Strategeries for unstable weather

[BadKarma42]

I did a quick search and didn't find/missed what I was looking for.

So, let's say there are 3-4 days of unstable weather (ie high temps and 30-50% chance of thunderstorms).  Then, when the unstable is to end what would you expect/anticipate from the fish?

Just to make it interesting, add in unstable in the morning with planning to fish the afternoon.

[pitchNbass]

In Florida I fish everyday with high temps and 30-50% or more chance of thunderstorms. Although since that is an everyday thing here, it creates a pattern I'm familiar with.

During summer in Florida, the bite is best in the early morning and late afternoon. Night fishing in Florida is also good in Summer, but I don't do much of that.

Now in PA this unstable weather will affect bass fishing more greatly than probably a Florida thunderstorm would. If there is a change in surface water temperature that tends to affect bass for me here. I need to know more about the body of water you plan on fishing, but depending on the depth and cover available that are the two main factors you need to focus on. Bass rely on both for safety.

As a storm begins to build and rolls in here in Florida, the wind picks up, I notice a huge change in activity. I sometimes land 30 bass in 15 minutes of fishing during midday before a thunderstorm rolls in. Only problem is I need to get off the water at this time. I couldn't tell you what the bite is during a thunderstorm as I don't fish during that time. But I do know, I have returned shortly after with varying results. It typically depends on the earlier bite. I've caught maybe 1 or no fish after a thunderstorm. I've sometimes caught tons when maybe the morning bite was bad. Sometimes it is so hot before a thunderstorm the bite is really off. A storm rolls through and drops the temperature by 10 degrees and wind and rain cools the surface temperature and sometimes bass bite very well after a thunderstorm. Sometimes the bite is really good in the morning, a thunderstorm rolls in and the fish shut down.

Bass can turn off and on in a second. One minute the have lock jaw, the next you wish you could fish 10 rods at once. Just gotta look for the signs that turn bass on. Changes in air pressure, moon phases, sun position, cloud cover, wind, temperature. If you were to sit and watch a highly populated bass lake with a time lapse camera you can simply notice when bass turn on and off based on surface breaks on bass chasing bait.

Even during the hot summer months bass still need to eat, and eat even more due to a faster metabolism. If you fish all day long without a bite, shoot might as well stay all night and wait for that switch to turn on.

[Catt]

In my opinion the 3-4 days of weather with high temps and 30-50% chance of thunderstorms is stable weather. Unstable weather to me is high bluebird skies one day, thunderstorms the next and back to bluebird skies.

pitchNbass pretty much covered it

[twitchfish]

Does size of the body of water come into play with this discussion?

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Does size of the body of water come into play with this discussion?

Definitely.  The body of water is around 200 acres, max depth of ~29ft.   Average depth, maybe 8-10.

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/water/lakes/meadow_grounds_lk/00meadow.htm

Any suggestions?  I am open to anything at this point.

BK42 is my net man.   ;D

[BadKarma42]

BK42 is my net man. ;D

[farmpond1]

Without an appreciable change in temperature and/or barometric pressure, I don't consider a few rain showers/storms "unstable weather."  Here in Illinois, in the Spring especially, you'll discern unstable weather.  It smacks you in the face.

[Paul Roberts]

In Florida I fish everyday with high temps and 30-50% or more chance of thunderstorms. Although since that is an everyday thing here, it creates a pattern I'm familiar with.

During summer in Florida, the bite is best in the early morning and late afternoon. Night fishing in Florida is also good in Summer, but I don't do much of that.

Now in PA this unstable weather will affect bass fishing more greatly than probably a Florida thunderstorm would. If there is a change in surface water temperature that tends to affect bass for me here. I need to know more about the body of water you plan on fishing, but depending on the depth and cover available that are the two main factors you need to focus on. Bass rely on both for safety.

As a storm begins to build and rolls in here in Florida, the wind picks up, I notice a huge change in activity. I sometimes land 30 bass in 15 minutes of fishing during midday before a thunderstorm rolls in. Only problem is I need to get off the water at this time. I couldn't tell you what the bite is during a thunderstorm as I don't fish during that time. But I do know, I have returned shortly after with varying results. It typically depends on the earlier bite. I've caught maybe 1 or no fish after a thunderstorm. I've sometimes caught tons when maybe the morning bite was bad. Sometimes it is so hot before a thunderstorm the bite is really off. A storm rolls through and drops the temperature by 10 degrees and wind and rain cools the surface temperature and sometimes bass bite very well after a thunderstorm. Sometimes the bite is really good in the morning, a thunderstorm rolls in and the fish shut down.

Bass can turn off and on in a second. One minute the have lock jaw, the next you wish you could fish 10 rods at once. Just gotta look for the signs that turn bass on. Changes in air pressure, moon phases, sun position, cloud cover, wind, temperature. If you were to sit and watch a highly populated bass lake with a time lapse camera you can simply notice when bass turn on and off based on surface breaks on bass chasing bait.

Even during the hot summer months bass still need to eat, and eat even more due to a faster metabolism. If you fish all day long without a bite, shoot might as well stay all night and wait for that switch to turn on.

Good post. Love to hear the thoughts of someone that pays attention to the details. 8-)

Ditto Catt. "Unstable" usually involves brilliant sun and/or a serious drop in temperature -at fish depth. This latter is rare in my experience.

"Change" though can be expected.

[BadKarma42]

Interesting pieces of information.  It certainly makes me re-think a few things.

[Long Mike]

Strategeries? Love it!  Have you been watching SNL? ;D

[Tin]

Strategeries? Love it! Have you been watching SNL? ;D

 

[RoLo]

Since I've been living in Florida, I don't remember a year with so much pent-up moisture in the atmosphere.

Every single day in Lake Wales, I'm looking at a superabundance of cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.

On a nearly daily basis for the past several months, a thunderstorm has threatened the area almost every afternoon.

The weatherman has been so off base this year that it's the first time in my life that I go out without even bothering

to check the weather forecast. In the recent past, we stayed perfectly dry and safe during days with a 70% chance

of T-storms, and were most threatened and most wette during days with a 30% chance of T-storms.

Bedtime for me is generally between 2AM and 3 AM, so an early fishing start for us is around 11 to 12 o'clock.

I have found the best bite this year in Florida to be immediately upon hitting water, and fizzling out

about an hour or two later. Then around 4 or 5 o'clock we generally experience one more feeding period,

or if not, we usually run into one more feeding period sometime before sunset.

I've been lucky to have lived in Jersey with northern-strain bass, and in Florida with Florida-strain bass.

It's clear to me that the bass in Florida are less affected by warm fronts and hot spells in summer, even in shallow water.

Inversely, the bass in Florida are much more sensitive to cold-fronts, at least in my experience on the lakes we fish.

I place zero stock on barometric pressure, because a fish has only to change its depth by a few inches to replicate

the pressure change equivalent to a full swing in barometric pressure. Every angler knows that cold fronts

have a negative effect on fishing, eerily similar to the fall turnover. It's my belief notwithstanding,

that it's lighting conditions that makes the difference, and not the affect of air temperatures on water temperatures.

On the other hand, long-term weather patterns that ultimately affect a change in water temperature,

definitely have a profound effect on fish behavior. But this is getting into temperature "trend",

which is the cause of seasonal periods, in contrast to transient fronts.

In concert with changes in air temperature, frontal conditions also create two other changes on the fish's environment:

1) There's typically an increase in wind speed, and the refraction caused by wave action

significantly reduces the "light level".

2) Fronts are typically accompanied by heavy overcast skies, which likewise reduce the "light level".

The summer period is a little more complicated than most anglers may realize. To be sure, the metabolic rate of fish

in warmer water is much higher. This means that fish need to eat more often, because what they eat is combusted

at a higher rate. However, bass in water temperatures over 87 degrees instinctively conserve their calories,

because in so doing they won't have to eat as often. You begin to see the monkey wrench that bass have to deal with

in summer. They need to eat more, but they also need to conserve calories, which is typically achieved by eating less.

Another monkey wrench is oxygen-deprivation which is most pervasive during the summertime.

Anglers tend to envision bass seeking comfort from summer heat in deep water. However, cold-blooded animals

are comfortable in all temperature, unlike warm-blooded animals that need to sustain a given body temperature.

Furthermore, where oxygen deprivation exists, bass are forced into shallower hotter water in summer, not deeper water.

Roger

[Muddy]

I could use STRATIGIES FOR AN UNSTABLE FISHERMAN

[BadKarma42]

Strategeries? Love it! Have you been watching SNL? ;D

I was wondering how long until someone picked up on that.  That kinda sums up my fishing this year!

[Paul Roberts]

Good stuff Roger.

[ab8aac]

roger I betcha if you would get a pocket barometer at PBS and log the bass you catch and the pressure reading you would change you mind on the effects of pressure on the water and what it does to the bass.