# Barometer????



## Catfish John (May 10, 2004)

Ok me and a buddy have a favorite spot that everytime we've been there produced fish.... some nice fish i might add.... but this past weekend... we had a horrible two nights fishing... sat night.... it was cold... about 55... and barometer was around 30.40 caught one small fish.... river level has been stable for about a week or so.... sunday night... same temps but barometer was around 30.45.... no fish caught... and only had 3 runs... and the water level was the same.... have you guys found that when the baro is that high you dont catch fish... or was we just due for a no flattie landed night after having about 4 weeks of always landing fish??? we havent really paided too much to barometer but this last weekend with basically no action we paid attention to it .... so do you guys have any info that could help .... its rough going to that spot for a few weeks and always netting fish... (we know they are there) to getting skunked.... 


thanks....



john


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

I was out after flatheads on the scioto sat and sunday, without a hit also..Could very well have been the barometric pressure...I usually do best with a pressure of around 29.50


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## shuvlhed1 (Apr 13, 2004)

I caught nothing in 3 outings this past weekend. Now normally that isn't saying a whole lot, as I seem to be slumping this past few weeks, but I didn't even SEE any fish caught. Rough weekend.


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## KSUFLASH (Apr 14, 2004)

What I noticed personally about the barometer is not only the pressure at that paticular time, but also is wheather it is falling or rising. Obviously if it is falling, a low pressure system(storm/rain) is moving in. I have no idea what this relates to when catfishing, but when I am bass/pike/walleye fishing it seems to me that when the pressure is beginning to fall, I do fairly well. If the pressure is really high for a sustained ammount of days, then I have troubles getting bites....

just my .02 cents.

flash-------------------------------------out


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

The change in pressure killed the bite!  

I took a trip to CJ Brown and hit some of my best channel cat spots. Bites were few - we caught 4 channels in 6 hours of fishing between 4 guys!  
All 4 fish came in a 30 minute period right at dark, then nothing! It seems that any time there is a change in the pressure the fish react. I've seen the opposite reaction too - a feeding frenzy. It just seems that the "good" reactions are few!


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

I guess I'm in the minority, but I had better than average luck Sat. night. Landed a total of 5 flatheads and a couple channels, which is pretty good for me on a lake. Not all very big, but good numbers. Of course, I didn't get a bite til after 2:30 am.


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

Mike maybe I should have fished longer?..I never fish past two in the morning when after flatheads..I used to alot, but never caught anything past 2am, so now I usually start packing up at 1am....The vast majority of the flats I have caught in my life have come between 9-11pm.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

I always did the same thing, but a couple years ago I decided that I was spending as much or more time preparing to fish (getting bait, driving, walking, etc.) as I was actually fishing. I felt I was cheating myself out of fishing time, so I figured why not just fish the whole night. It took some getting used to, but it has paid off. Most of the fish still come before midnight, but it only takes one good one to make staying worth while.


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

I did well on the river in Indiana Saturday night, went out with a friend in his boat we managed 22 fish the biggest being 13#8oz. Channel cat, man what a hog, thought it was a flathead the way he fought, just bulldozing it in the water. Pulled him out of a 55 foot hole, took a bit of time getting him to the boat.

Bites were coming and going, we would have poles going down all at once then nothing, moved around quite a bit and always were getting bites, lots of fishermen on the river, only saw one barge............Doc


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## catfishhunter33 (Apr 6, 2004)

jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj


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## Abu65 (Apr 17, 2004)

I used to watch the barometer alot, I think it affects the overall bite, not the location of the bite. But I have quit watching because I am going to go fishing regardless, like the old saying is the best time to go fishing is when you can! Now I try to pay attention more to things that affect where the fish will be under certain conditions so you can find what fish are feeding, things like water temp. ,length of day, moon phase, current speed ect. I never felt like the barometer would push them out to deep water or put them on the bank or in the creeks ect......Abu65


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## spiff (Jun 3, 2004)

Even when I was a boy and fished with my grandpa, whenever a storm was moving in (barometer pressure drop) I would catch fish, especially catfish. Couple of weeks ago when the rains came through, all my friends packed up before the rain hit. No fish after 3 hours. As soon as they left and it started raining, I caught 4 channels, 1-2-3-4. After the storm passed...nada. I think the cats come up to see what the rain knocked down into the water to eat. I always fish more shallow during rain and have much better luck than my buddies.

I fish up in Canada at least once a year, and when the pressure changes fast, no bite. Same here on the Ohio & LMR. I wonder if biologists have noted the effects of pressure on gamefish? This weekend sucked for me on the Ohio...another backstroker, several runs and a smile from a gar cruising by that looked about the size of a dolphin. They have apparently fixed the locks in Louisville...barges every hour or less on the upper Markland pool...geez. I was bank fishing and the river went up about 2-3 feet in one hour after the storms went through. When it got high enough to force me to move, I packed up for the night... Might try some tonight....might not. August is not making me very happy.


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## katfish (Apr 7, 2004)

> I wonder if biologists have noted the effects of pressure on gamefish?


Spiff
Biologists have noted the effect of barometer readings on fish.
Barometric pressure and head pressure (a pressure exerted by water depth)
will combine to a total pressure surrounding fish. Head pressure remains fairly constant according to depth of water but barometric pressure often changes.

Fish achieve nuetral bouyancy by putting air in their swim bladder. Fast changes in barometic pressure causes an imbalance for the fish. Either they must equalize their bouyancy to compensate for the barometric change, adjust their depth to compensate, or wait until the barometric pressure returns to equal their present bouyancy.

Larger fish are more adversely affected by rapid barometric change (because they must have larger adjustment to their swim bladder and are more dependent on accurate movement) and it takes them longer to readjust to barometric changes.

For fishermen this normally means that rapid barometric change is a bad thing.
Springtime is often a time of rapid and drastic barometric change. You can observe that some days everyone catches lots of fish and the next day no one can. If I had a nickel for every time I heard "You oughtta been here yesterday" I would have to hire several teenagers to carry them.


Another observation I have made is the effect of barometric pressure on water. If there is a rapid drop in barometric pressure many things happen.
Algae on the bottom of lakes and ponds have less total pressure and become bouyant. This causes algae and other debris to float up. Many reports of baitfish so thick you could walk on them are after a pressure drop when shad and other minnows feed on algae that had been held on bottom by pressure.

Barometric pressure as it relates to fishing is a tough call. The speed of the rise/fall and the duration of the change all effect fish. Fish all have to eat sometime. The closest tip I can give you is what I have discovered myself.

After 3 days of the same weather fish will bite. 3 days of good weather or 3 days of bad weather, it doesn't matter as long as the fish have got their balance for that particular pressure they will feed.

I have other theories why predators feed while it rains that are not related to barometric pressure.


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## DavidWS10 (Apr 5, 2004)

Well said Robby, and a very interesting read. But in my case this past Saturday evening, I caught my personal best flathead @ around 17 pounds (definitely 31 inches, though). I know, not nearly as large as the hawgs Doc, Jack, Mike and Robby have caught, but still my personal best. And that wasn't my only fish of the night. I believe had I stayed a little longer, I'd have caught more.


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