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Posted

People say that barometer has nothing to do with fish behavior but my grandpa always said that it did....sometimes I believe the old timers more than the scientists. Who really knows besides the fish...and they ain't talkin' anytime soon.

Posted

Avg at sea level is usually quoted around 29.

You are right on, over 30 is trending high, meaning high clear skies, often with wind on the back side of a low pressure (cold) front. Classic bluebird days. After a couple of stable days of that pressure we get the bright flat days that are so tough. Falling pressure is usually part of a frontal system (and a better bite). Believe stable low pressure is when we get the gray all day rain without wind.

The late Bud Erhardt, of Bull Shoals note, was the first to point some of that out to me.

Posted

I don't think there's any argument that changes in the weather effect the bite, and that is basically all that a barometer indicates.....A change in the current weather trend.

I've never been able to put a pattern to it though, such as " they bite better on a falling barometer", or " they shut down on a rise".

Many times however, I have been on a really good bite and then seemingly for no reason the bite just goes dead. Then within 24-36 hours a significant or noticable weather change will occur.

In a case like THAT the fish seem to be effected by it before any of our "measuring devices" even begin to fluctuate. That has always perplexed me. What IS IT that triggers either the predator or the prey to change its M.O.?

Posted

Dropping or low barometer makes it easier for plankton and zooplankton to move higher in the water column, this gets the baitfish moving around more to feed, which gets bass moving around more to feed. Rising or high pressure pushes the plankton to the bottom...

This may be a bit over simplified but that's the jest of it

Posted

Very interesting observation, Iclass. We all know that the food chain starts with the tiny stuff.

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Posted

Mother nature is way beyond us in years of knowledge & weather predicting and like previously mentioned she ain't talking. I have read and heard many thoughts on this vary matter of the barometer and how it affects fish behavior. Here are my own humble thoughts (It does affect fish). But I'm not totally sold on it alone affecting Large fish like Bass, which we fish for mostly on here. I am sold on the matter that it affects zoo-plankton and small minnow first, thus affecting Bass. That along with the changing weather affects the Bass or other predator species. That is why we can't find any shad on our graphs at times IMHO that comes from the pressure on the smaller fish causing them to vacate the area in search of a more stable environment. The reason we catch fish most of the time is they are in a stable or safe condition ie.. not stressed. Stressed fish can not be caught (legally). Basically the high pressure affects smaller fish first.

Posted

Thinking about this a little more; I'm more of an "opportunity" fisherman. If the weather is decent and I have time to go, I'll go. I might anticipate the fishing to be bad/good depending on the barometric reading, but I'll go anyway.

Posted

Dropping or low barometer makes it easier for plankton and zooplankton to move higher in the water column, this gets the baitfish moving around more to feed, which gets bass moving around more to feed. Rising or high pressure pushes the plankton to the bottom...

This may be a bit over simplified but that's the jest of it

I think this more than an observation. It's cited often and does follow a common sense path. It's easy enough to record the movement of zooplankton and it;s attraction to baitfish, but connecting it to game fish takes a leap of faith.

Today's release is tomorrows gift to another fisherman.

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