Cold Fronts Temp. or Pressure change?

[Eyelander]

I've read a lot on cold fronts and most people seem to focus on the temperature change as being the factor that shuts down the bite. I was wondering could the change in barometric pressure actually be the culprit. I studied meteorology and I know from experience that when a cold front comes in it is usually followed by high pressure, and lower humidity. could this be part of the problem??

[Glyde Ryder]

Dont know why you havent had much response so far, I suspect nobody knows for sure. I fish both Kansas (shallower, lower clarity) and Missouri reservoirs (deeper, quite clear, especially Soutern Missouri). I believe the barometer fall accompanying the cooler air is the culprit. Fish feel discomfort, and like us when you dont feel very good, you dont eat.
Usually when a front hits, my electronics go blank. They hunker down and lockjaw and even strawberry shortcake wouldnt work. This happened to me last week on Stockton Lake in Missouri. 25 foot active fish dropped to 40-50 foot. I can sometimes make them bite (reluctantly) by yo yoing jig/crawlers up and down the vertical walls through shad scholls, but it is a challenge. Any structure that tapers doesnt work on these fish. Fish at these depths experience inflated gas bladders when brought up from those depths, so that has to be dealt with.
In lower clarity Kansas waters , if you fish the wind, pressure changes dont seem to have as much effect. I believe pressure is the problem. Maybe a knowledgeable marine biologist could help us out.

[Stezostedion vitreum man]

Eyelander,

This cold front phenomenon has been tried to be explained away by the best, with little success. Taking water temperatures into consideration, water retains it's heat (temperature) for a much longer time interval, than say land. Therefore, the water temperature in a 24 hour period will not cool off that radically. Remember, when we are talking water temperature, we are talking temperatures of varying depths, not surface temperatures. Therefore, since there is no drastic temperature change at the depths where most fish are located, in should not be a factor in a change in their behavior.

Barometric pressure on the other hand, may affect fish, but why? A period of high pressure after a cold front seems to negatively affect fish feeding patterns. Logically, however, fish located at depths of say 20 feet, should not be greatly impacted by an increase of the air pressure above. Many fish will go deeper as a response to the storm than has preceded this high, since lightning and thunder will "spook" them. Also, as you probably know, they seem to be able to sense the oncoming change and will feed before the storm. This, however, does not explain their behavior after the storm has passed.

One factor that has been suggested, is that it is neither the tempereature nor the air pressure that influences their behavior, but the mile-high skies that usually follow a storm and that are associated with the high-pressure conditions. This allows for the deeper penetration of light waves into the water which affects their behavior. As we all know, walleyes eyes are very sensitive to light, and all of us prefer a light walleye chop to facilitate our fishing.

The bottom line, however, is that there has been many theories suggested, but none adquately explains the effect of a cold front on fish behavior. This is just another reason why that great game fish and predator, the walleye, keeps our interest. Good luck and good fishing.

Remember to keep your eyes open and your feet dry.

S.v.m

[M.R.Fish]

After many years of considering the subject and reading several studies tempature is usually considered to be the culprit. Many fish species react with skin contraction at depths of up to 100 feet, with tempature changes at the surface of as little as 1/10 of a degree. Fronts cold or warm also work to help stablize temp for example, warm fronts in winter tend to work in the anglers favor as do mild cold fronts in mid-summer. Severe fronts may affect all fish species in the water you are fishing, while a mild front might only affect the prey fish thus a negitive for feeding predators. To apply this fish the conditions, a front that bring a tempature favorable to walleyes and prey fish, I.E. mid-summer cold front that brings shallow water temp from the 80*f. range to 70*f. range may stimulate prey fish to feed and walleyes to follow. Inversely, a severve cold front in early spring will cause prey and walleyes to hold tight to the structure with little or no movement or feeding, adapting to this with smaller lures or bait moved slowly accross the structure (dragin' jigs with minnies) might be a presentation of choice for these conditions. The barometer changes are always associated with tempature change, positive or negitive to fish behavior. Observe and fish the conditions with the apropreate presentation, it'll put more fish in the boat.

the're always bitin'

[Eyelander]

Thanks for the input. It has been consistantly hot with unusually high Baro. readings along with very low humidity for the last 5 days here in PA.
Opening day is Saturday and wouldn't you know it a cold front is forcasted for late friday:( They are predicting a dry frontal passage and this is due to the low humidity and high baro. so the only thing that will really change is wind direction, speed, and temperature So this will be interesting to see if the bite is on or not. I am starting a weather log including water temps. etc. and just about any variable I can think of.

I will keep you guys posted on the results. Especially on what happens Saturday. Good luck out there I hope yall murder 'em.

[g]

g

[Eyelander]

Is there anybody else out there with any input on this subject, if so please post.

[Eyelander]

Well the front came through about 6 AM and that didn't seem to have any impact on the bite Steady action all day. Lot of males and one 31 inch female that was so skinny and sick looking it only weighed 3 or 4 lbs. Anyway the temperature had dropped 20 degrees for a high from the previous 4 days but there was no real change in Barometric pressure or humidity,water temps at 57 - 59 degrees, a definate change in wind speed and direction, choppy all day.
I guess Baro. pressure has more to do with walleye activity than temperature when it comes to the dredded cold front.

[freakeye]

Gotta love it

[EAGLE EYES]

From my experience, I've noticed both temp. and pressure to play a very tricky game with fish activity. First of all, fish that are seasonal in shallow waters will react to the cold front from the changing surface water temp almost immediately. If the fish cannot find a comfort level within this shallow water it will vacate the area. However, most of the time this shallow water area, usually holds an area of comfort to hold these shallow water fish. The cold frontal movement like stated earlier, is usually followed by a high pressure system. So, while the front is moving through and the pressure is on the rise, fish can be very active at this time. After the front has passed however, The fish activity almost always slows down. In MHO, this occurance is a combination of both Barometric change and surface temp change. The larger fish that are holding deeper during

[GORD]

Since we are pretty much all agreed that even the experts aren't sure, perhaps we should come at this problem from a differant angle. The issues we should be dealing with are... 1. Where can you find the walleye under these conditions? 2. How can you catch them?

[EAGLE EYES]

Not all of my original post went up?

As I was saying... The larger fish of the deeper water are effected by the front just as much as the smaller bait fish. The change in temp. alters the location of the bait fish, and then in a chain of events alters the larger predators. The fish during this time, not only move to different areas and depths to find comfort, but they also stop feeding during these times. Their very tiny little brains will not allow them feeding instincts and finding comfort at the same time. In MHO, fish are always hungry, but they do not always eat. I guess if I was to pick a location to fish Walleyes during the after cold front period, I would look for the deeper water and use baits that are normally bottom dwelling critters... May the fish be with you! EE

[Stezostedion vitreum man]

All these tidbits of information on how fish react to cold fronts through personal observation, are fine and good, but what about the "exception" to these observable rules.

I have, and I'm sure many others have also, that when a cold front is moving through with it's cold temperatures and blowing winds that sometime fishing can be the best. I have caught some of my largest walleyes under these types of conditons. When most people are staying home because of the weather, some of the largest walleyes in that system are biting. Now granted, most of this experience has been in Canada, where a person is paying good money for a fishilng trip and goes out almost no matter what the weather. However, in most cases, a walleye is a walleye and will react similar under similar conditions.

There are no hard, fast rules when it comes to these times. I have found walleyes deep and I have found them shallow. I have found them to be biting and found them to be off the bite. One thing I have learned is to always expect the unexpected when it comes to walleye fishing and that there is always and exception to the so called " rules". If someone could figure out what the walleyes were doing in all conditions, he would indeed be a truly rich man. With that said, have a good opener and good fishing to all of you.

Remember to keep your eyes open and your feet dry.

S.v.m

[FireTiger]

The question should be how do Cold fronts and Presure changes affect the walleyes PREY species and there forage, It's been my experience that Pre-front even in a post spawn situation is the best time to fish,followed second by a driving rain,which makes most fisherman run for the docks, the various micro-organism's and the small fry that feed on them will be most temp.sensitive