Is there a barometric pressure you try to stay under?

[wasabi_VA 43]

I've heard many say high pressure can turn off the bite. It's a handy excuse when I have another crap day 😨. So is there a barometric forecast that you look at and won't bother going fishing in? For example on my preferred water any wind over 12 mph is just a no-go for me so tend to pass if the next day forecast is calling for winds 12+. 

[J Francho 14,934]

I fish when I can.  Only extreme wind/waves or lightning chase me off the water.

[Todd2 489]

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I fish when I can.  Only extreme wind/waves or lightning chase me off the water.

X2...and cold rain...I can do cold and I can do rain, not both, lol.

[wasabi_VA 43]

I fish when I can too....but starting to wonder if there is something to all the talk about high pressure

[Scott F 3,711]

High pressure days are common and a few days in a row of constant, stable, high pressures can mean great fishing. My belief is that the CHANGE from low to high pressure along with accompanying change in weather, is what is responsible for making fishing tough. 

Except for storms and high winds, I won’t change my fishing plans because of other weather conditions. (Except for very cold temps)

[Mike L 2,863]

The only pressure change that effects me and the fish down here is after a cold front pushes through during the winter months. 

 

Other than that I don't really worry about it. 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[the reel ess 2,119]

I miss enough days due to cold and/or rain and of course work. If I get a day of nice temps and full sun, I won't waste it. That said, there is certainly something to the barometric pressure. Shallow fish are more adversely affected by it.

[Tennessee Boy 532]

I won’t go if the BP is above 32 inHg. 😉

[A-Jay 26,676]

As a big brown bass hunter, high pressure often includes sun and some wind.  Both of which are highly desirable.  Will sdmit to preferring more sun than wind.

A-Jay 

[Jig Man 528]

I track and record lots of things, air temp, water temp, sky, moon wind, etc.  For 2 years I tracked the barometric pressure.   At the end of that time I could not find any significant correlation to the number of fish that I caught and the barometric pressure so I quit checking and logging it.

[WRB 11,402]

You will catch zero fish staying home.

No reason to risk your life fishing in severe weather conditions.

Tom

[jbsoonerfan 1,450]

My buddy and I went fishing Sunday for a couple hours. I only managed to catch one. He said something about the barometric pressure. I just said, I wouldn't have caught any on the couch and being out fishing is a lot better than anything else I would be doing.

[ww2farmer 4,828]

4 hours ago, J Francho said:

I fish when I can.  Only extreme wind/waves or lightning chase me off the water.

This ^^^^

 

Just go fishing. You'd be surprised how well they bite sometimes when its supposed to be tuff, but it works in reverse too...sometimes you think it's going to be on fire and it sucks. You never know until you get there and try. 

[QUAKEnSHAKE 1,368]

4 hours ago, wasabi_VA said:

I've heard many say high pressure can turn off the bite. It's a handy excuse when I have another crap day 😨. So is there a barometric forecast that you look at and won't bother going fishing in? For example on my preferred water any wind over 12 mph is just a no-go for me so tend to pass if the next day forecast is calling for winds 12+. 

You would have to take up another hobby where I live. Today right now is calm at 10mph earlier when I was out fishing 12-20+. 

[Boomstick 562]

I'll go regardless. The way I see it, perhaps it is a tough bite, so when you finally land that fish, it's extra special

 

As far as how to tell the pressure, I'm not really sure but I have developed symptoms of meniere's disease so if the pressure is high, so is the volume of the ringing in my ear.

[CrankFate 309]

3 hours ago, Jig Man said:

I track and record lots of things, air temp, water temp, sky, moon wind, etc.  For 2 years I tracked the barometric pressure.   At the end of that time I could not find any significant correlation to the number of fish that I caught and the barometric pressure so I quit checking and logging it.

I tracked it for more than 2 years and could not find a correlation. It was actually the only thing I ever really tracked. And it accurately had no correlation to any fishing that I did, from small ponds to deep ocean fishing.

[Catt 16,302]

I've read all the research on barometric pressure, water temperatures, moon phases, length of sunlight, & so on.

 

This pre-spawn has debunked every single one! 

 

Everywhere the bass should have been they weren't & everywhere the shouldn't have been they were.

 

Everything they should have been doing they weren't & everything shouldn't have been doing they were.

 

The guys that were successful ignored all of that & simply went fishing!

[Mobasser 821]

When I started, I worried about all this. I quit worrying about barametric pressure, moon phase, etc probably 25 yrs ago. Now I go fishing whenever I can.

[Manly Studson 21]

6 hours ago, A-Jay said:

As a big brown bass hunter, high pressure often includes sun and some wind.  Both of which are highly desirable.  Will sdmit to preferring more sun than wind.

A-Jay 

Well said. I used to fish just for largemouth. But bright skies made that tough on some days. The solution was to target smallmouth. Whatever the weather, as long as it’s safe, I’ll fish in it.

[Bluebasser86 24,088]

I'd rather go than stay home because of the barometric pressure. I've never caught a big one from my couch but I have caught some big ones under less than desirable conditions. 

[Glaucus 1,093]

If I can fish, I fish. I don't care about the rest. I worry about conditions for my own comfort and/or safety, that's it.

[The Bassman 953]

13 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I won’t go if the BP is above 32 inHg. 😉

Well then no fishing on a clear day in Antarctica?

[Brad Reid 196]

There is absolutely NO relationship between atmospheric pressure readings and fishing, shallow or deep, salt or fresh, or any other. As a tool to predict weather? Yes, because we do know that it signals weather changes and various sorts of weather conditions do affect fishing.

 

But, fish simply move around to a greater degree, up and down in the water column, just going about their day-to-day activities where it creates pressures (when they swim down) that far, far exceed any added pressure from the atmosphere pushing down on water.

 

29.5 inHg = 33.41 feet depth; 30.5 inHg = 34.54 ft. 

 

That's a big move in pressure, usually more than a fish would experience over days and days, even weeks. Yet, all a fish would have to do is move 1.13 feet, up or down, in the water column to completely offset air pressing down harder, or less hard, on the water's surface. I won't belabor the point here but there are even more offsetting factors making it even less likely a fish feels anything . . . at all. (water being largely incompressible being one). 

 

To think otherwise, even in the absence of any proof (there is none), is to believe that a fish can discern the difference between the supposed pressure of the atmosphere pressing down or lifting up on water, this, compared to the pressure variances a fish experiences just chasing a minnow around. How?

 

It's just one of these silly ideas that will never go away; we'll be debating this one in 2119.

 

But, to the extent one uses it to predict the weather, great! Better option? Watch the weather report on TV or from some internet source. It'll give you a forecast of sunny or cloudy, windy or dead air, temps, direction of the wind, rain, etc. Those ARE factors that affect how we fish.

 

Brad

 

 

[TOXIC 2,206]

All I know is that if the cows are laying down, the fish won't bite.   Thanks grandpa.  

[J Francho 14,934]

20 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

All I know is that if the cows are laying down, the fish won't bite.   Thanks grandpa.  

Always bet on the horse that poops in the paddock before the race.