Barometer Watchers

[Great White Sturgeon Hunter]

OK How many of you watch the Barometer before you go fishing. I've watching it for for over a year When it's on the rise the fish are not as hungry due to the preasure on their bladder system. If the barometer is on the fall fish feed more. I like to see it below 30. It has fallen 3 tenthsin the last 48 hour. The bite should be on for the Sturgeon Smack Down!!!

But really does anyone follow the Barometer?

[ampersat]

i'll usually check it when i get home. what the barometer is doing is not going to stop me from going out.

it took me until the last line to realize you were talking sturgeon, not salmon.

[ 12-06-2002, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: ampersat ]

[Pete]

Warning, contrarian viewpoint.

I've always figured that with the weight of the water over the fish, the slight change in air pressure would make no difference. Consider this. For every foot of depth a fish changes it's location, the pressure on the fish changes more than the change it ever experiences with a change in the barometer. I've observed fish moving up and down in the water. Do they not bite when they swim into deeper water? Not that I can tell. I don't believe barometric pressure makes any difference. Neither do I believe bathometric pressure has any effect.

[ 12-06-2002, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Pete ]

[husker]

i always believed that fish bit better with a rising barometer.....ie a dropping into shape river......when it starts to rain the barometer drops......fish move

[Pilar]

Pete, there are those who will argue that it makes all the difference.

I doubt it is directly related to the pressure though. For many years the change in barometric pressure has been used for predicting the nearterm weather conditions. A drop over a short time indicates a storm and clouds and/or rain soon. Steady and high is usually unchanging clear weather. Rising pressure means it is going to be windy and clearing.

If you look at it that way it just intuitively makes sense. Fish affected by weather patterns ... hmmmm .. that could work.

[Jsail]

Pete,
It's not the presure of the water, it's the presure on air in the water. When the presure drops the thermocline rises and when it presure rises the thermocline goes down.
About a year ago I seached the web for info on this. It seems that fish are comfortable going to deeper water when the presure rises but are uncomfortable when they have to move up. As I recall the info said that fish will quit eating for 2-3 days when the presure is dropping.
Last January we were sturgeon finshing below Keelly Point an the bite was great; 3-4 fish per hour. We watched a big front roll in, a steady line of low black clouds from the SW. The bite shut down to nill in less than half an hour. The tide wasn't changing and there wasn't a banana anywhere near us.
When I got home I started the search and found the info above. my o2

[Hogmaster]

Yes, they have to go shopping for their little fish umbrellas! :grin: :grin: :grin: