Weather and Fish?

[Clayton]

I am going fishing this coming tuesday (NE TEXAS) and I have been watching the weather.  I am not sure if what is coming is good or bad.  Can someone give me an idea as to what is good bad and not worth going out in?  Excluding tornadoes and Lighting storms.

[northgabassfisher]

if theres lighting dont go, other then that load up the boat and GO!!!! lol just have a rain jacket

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

The Classic on Toho proved bass don't seem to care about the weather. Clusen stuck it out in 30 mph winds, heavy rain, and several boaters reported water spouts. If you can take it fish the weather whatever it is. A fish bites every day somewhere out there in every lake, and probably every minute 24/7 some fish are biting something. Fish are for biting things. Get out there and get your bait bit.

Jim

[Marty]

Weather plays a large role. There are generalities such as good fishing ahead of a front, poor fishing  behind it, good fishing when cloudy, poorer when sunny, good before a storm, lousy afterwards, and so on. The thing is, though, that there are always exceptions to these "rules", because fish don't read the same books that we do.

Barring weather that threatens your safety, do what most of us do, which is to go whenever you have the opportunity. Some great fishing has been had when conventional wisdom said it wouldn't be so good.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

I used to believe bass followed behavior patterns like those, but have settled on only one factor, atmospheric pressure increases, that simply sends bass a little deeper, but they still bite. I fished lately in thunder and caught bass. They were not hiding under logs as some believe. I fished post spawn after a major cold front and rapidly increasing pressure, and the bite remained as good as before the front.  I really believe bass react more to weather effects on water rather than to weather itself. A major rain doesn't bother bass at all, but can muddy the water and seemingly shut the bite down. The remedy is to turn to low visibility fishing tactics. Some of my wildest bassin has been in the middle of a heavy rain. Wind drives the food baitfish feed on across a lake, so baitfish follow it. They are not wind-driven. Bass follow the baitfish, not being herded along by wind. Wind churns the water increasing dissolved oxygen. It's the new oxygen that increases bass appetites. Cloudy days can be as good or terrible as bluebird skies can be, and I'm convinced those simply are factors of visibility due to light penetration. I might sound a little picky about this, but to me weather has a very indirect effect on fish.

Jim

[Shad_Master]

Just a minor variation on the original question -- I will be fishing a very shallow lake tomorrow in a tournament.  The water depths are generally about 4-5 feet in the areas where the bass are normally set up this time of year, but it rained all night last night with 1" of rain predicted today.  Supposed to rain all day tomorrow as well.  I know that this will cause the fish to pull out deeper than normal, but wonder how far they will travel to get to "deeper" water.  There are some 12' - 15' depths on the upper end of the lake (probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the "sweet spot").  Will the bass travel that far or will they just hunker down in their normal depths?

[BD]

Lightning, very bad.

INcoming front = pressure drops=good

OUTgoing front=usually a slight rise=fair to meh

slow trickling rain and a low barometric pressure=all day fishing!

[Chris at Tech]

OK, when you say 'low barometric pressure', is there a range that is considered low?  Or so you simply mean the pressure lessening from the previous days?

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Rain in shallow lakes sometimes has the opposite effect, scattering bass to shallowER areas due to improved access unless shallower areas are severely muddied up. Sometimes they go deeper to find clearer water. Whichever direction they take it's probably more linked to position of baitfish and the desire of bas to find edge effect, an ambush zone between muddied and clearer water.

Rapidly increasing pressure can, but doesn't always, send bass deeper than expected. We had a major cold high pressure front this week and fishing improved for all species including a phenominal catfish bite. Bass have been on main lake points this week hitting topwaters. The pressure began falling Wedbesday with no perceptable change in the bite. If they are hungry (which they are right now after spawning) and baitfish are present they very often continue feeding at whatever depth required under whatever conditions above the water surface. I use pressure data to predict fish depth, not assuming they swim out into other parts of a lake. They are simply responding to their air bladder internal pressure as relates to "weight" of the water as affected by atmospheric pressure. The faster it changes, the longer it takes for them to adjust and feel normal again.  Bass can take going deeper easier by burping out air, while it takes more effort to inflate ther air bladder and rise through the bloodstream. They usually have time to do that with slower changing low pressure fronts.

Wind from the East isn't always the "least". Many of those old sayings are based on saltwater fishing lore. Wind from the North is supposed to be the makings of poor fishing, but I find that orients baitfish on south shores. So except maybe for the bladder discomfort deal it appears to me weather doesn't directly affect bass behavior. Conditions "of water" that do affect them are water temperature, clarity, pH, DO, current. Indirect conditions affecting water (not a property of water) are light penetration, moving shadows, and weather in general.  So I'm more interested in what the weather is doing to change water conditions. A 3 day rain can muddy the water here, but provide clear incoming water there. High wind can muddy water along a muddy flat and kill a major pattern there, and at the same time cause a feeding frenzy off a main lake point.

Jim

[Rattlinrogue]

Of course when lightning is present don't even think of getting out on the water.When rain is coming,that means falling barometric pressure is also on it's way,and that's great fishing.I'll fish in the rain(but not in lightning).It's generally good depending on the season (Summer=good;dead of Winter=bad).In the late spring and summer,I love an all day cloudy day.The fish will stray away from cover and cruise looking for food.Also the topwater bite is good as long as it's cloudy(my favorite way to fish).I'm told by members of the forum that you can catch 'em all day in sunny weather on topwaters and that may be true for them,but I've found it to be just the opposite.I even like to fish during a cold front day because it gives me a chance to use my 2nd favorite technique,pichin' and flippin' tubes,jigs,and creature baits into dense,heavy cover.In other words,go fishing any day except days with lightning.You just have to change your gameplan a little depending on the conditions.