I'm normally just a sky watcher. What's the basics on using the Barometric meter to fish by? Fish location and lure stuff. What ever you know will be greatly appreciated.

When the pressure is high, there is an increased amount of pressure put on the fishs' swim bladder, usually will aid in putting a fish "off" of feeding.

Low pressure, just the opposite.

It's not about lure choice or color like a cloudy vs clear day would require, it's more about the chances of there being a good bite or not.

Hope that helps a bit.  I'm sure Chris can go into details for you if needed.

This is strictly my opinion and has been my experience.

When the barometer is moving (up or down) the fish are more active and will feed better.

You can use faster moving baits and cover more water, the fish will have a larger strike zone.

When the barometer is steady (high or low) the fish are less active and tighter to cover.  

You have to slow down and fish tight to cover, try to entice the fish to hit your lure with a reaction strike instead of an actual feeding strike.

Does anybody actually monitor a Barometer gauge while fishing?

I don't need a barometer, I just go by how much my body is

aching.  :

BassNut you ought to get a patent on an ache meter.  ;D

BassNut you ought to get a patent on an ache meter. ;D

If Bassnut's barometer is anything like the one I developed when I got back problems - you seriously don't want one. I would gladly pay (more) to have it removed, and even that hasn't worked so far.

It does make a difference, I think it is when I have my worst days or when the pressure is high and in the 30.'s and dropping or riseing. The faster the change the worse effect it has on me, compareing it to trips that my fishing buddy makes. My worst days ( I don't go, on those days) aren't productive, but the day before is terrific, the day after is fair or maybe my worst is his best. It is something like that. There is defent pattern. It has been fairly constant here until lately and I don't remember exactly what days are best. It seems like I used to kid him, though that he couldn't catch anything due to a guilty conscience.

From what I've experienced, when the barometer has been stable for a few days the fishing is going to be good! If it slowly starts to fall, even better! I have to agree with LBH on the high pressure, that really throws them off! But if I do make it out on days like that, I'm going to fish REAL DEEP! The deeper they are the less affect the barometric pressure has on them. And just the opposite with the low pressure as far as location goes. Something I had noticed this year is the pressure was constantly bouncing up and down quite a bit! And in my opinion, that will really throw them off too! Kinda like driving a vehicle on a very hilly road, up and down and up and down, really not fun on the stomach and I don't feel like eating much after that either!

basser89 nailed it.  A stable barometer will be good fishing, to an extent.  High pressures, stable or not, have never been good for me.  Low pressures always work well and also falling pressure.  

The little line I've always heard is High and rising=not good days(the phrase "not good" is relative), Low and falling = great fishing...steady= take your chances.

Rattletrap, you could be opening a huge messy can of worms on this one. You can get many different opinions as to barometer effects on bass and the chances of the bite before after a pressure change.

There are a few things that will help to understand what is actually happening if you keep a few things in mind. First thing is that the barometer is changing constantly. Small increnmental changes are happening every minute of every day, even when the barometer is so called steady. It is not the small changes that are having a positive or negative effect on the fish, it is the major changes. There are two types of frontal systems that can effect your next fishing trip.

A cold front is by far the most dreaded by a fisherman. Not because of the approaching frontal system, but due to the effect after a cold front has passed. Most cold fronts are accompanied a drastic drop in the barometric pressure as the front approaches. Then a short lived low steady pressure. Then a fast drastic rise in pressure. Sometimes even higher than before the front moved through your area. As the low gives way to high pressure, the winds change direction and funnel cooler or even down right cold air from the N-NE. The high will also bring higher winds. The stronger the high pressure system on the back side of the low/cold front, the higher the wind speeds will be. This occurs more in the late fall through the early spring. A cold front does not always produce percipitation, but if there is enough moisture in the air, it will.

This is only my opinin here, but I feel the greatest effect on the fishing is actually caused at a much smaller level. By this I mean on the zooplankton. Zooplankton are effected becuase they have less tolerance to the drastic change in the temperature that comes with the frontal passage. The bait fish that eat the zooplankton, are effected by not haveing as much of a buffet to choose from for a few days. The baitfish are also effected by the increased light penetraton. These two thing will cause them to become less liklely to be out and about moveing around. First because there diets have become restricted, and because they are now even more visible when in open water.

I said all of that to say this. Fishing can be some of the best of your life just before and as a cold front passes into your area. But it can be the hardest after a cold front passes. Not only because of the increase in the B/P, but due to the increased sunlight. Sunlight does not hurt a basses eyes. If it did, then they would have eye lids so they could close them. It does however it make it harder for them to conceal themselves from their inteded prey. Bass will hide in cover just as much for security as they also do to conserve energy. If catching their prey is hard to do, then they are not going to be actively chasing shad that can see them coming from a greater distance. This would be a waste of energy. Bass have learned over time that their chances for finding food will increase in a few days and they just need to conserve for a few days. So with the after effect of the frontal system still effecting their physical aspect, and the addition of increased light l/m bass are going to be moving to one of two places.

Some bass are going to be pulling back out to deeper water. Some are going to be buried in or even leaning on cover. Grass mats, submerged hydrilla, brush piles, and non-floatin or floating boat docks with vertical posts are good places to start. Floating docks without the post don't seem to be as productive for me. The ones seeking cover are of course the ones that remained shallow, and are going to be more spooked. Flipping and pitching jigs and texas rigged worms tight to cover can be, and normally are the most productive for me. Key word here is tight. The thicker and nastier the cover looks the better chance that it will hold a bass. The more isolated the cover is, the more chances that it will hold multiple bass as well. A quiet approach is a must in this situation. Not only in the lures entry into the water, but in the amount of noise that is made in the boat. Sometimes it is the repeated action of casting to the same spot over and over again, and others it is the continued presence of a shaking lure that is staying too long in the bass' home that will draw the strike. Mostly I start out looking for a reaction bite first and for most. A heavy lure that will punch through a grass mat works wonders for drawing reaction strikes. It just quietly appears from above and the bass has the choice to run from it or remove it from it's home. Most bass are not gong to run from a something invading it's home.

Now for the ones that have moved out to deeper water. This will vary how far and deep they move as to what type of lake your are fishing. A genereal rule of thumb, is they will pull back to the first break line from where they were before the front passes. A break line can be as small as a 2 foot change on some lakes and as much as 50 or more on others. It could nothing more than the creek channel that is winding through a flat. For the ones that have made the drastic move to deeper water, I will more than likely be using the dreaded vertical approach of the drop-shot. Sometimes this is the only thing that will draw a strike. Other times it may be the even more dreaded jigging spoon. If the depth change is not as drastic, as in just sliding futher down a sharp point, then I will use a carolina rigged finnesse worm as well. I am just looking for something that will stay in their faces as long as possible without alot of movement. The fish are not wanting to move much, so they are not going to want a bait that is acting all kinds of active and crazy. The bait should act as if it was effected by the frontal passing also.

Now for the second type of frontal system. A warm front. These is one that can be more detremental to you than the fish. It is mostly associated with the coming of spring and summer. It can bring the onslaught of severe thunderstorms and other severe weather as winter fully looses it's grip and gives way to the coming summer.

Sorry for the long post, but there is alot of thenings that an be said for frontal passages and the effect on fishing. I however will leave it at this.

Good stuff ernel. There is a cypress lake here called Banks Lake that I fish a lot. Gas is keeping from Lakes Seminole and Blackshear. Not real deep spots. 5-6 foot channels.  No real creeks that I'm aware of. 6 ft through out all the trees. It's a tough lake to fish, but I just like the way it looks. Good stuff and good read. You should be writing for somebody. If you are not already. Thanks Again...

Cypress trees are an awsome spot to find bass at almost any given time not just post frontal. The root balls are often hollowed underneath the water line from years of current moving around them. Whether as in the form of a river channel or in the form of wind generated current. They will also have other knobs sticking up around the the tree as well. The bass will use both froms of this cover as both a "resting" spot and a place to ambush prey. I would start with the cypresas trees that are on the outter edge first. I would also look for cypress trees that have some other form of cover near by that would make it different fom the rest of the group. One that is close to the bank but still has water on sidde could pay off as well.

Thanks for the compliment.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1130959191

This is the last thread on pressure we had a coupl of months ago.

I bought a barometer once, just to see any correlations between the bite and the pressure. Unfortunately, I think it was broken because the needle never moved.  >

$10 barometer from Bass Pro Shops.  :

I guess the bottom line is. You don't check the Barometer to see whether to go fishing, but rather check it to see were the fish might be. Right?

     Right and to determine their strike zone.

     Low pressure large strike zone with the fish being more or less shallow and high pressure small strike zone with the fish holding to the bottom. Remeber the strike zone also tell you which presentation will be most productive. large strike zone more hits on a fast vertical presentation like a spinnerbait or crankbait and small strike zone more hits on a slow horizontal presentation like a worm or jig. Also rember that light penetration plays a big role in the strike zone. The more light penetration the smaller the strike zone.  ;D

Peter

Remeber determineing the strike zone is key to consistent success.

The FLP formula helps to understand the strike zone theory.

F: Fish- understanding the behavior of the fish and how the weather and other    factors affect the fish.

L: Location- determining the location of the fish.

P: presentation- determining the best presentation for the conditions you are confronted with.

Now apply what you have learned about barometric pressure to the FLP formula and get to catching!  8-)

Peter

Thanks Peter and everyone else for helping with my Barometer 101 education.  

All I can say is WOW!!  I will have to read all this over again to make sure it all sinks in. Thanks everyone for educating me on this as well.  

Tatakai