Theories on how high and low pressure affect fishing

[headless]

Hi

Does anyone have any knowledge on how/why hight and low barometric pressure affect fishing?

Darrell

[BoldBear]

When I was a naval meteorologist based at Northwood near Watford in the Fleet Air Arm quite a few years ago, a mate (another naval meteorologist) and I used to fish through the nights on the river Kennet on our nights off.

We would keep a log and found that the best nights seemed to be when the air pressure had either risen or fallen and then remained steady, and on these occasions we aways had plenty of Barbel, however if the air pressure was still falling or rising or the pressure had remained the same for a long period, bites would start to tail off.

Another example is when I used to go fishing for Carp through the night at a small pond in the days before carbon rods; I recall that one of my best nights fishing there (as far as numbers of Carp caught) was during a long hot summer when a weather trough moved over us accompanied by a line of Towering Cumulus cloud and Thunderstorms.

At first I thought it was a cold front coming because of the line of Towering Cumulus usually associated with a cold front but the weather forecast on the TV later indicated that it was a small weather trough that we had witnessed; Plus the air temperature remained the same before and after.

At first the night sky was clear but before you could even hear the odd rumble of thunder in the distance the Carp suddenly turned on around an hour before the storm arrived, even when the thunder and lightening was directly overhead and we were being soaked through to the skin we still had run after run which continued until around an hour after the storms had moved off again and everything seemed to settle down again and the sky had cleared once more.
We ended up soaked to the skin with around 12 to 15 Carp of around 5 to 12lb each during the two hours of frantic action.

It's a good thing that it was before carbon rods came onto the market as you wouldn't see me anywhere near a carbon rod or any trees in those same conditions these days; but it seems to show how Carp can sense air pressure changes.

I suspect that one reason why fish notice the air pressure might have something to do with their swim bladder and the resultant pressure within caused with changing air pressure above.

Does anyone else have similar or different examples they can tell us about?

[Cool_Duck]

I was fishing the canal this morning in a peg where I usually get upwards of 30 fish. Fishing the same methods that I usually do I caught 10 within the first hour - great I thought! Then the barometer on my watch started to indicate a rise in the air pressure, this rise continued and did not level out. This resulted in the next three hours being spent biteless. My own conclusions from this is that if the air pressure is unsettled and on the change (at least from low to high) then this puts the fish off feeding.

[BoldBear]

I wonder if different species might react differently to the same air pressure changes or be more sensitive to it than other species.

On the nights when the air pressure was steadily falling or rising and the Barbel seemed to stop feeding quite so well, we used to get more Roach, Dace and Chub falling to our baits and less Barbel but once the pressure had evened out and remained steady for a short time the Barbel would then start to feed well again especially if there was still some kind of semblance of cloud cover left.
But while the pressure was rising or falling the fishing was very sporadic.

Some nights used to be very warm even without a blanket of cloud when the sky was clear and the pressure was high and on these nights we used to sit fishing in our T-shirts touch legering while watching shooting stars, and on those nights we used to catch a fair number of Barbel, but on colder clear nights it wasn't quite so good even with steady air pressure.
But that doesn't explain why those Carp went mad during the night when we had a weather trough move over us.

I suspect we are often just reading too much into it and it is just that the fish become more restless during pressure changes and feed much better when the air pressure remains steady which is often enhanced by comfortable air temperatures.

Whatever it is I would like to know the reasons why different fish sometimes seem to react so differently to the same changes.
I think that both temperature and air pressure do seem to affect the way some fish feed.

[nodrog48]

its a load of rubbish

[BoldBear]

What about Moon phases? some anglers are sure that it affects their fishing too,

[headless]

Hi

Sorry for not replying to your replies sooner.

Thank you for the replies...even the short one

In the past I have not taken notice of barometric pressures, moon phases etc...But following a trip last weekend and watching how my koi have reacted in the last few weeks I do think fish respond to barometric pressures and the moon phases.

I fished a match on water near Diss in Norfolk last Saturday, I very rarely fish matches but I was asked by my sister to fish for the company she works for, in an intercompany competition. A bit of a grudge match I believe.

The venue we fished has only been recently stocked (last year) it has a high stocking of Bream, Perch, Rudd, a few F1s and the odd Common Carp. There are also two or three other lakes on the complex stocked with similar species but more Carp.

The match was hard work, everyone struggled. I spoke to the owner of the complex during the match he said that all the anglers on the other lakes on the complex were struggling. The other anglers were regular match men on the venue and they found it very difficult even though the venue had not been fished hard over the weeks before.

My mate was fishing a different venue in Suffolk on the day of the match. We have been getting some nice Tench to just over the 7lb mark recently, but he struggled, he did not get a bite or even see the Tench bubbling which is very unusual.

I watch my koi from my son’s bedroom window most days and it surprising what a difference there is in the way they are from day to day. Some days they are lazing about, swimming slowly around looking for food and other days they are charging about the pond hunting for food. I know that temperature make a difference but I have been checking the water temperature and water quality.

I do believe there is a connection with barometric pressures and the moon phases. I am going to make notes on how my fishing is and how my koi are behaving during the various barometric pressures and the moon phases. It gives me the incentive to do a few additional short sessions when the fish/koi is more active. It may even help me catch a few more fish. If it does help I will let you know.

Darrell

[northern eye]

I know nothing about pressures etc. but me and my mate were fishing a local stillwater one evening last summer, and had nothing for the first 3 hours. It was warm and sunny but muggy and looked like a storm was brewing and coming our way. After a short while the storm hit us, heavy rain and then thunder and lightning ensued. At this exact moment both of us had tearaway takes and landed a couple of nice carp. It didn't stop there, the carp kept coming, everytime we cast in we had takes almost immediately as the rain lashed down and the thunder cracked. By the time the storm had passed, cloud cleared and the late evening sun came back out again we had landed 6 or 7 decent carp each, were soaked to the skin and laughing our heads off at the shear madness of the past hour. Strangely, we had no further bites that evening.

[BoldBear]

Northern eye,
I'm glad that someone else had a similar experience as us (see my first post near the start of this thread); when the violent storm arrived, Instead of scaring the Carp and putting them off feeding; it seemed to wake them up with an appetite.

In our case it happened during a long hot summer and was a very warm clear night at first till the storm arrived.

However I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to fish out in a thunderstorm nowerdays especially with Carbon rods pointing into the air; it would be too dangerous.

Headless,
I would be very interested in your results.

tight lines

Keith (BoldBear)

[northern eye]

Yep Keith, it certainly was a hairy experience fighting and landing the fish and keeping the rods right down above the water. We had already put our brollys down as there were not too many trees around the lake so we didn't want to risk being frazzled!! So instead we got soaked but it sure was worth it...it had been a long hot period in the days leading up to that evening and the storm was quite intense!! After everything had calmed, we sat back in our chairs just blown away by it all and cracked open a beer - we still talk about that night now whenever it starts to bucket down on the bank. Weather, pressure and all that technical stuff is certainly a strange thing and must have some affect on the fish and fishing!!