Barometric Pressure

[Heavy Jigger]

I have always heard of guys talking about the baro. pressure and how it has an effect on fish but I owuld like some clarification on how and what it does. What happens when it is high and/or what happens what it is low. When is fishing usually better. What do the fish do in either case (ex. do the move into thew shallows to feed or do they go deep?) This is something that I think everyone should know and I really have no clue at all when it comes to this.
-Heavy Jigger-

[Heavy Jigger]

I have always heard of guys talking about the baro. pressure and how it has an effect on fish but I owuld like some clarification on how and what it does. What happens when it is high and/or what happens what it is low. When is fishing usually better. What do the fish do in either case (ex. do the move into thew shallows to feed or do they go deep?) This is something that I think everyone should know and I really have no clue at all when it comes to this.
-Heavy Jigger-

[REW]

It is pretty simple.
Fish have an air bladder which can sense very small changes in the barometric pressure.

Any time that the pressure has been steady - longer the better (nominal 3 days) the fishing is generally considered to be ok.

If the pressure is falling, the fishing generally really picks up.
I suspect that past history has taught the fish that the thing that happens after a falling pressure is high pressure, and that makes them uncomfortable.

When the pressure quickly rises, as happens after a severe storm, and you get the canadian high pressure move in. the fish move deeper, tend to burrow into the seeds, and become very inactive.

Then, if the pressure stays high, they acclimate to the higher pressure and began to feed again more actively.

--
Bottom line - good fishing on a steady pressure - especially if it has been steady for several days.

Excellent fishing on a falling pressure. If you can hold out in the teeth of an oncoming storm - you can often have outstanding fishing.

Poor to very bad fishing on a quickly rising or very high pressure, that has not been there for very long.

Take care
REW

[REW]

It is pretty simple.
Fish have an air bladder which can sense very small changes in the barometric pressure.

Any time that the pressure has been steady - longer the better (nominal 3 days) the fishing is generally considered to be ok.

If the pressure is falling, the fishing generally really picks up.
I suspect that past history has taught the fish that the thing that happens after a falling pressure is high pressure, and that makes them uncomfortable.

When the pressure quickly rises, as happens after a severe storm, and you get the canadian high pressure move in. the fish move deeper, tend to burrow into the seeds, and become very inactive.

Then, if the pressure stays high, they acclimate to the higher pressure and began to feed again more actively.

--
Bottom line - good fishing on a steady pressure - especially if it has been steady for several days.

Excellent fishing on a falling pressure. If you can hold out in the teeth of an oncoming storm - you can often have outstanding fishing.

Poor to very bad fishing on a quickly rising or very high pressure, that has not been there for very long.

Take care
REW

[Paul Myrdahl]

I’ve read in a few article that the pressure in water is far greater than the air pressure and that a fish can compensate for big changes in air pressure by moving just a few feet deeper or shallower in the water column. The bad bite people experience during rising pressure or high pressure may be from other effects that coincide with pressure changes. Bright sunlight, cooler temps, thunder, wind direction/strength and so on. I don’t go fishing with the idea that fish will or won’t be biting due to barometric pressure. Instead I try to figure out where the fish will move from the changes that coincide with barometric pressure. My tourney experiences have shown that limits come to the scale no matter what state barometric pressure is in.

[Paul Myrdahl]

I’ve read in a few article that the pressure in water is far greater than the air pressure and that a fish can compensate for big changes in air pressure by moving just a few feet deeper or shallower in the water column. The bad bite people experience during rising pressure or high pressure may be from other effects that coincide with pressure changes. Bright sunlight, cooler temps, thunder, wind direction/strength and so on. I don’t go fishing with the idea that fish will or won’t be biting due to barometric pressure. Instead I try to figure out where the fish will move from the changes that coincide with barometric pressure. My tourney experiences have shown that limits come to the scale no matter what state barometric pressure is in.

[Kolby]

I feel that fishing seems to be tougher after a storm because conditions were so optimal for feeding during the incoming storm (Wind, rain, and lighting confusing baitfish) That the oportunistic walleye really stuffs himself. Some fish in the same system will not have capitalized as much as others - these are the fish to target.

[Kolby]

I feel that fishing seems to be tougher after a storm because conditions were so optimal for feeding during the incoming storm (Wind, rain, and lighting confusing baitfish) That the oportunistic walleye really stuffs himself. Some fish in the same system will not have capitalized as much as others - these are the fish to target.

[The Bullhead]

This one has always perplexed me also, please bear with me as I try to explain why.

Trying to think like a fish here,

Lets just say I'm a walleye, and I happen to be hangin out in 18ft of water....right on the bottom. Now, after several days of steady pressure, a high pressure system moves in. Prior to this high atmospheric pressure, sitting in 18 ft of water, I had X amount of pressure exerted on my air bladder from the 17.5' of water above me and Y amount of pressure exerted upon me from the (steady) atmospheric pressure in place. This amount of pressure (x+y) is what I am comfortable with, due to the fact that I've been exposed to it for 3-5 days, continually. The Canadian high pressure that has just moved in has now increased the y variable. I now feel as though a Crestliner has sunk, and settled on top of me... ;) In order to temporarly relieve or help equalize this pressure would the fish not move shallower, say into 8-10ft or maybe even 6ft or less of water? Would this not accomodate for the increase in atomospheric pressure, and as the fish became more accustomed to the increase in pressure.....it would gradually work it's way out to deeper waters?

Maybe I'm all wet here...... <--- no pun inteneded.

Ryan

P.S. I'm a Lund guy. Fire away. :)

[Kolby]

Thinking like a fish huh... I didn't know walleyes understood algebra, you must chase some pretty smart fish! - Hey, you said fire away!!

[The Bullhead]

;)

[Starfish]

I've heard it many times and I've observed it myself many times-- just as REW described so well-- but it still baffles me, since a full atmosphere of pressure (29.92 inches mercury, or 14.7 pounds per square inch) is the same as that exerted by 32 feet of water. So, very roughly, each foot of water is equivalent to about an inch of mercury pressure change... so the fish really could move up one or two feet of depth and compensate for the pressure change (a 2-inch pressure change is pretty typical for a major cold front, it seems to me). But there's no denying the effect on the fish...