Effects of Pressure Changes

[quackquackboom]

It seems as if the air pressure has been fluctuating largely lately. i know that conditions are always a combination of many factors but does the high pressure seem to have any particular effect on fish/bait?

[mwardncsu]

I've read and had others tell me that high pressure turns off the fish - effectively gives then a headache and they won't eat as readily. Of course with an extended period of high pressure they'd have to eat at some point and it perhaps eases over time on them.

I dont know - sort of makes sense but may be all BS. I've learned to go fishing when you can go fishing

[yellowdog]

I have in my journal from years ago that during the summer if a big thunderstorm came in quickly and the pressure dropped rapidly, the fish would turn on. I remember being in Gills Creek and hadn't had a bite all morning on a hot summer day. A thunderstorm came up and I set up in shallow water with free lined shad. The fish went crazy! They were hammering my shad on every pass. It was lightening and thundering to beat the band and no, I shouldn't have stayed out but I was young and dumb then. The fish bit hard for 30 minutes and soon as the storm passed they totally quit. I pulled bait thru that same area several more times and couldn't get a nervous shad after the storm.

[BentRod]

I've waxed the stripers on a high pressure in shallow water, but I agree high pressure is generally bad along with a cold snap setting in.

I think the theory behind it is that high pressure effects their air bladder which pushes on their stomach, effectively making them feel full or discomfort. And a falling pressure has the opposite effect on their stomach making them eager to feed. Having said that, once the pressure is low, I think there's some discomfort there too related to their air bladder, so they'll generally change depths to stabilize it which is why you often hear us say "we killed em and then they shut down completely."

[striperjohn]

I think it's one of those mysteries that may never be solved until fish start communicating with us. I do know the worst type of fishing days for me seem to be bluebird skies and sunny. I've always called rainy, misty, dreary days (good for ducks only) Striper days simply because I've had so much luck in crappy weather. I've always tried to go fishing on those days because the fish seem to turn on. ( of course it might help that the idiots stay home too) Then of course you toss the wind into this mix and....

[Gator]

Check out this article. It's a good read. Not exactly sure what the BP does to fish but I can agree with mward and striperjohn on this one. I for one am not a fair weather fisherman. I like it when it is nasty. Only because that's when I can fish.


www.weather.com/sports-recreation/fishing/news/fishing-barometer-20120328

[prodigal]

I have preached for years that an "approaching" thunderstorm means fish on! In my experience, both lake and river, they feed hard and until the storm "sets in" then quit as quickly as they started. Also, when they do quit you may as well quit yourself, because it was always a day or more before they fed again. It always worked like a clock for us. More so on the river than the lake. I mean we planned our trips around it. After reading the link posted I now understand why the catfish were always effected more by it than the bass, because they have a larger air bladder. I always knew the approaching storm meant the fish went crazy, now I understand why. It is both hard and crazy to continue wading in the river when the thunder and lightning are upon you, but it's also hard to stop before they do!!

[striperjohn]

I used to have those hot miserable days of dragging bait, no fish etc. Then a thunderstorm would roll in and they would come up on top and hit like crazy. It might have something to do with the shad moving up into that cooler water. I just love fishing in the rain.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using proboards

[Eric]

Here's another interesting article:

Fishing Fronts: How Storms Affect Fishing

[Deleted]

I do not see how air pressure matters one bit to a fish. Let's say that a world record breaking tornado visits SML immediately after a world record breaking high pressure system. In other words, the barometric pressure drops from 32 to 26 inHg instantaneously. This would be a change of 6inHg. With me?

Okay.. now an atmosphere of pressure is approximately 30inHg. Thus, this catastrophic event would equal 1/5th of an atmosphere change. Still with me?

One atmosphere is equal to about 30 feet of water depth. So... This catastrophic event is equivalent to a fish moving approximately 6 feet up or down in the water column in terms of pressure change.

Now I'm not a striper, but I am quite sure that if I was, I would still drink NOS and move up and down more than 6 feet in the water column many, many times a day. And it ain't that pressure drop that I notice, it's the sudden cloud cover that makes me hungry because I can still see pretty good but that there big bait can't see me as easy.

My 02.

[yellowdog]

Stripedyam, maybe the fish are holding at say 15 feet prior to this "event", then the pressure drops and the 15 feet they are comfortable at is now 9 feet(to use your calculations), so in very short order the stripers have moved up. I would guess any bait that was above them when they were at 15 feet would also move up when the pressure drops(they sure won't last long if they hang around at the same depth as the stripers). This would create a situation where the bait is now constrained in shallow water-sounds like we now have the predators just below the bait and the stripers react by doing what they do best-eat easy to get bait.
What I'm saying is that maybe the pressure drop somehow causes the fish to change depths and that creates a situation where feeding is optimal, and not that the pressure makes them "hungry" per se.

[yellowdog]

Stripedyam, maybe the fish are holding at say 15 feet prior to this "event", then the pressure drops and the 15 feet they are comfortable at is now 9 feet(to use your calculations), so in very short order the stripers have moved up. I would guess any bait that was above them when they were at 15 feet would also move up when the pressure drops(they sure won't last long if they hang around at the same depth as the stripers). This would create a situation where the bait is now constrained in shallow water-sounds like we now have the predators just below the bait and the stripers react by doing what they do best-eat easy to get bait.
What I'm saying is that maybe the pressure drop somehow causes the fish to change depths and that creates a situation where feeding is optimal, and not that the pressure makes them "hungry" per se.

[Deleted]

Jan 14, 2015 9:33:06 GMT -5 yellowdog said:

Stripedyam, maybe the fish are holding at say 15 feet prior to this "event", then the pressure drops and the 15 feet they are comfortable at is now 9 feet(to use your calculations), so in very short order the stripers have moved up. I would guess any bait that was above them when they were at 15 feet would also move up when the pressure drops(they sure won't last long if they hang around at the same depth as the stripers). This would create a situation where the bait is now constrained in shallow water-sounds like we now have the predators just below the bait and the stripers react by doing what they do best-eat easy to get bait.
What I'm saying is that maybe the pressure drop somehow causes the fish to change depths and that creates a situation where feeding is optimal, and not that the pressure makes them "hungry" per se.

Keep in mind that a change of 6 inHg is an impossible event. Additionally, pressure doesn't drop in an instant. A typical change in pressure during the course of a major... Major storm would be more like 2 inHg which is approximately 2 feet of water. Finally, if the fish wanted to adjust to lower air pressure they would move down in the water column.

It seems to me that fish are more equipped to deal with pressure than we are. Right? I don't know about you, but my tummy doesn't ache when a storm approaches or after it arrives. However, if you go to the grocery store before an approaching storm you will notice that more milk and bread are being bought.

[piper]

www.in-fisherman.com/bass/barometric-pressure-and-bass/

[mwardncsu]

Jan 14, 2015 10:56:05 GMT -5 Yam said:

Jan 14, 2015 9:33:06 GMT -5 yellowdog said:

Stripedyam, maybe the fish are holding at say 15 feet prior to this "event", then the pressure drops and the 15 feet they are comfortable at is now 9 feet(to use your calculations), so in very short order the stripers have moved up. I would guess any bait that was above them when they were at 15 feet would also move up when the pressure drops(they sure won't last long if they hang around at the same depth as the stripers). This would create a situation where the bait is now constrained in shallow water-sounds like we now have the predators just below the bait and the stripers react by doing what they do best-eat easy to get bait.
What I'm saying is that maybe the pressure drop somehow causes the fish to change depths and that creates a situation where feeding is optimal, and not that the pressure makes them "hungry" per se.

Keep in mind that a change of 6 inHg is an impossible event. Additionally, pressure doesn't drop in an instant. A typical change in pressure during the course of a major... Major storm would be more like 2 inHg which is approximately 2 feet of water. Finally, if the fish wanted to adjust to lower air pressure they would move down in the water column.

It seems to me that fish are more equipped to deal with pressure than we are. Right? I don't know about you, but my tummy doesn't ache when a storm approaches or after it arrives. However, if you go to the grocery store before an approaching storm you will notice that more milk and bread are being bought.

I always love the winter-time threads when everyone is house-bound, itchin' to be fishin'