The Barometer and Steelhead

[Paman]

Does anyone follow the barometer readings and base their decision if to go fishing or stay home. The past two weekends the baraometric pressure was low and I got skunked both times. This morning the barometer rose sharply which is a indication that the fish should have been more active.
was anyone out fishing this morning. I am looking for any advantage to catch a steelhead or maybe an excuse for getting skunked.

[Slow and Low]

I look at it all the time. I still go fishing, the fish don't have a fancy watch. To not catch steelhead is not strange at all.

[Mad Mikey]

I've never worried about it. Water temp/light/flow/presentation. Steelhead feel more pressure than a barometer just by changing depth, IMO.


Either that or you ain't holdin' yer' jaw right... :wink:

By all means that would not keep me home from a fishing trip.

It's better than being at work, just go. It's a fish with a brain the size of a pea. Don't overcomplicate it.

Just go! :twocents:

[salmonfisher77]

If it helps with your study I hooked 3 fish today! Last weekend also hooked fish and the weekend before yep you guessed it, hooked fish!

[Slow and Low]

You can't catch 'em if you don't go!

This job thing is killing me:-(

[Wild Chrome]

Pressure makes a huge difference with warmwater fish, esp bass in lakes. A sudden low, followed by a rise and sunny skies will kill the bass bite for days. Steelhead in rivers, I don't think it matters much. Water level and temp are much more important IMHO.

[K-sigfish]

Salmonfisher you guys got some today ehh? glad to hear your record for steel is improving. Did you actually hookem this time or just let the people in your boat do the hard part?

[salmonfisher77]

You know how it is to have a driftboat! I row and everybody catches fish!!! Thats not the way its supposed to work? And the way I figure I hook the fish with plugs, while I just need the guy in the front to reel it in for me!:D

Salmonfisher you guys got some today ehh? glad to hear your record for steel is improving. Did you actually hookem this time or just let the people in your boat do the hard part?

[TheWaker]

I think barometer has much more influence on steelhead in the summer months. After a long hot spell say in August, a dropping barometer and a bit of rain will fire the fish up without a doubt. I remember one hot august day when you could actually feel the baro dropping as we fished. By evening a light mist was falling and the skater fishing just went off the hook. These were fish that were hard to catch a day before and were leaping at everything you threw now. That night and the next day were some of the most epic surface fishing I have ever witnessed. We rose and hooked fish everywhere we went. It was nuts! The barometer had everything to do with those incredible fishing conditions. It was as they say the perfect storm. Plenty of fish around they just needed a pressure change to rile them up to want to chase something. I would never miss a falling barometer type scenario in summer if I can help it.

I look outside to get my barometer reading, if it's cloudy it's dropping baby.


Mark

[Pounder]

Some people just cant catch Steelhead. My neph. is a very good fishermen, maybe the best sturgen/Salmon/ocean fishermen I know. He just cant get the Steelhead thing!! I on the other hand, have a hard time not catching Steelhead. I have been "SKUNKED" many a day. But more then not I hook up. I really belive its confedience in what you know, and how you use it.....Stelhead has always been my thing and many of sleepless nights waiting for the summer/winter run of the ALL-MIGHTY STEELIE!!:thisbig:

[genghis]

Jed Davis never mentions barometric pressure. Water temp, clarity, flow and lighting.

[Ty]

Jed Davis never mentions barometric pressure. Water temp, clarity, flow and lighting.


Cause Jed Davis fish's the mid West much more then the west coast... I have found that dropping or unsteady barometer is a bad thing for steelhead.

[Wild Chrome]

You have to keep in mind that when the barometric pressure drops, lots of other weather and river events occur too (storms/rain move in, cloud cover and cooler temps in the summer, change of wind direction, etc. The cloud and rain issues are huge influences on steelhead.

Also, with fish in heavy current, there are pressure changes occuring constantly in the water with hydrolics, seams, rapids, etc. That's one reason I don't think they're affected as much by barometric pressure in current as fish are in lakes.

Jed's book was written in 1985. As I read it, he wrote mostly about the southern Willamette Valley and the central OR coast. Last I heard, he was living in Seattle and wasn't steelheading any more due to a back injury. I don't think he seriously fished the midwest since the 70's?

[nookslayer]

I have caught fish on both sides of the barometric pressure. I don't think that it would ever impact my desicion to chase fish.

[bbaley]

Some people just cant catch Steelhead. My neph. is a very good fishermen, maybe the best sturgen/Salmon/ocean fishermen I know. He just cant get the Steelhead thing!! I on the other hand, have a hard time not catching Steelhead. I have been "SKUNKED" many a day. But more then not I hook up. I really belive its confedience in what you know, and how you use it.....Stelhead has always been my thing and many of sleepless nights waiting for the summer/winter run of the ALL-MIGHTY STEELIE!!:thisbig:


you are either a liar, or you need to TAKE ME WITH YOU !!!!!!!!!

[FishonDon]

Caught steelhead during both high and low pressure, but have more confidence when the clouds are overhead.

I think it matters a whole lot more for salmon. High pressure with them is a definite benefit. :wink: