suspended at depth..........this often causes fish to stay close to the bottom or dig deep into cover.  Low pressure does the opposite.........it puts less pressure on the bladder which makes fish sometimes go shallower.............extremes on both ends of the spectrum are bad.  Sometimes lowering pressure is associated with a front.......not a cold front itself but the leading edge of the front...........then after the front leaves pressure sky rockets..........this is why sometimes coldfronts are really hard on fish........and fishermen.......because it was a drastic change.  

-Moon Phases:  Moon phases do have an effect on fish and all living things..........except some situations affect bass more........for example when night fishing in summer.........some fisherman experience a significant decline (also some better) in fish activity when there is a clear sky and a full moon at night...........But one of the most important moon related situations is in spring..............if the water is close to spawning temperature.............ALOT OF BASS WILL move up on beds if there is a full moon.  Bass will move up on beds at 54 degrees if there is a full moon near.

Now that you know some of the facts and therories around these I want you to do something..............dont worry about them.........PERSONALLY (and alot of people on this forum are going to smack me in the back of the head for telling you thing) i pay little attention to these factors (except moon phase in spring) not because they dont affect the bass.........but personally if i come to the lake with the mindset that there is a cold front with high pressure so the bass will be inactive......i might miss out on the active fish and totally miss out on a productive pattern.............ive learned that you need to fish the moment and not judge the activitie of the fish without even dropping the line...........ive had some days where i was catching tons of fish during a cloudy day and then caught an equal amount or even better during a cold front.............the point is...........dont abbandon patterns which caught fish before factors changed........just fish and then if the fish changed...........fish accordingly.   I AM NOT SAYING DONT CHANGE IM JUST SAYING THAT I DONT LIKE TO ABANDON A WORKING PATTERN BEFORE IVE PROVEN IT DOESNT WORK.  

[Hawgin]

Does anyone besides me feel like the remedial kid who accidently stumbled into the advanced physics class?  Thank goodness the areas I fish at don't require an entry exam to get on the water.

[RoLo]

Basswest1,

I certainly agree with the mindset of never adopting a defeatist attitude, because 'confidence'

plays such an important role in our game. If I may however, I'd like to pose a question:

All fish do not have a swim bladder, but as you indicate, members of the sunfish family do indeed.

Also as you indicate, barometric pressure is a real phenomenon, in fact it produces an equal

and measurable affect in shallow water, deep water, lakes and streams. Here is my question:

Given that barometric pressure and not water temperature is the motive for depth change,

why is the affect of barometric pressure muted or non-existent in bass found in "rivers"

and bass in "deep" water?

[George Welcome]

Light penetration on a clear lake with a full moon: 3 Inches

Atmospheric pressure affecting the air (gas) bladder of a fish: Nil - Atmospheric pressure is a measurement that relates to above the surface of the earth. Hydro pressure is basically unaffected by atmospheric pressure  and fish are hydro related creatures. Lots of research in these areas guys, and all available to the interested.

The affect that the moon has on saltwater and activity is well documented and in general common sense. With a full moon tidal movement is normally greater, hence fish are able to access what they yesterday couldn't. These areas are generally rich in food, so when the moon is full, the tide is higher and you can find fish in very fruitful areas.

[Raul]

Never mind Peter.

Moonphases have a direct impact in particular places subject to the influence of the moon, tidal systems and your success depend greatly on the tide which we all know is affected by the moon, something similar to what RW mentions, current, where RW fishes regularily current is everything, if there 's current then there 's good fishing.

Certain activities of the fish, like spawning are affected by the moonphase like Basswest 11 pointed out, many fish, invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians spawn or are born during the full moon but the feeding activity is not regulated by it, that is regulated by the temperature of the water which in "cold" blood creatures like fish regulates the methabolical rate, the warmer the more active the fish will be because their methabolism is fueled by the warm temperature at a cost, the animal has to feed in order to gain the energy it needs to keep up with the demands it 's own methabolism is asking for.

Barometric pressure, fish don 't feel a change in barometric pressure, water is 800+ times denser than air so a change in barometric pressure has little or no effect in water because the effect disspates in a denser environment, what makes the fish go nutz when the barometric pressure plummets is the fact that this change is associated to a drastic change in the weather conditions, if you hear that a low pressure system is moving towards you just be shure to be at your lake because you are going to catch fish specially if rain is predicted.

Air temperature does not affect water temperature unless it lasts for several days, water traps heat, the same time it took the water to warm up a couple of degrees is the same time it takes for the water to loose those degrees. Cold fronts occur because they are cause by high pressure systems associated to cold winds, the direct effect is that the skies turn blue without a single cloud in the sky, the air temperature is low but the water temperature is not. What affects you directly is the increased light penetration cause by the lack of cloud cover. Most anglers unfortunately are sight oriented and bank beaters, they like to fish what they see and are uncapable of adapting to the conditions, the lack of success is because they are not fishing where the fish are, which in those conditions is in deep cover or in deep structure.

Like Chris pointed out, if I can fish at night a full moon night is my choice, first I can see where I 'm casting my bait, also, the presence of the moon light extends the activity of the fish, so to a certain point moonphase has an impact, I agree on that......at night fishing.

Now let 's see with an example why I say that don 't pay attention to moonphase, this weekend there was full moon, if I pay attention to the moonphase ( on which solunar tables and calendars are based ) I should have had a killer day on Sunday, the calendar marked the day as "EXCELLENT"..... I caught 6 fish and it took me all the day to catch them, last week the calendar marked the day as "FAIR" .....I caught 25 fish, the water conditions were pretty much the same, the water temperature was the same, the sky was blue and cloudless both weekends, the only difference between both weekends was that the previous weekend it was windy all day long while this weekend the wind didn 't start blowing until the afternoon, that 's when I caught the fish. What made the difference ? the wind not the moonphase.

FOM, the conditions here in weather are very similar to Texas, you get a cold front there we got it three days before so we do experience cold fronts and whacky weather just like you Texans do, but I pay a lot more attention to the weather conditions and the water conditions. One of the Texan lakes I 've fished is Choke Canyon and man, if it 's windy in MacAllen it 's going to be crazy windy at Choke Canyon. The scariest boat ride I 've ever had in my life was at Choke Canyon three years ago in late July with my cousin.

[Guest avid]

I have fished my home lake about 250 times over the past 12 months and have observed the following as relates to natural phenomena.

1.  the best time to fish is late afternoon to dusk, regardless of season.

2.  In the cooler months the bass like to chase bait. (jerkbaits etc)

3.  In the summer they like slow drop baits (senkos, jigs)

4.  When it's windy, tie on a spinnerbait.

5.  Topwaters are best right around sunset.

6.  Soft plastics are always a good bait.

7.  Night fishing is slow, regardless of moon phase.

[Chris]

The main things I look at is how close in the week is the full moon. 2 days before and after I better be fishing. I look at the barometric pressure because this helps me figure out the mood of the fish. To be more specific the mood of the shallow bite. I look at how dirty the water is this helps me figure out if I should fish deep structure if its a clear lake or shallow stuff. I look at if the water level is at normal pool or if the water is dirtier than normal. I check the weather channel to see if the days leading up to when I go fishing was windy. I look at which direction the wind has been blowing for the past few days. I then check out the season I am fishing and where they should be then try to figure out if they are there. If I get to what looks like prime areas and nobody is home then I try to figure out what made them move and to where.

[jb_from_texas]

WOW.  Thanks for all the info.  I'll try and distill it all and come up with my own cliff notes version.

But I think one poster was correct, the best time to fish is any time you can get on the lake.

[BassChaser57]

WOW--THIS IS AWESOME!!!

There is some fantastic information here. This is more info than I get in an issue of Bassmaster!  THANKS GUYS(and Gals). 8-)

[basswest1]

Well Rolo.........i didnt know that swim bladders were limited to some species of fish...........i am not a marine biologist or ichthiologist or anything i just studdy the habbits and biology of the Micropterus Salmoides and its family members............so thank you that you set me straight on that............and i dont know all the answers exactally.........all i can do is fish and formulate what i feel is fact from my experiences..........but thanks........i really shouldnt attempt to say something like it is fact unless i know.