Barometric Pressure

[CoyoteRWA]

Is there anything out there by way of an authoritative, scientific study that addresses the question "What effect does barometric pressure changes have on fish feeding activity and why?"

Over the years I've heard all sorts of opinions and theories.

I'm just curious what other folks might know.

Thanks

[Doozy]

i'd like to know too

[Pete]

There's no doubt that opinions about barometric pressure range all over the place. It's always struck me that a huge change in barometric pressure will have far less effect on a fish's perceived barometric pressure than moving up or down a few inches in the water column. But never one to accept that there is no effect, I've installed a digital, recording barometer on my boat so I can watch it to see what's going on when fish are biting. So far, what has more affect than anything is whether I have the opportunity to go fishing.

[Bendman]

My Grandpa used to fish small mouth with Buck Perry (don’t know if you’ve heard of him) But they both swore to the effect of barometric pressure. But the thing that they were most concerned with is moon phase. And if you ever saw how many bass that boy could catch It’s hard to argue with that science.

[DJFISHS2XS]

Im not sure how to continue threads. I fished bass tournys for many years. I do feel that the pressure has a huge effect on fish (at least bass) I havent seen the same on salmon in the sound and never seem to notice the difference when fishing rivers. But something turns them fish on to biting...>DJ


I had to edit my post....Im not longer a thread virgin

[7066]

Always catch more sturgeon when the pressure drops. Of course that is usually accompanied by rain so go figure. <font color="green"> </font> <font color="green"> </font>

[Mark Vickers]

7066,

Actually, I've found the opposite (very consistently). When the pressure is dropping, it turns off the sturgeon bite in a big way (at least off of my deck on my floating home).

When the pressure levels off or starts coming back up, the bite picks back up.

Between the two of us, it makes a pretty clear case that our anecdotal evidence proves nothing. I too am interested in some real scientific data on the effects of the barometric pressure.

[CoyoteRWA]

OK...So now I'll tell the rest of the story.

I was out fishing with my friends, Ben and Steve, on Saturday. We put in at Carver on the Clackamas and fished up river and then down river for steelhead using eggs and then sand shrimp (on a double hook arrangement). We side drifted for hours (as well as backbouncing a tailout for a while). Not one stinking bite. And we didn't see anybody else catch anything either. It was a beautiful day but the wind was up. The water was pretty clear and we had high pressure. No bites. No line bumps. No takedowns. No nothing (other than an over active imagination at time co-mingled with misplaced hope).

On Sunday, Ben and I went back out and spent the day on the Willamette. We put in just below Oregon City and trolled with cut herring all the way to Portland in search of springers. Again...it was a beautiful day (with lighter winds but water conditions pretty clear). No hits. No bites. No nothing. (But there were quite a few fish holding in the 20 - 30 foot zone.)

Then we switched from herring to prawns and trolled some more. Still nothing.

And we didn't see anyone else catch anything on Sunday either. So what gives?

Why was the fishing so slow on Saturday and Sunday? Was it the high pressure? Was it the light conditions/visibility of the water? Was it the wind (at least on Sunday)? Who knows?

Anybody else have similar experiences (slow/no bites) on Saturday or Sunday? What's your theory for why the fish weren't biting. (They were there.)

Thanks

[Cosmic Lazy Susan]

I've convinced myself I always do better when the pressure is below 30.00 inches of mercury.

Fished many days with pressure above 30.00 and didn't get a thing, action all around me was slow.

Below 30.00 and I'm catching fish and seeing more action around me.

I keep trying above 30.00, gotta have line in the water etc. etc. and a thousand other well worn cliches.

Dale