Magothy Chain Pickeral, Saturday, Nov 21

[Mark]

Yesterday's barometric pressure was relatively high reaching 30.2 which is generally thought to suppress fish activity.

However, the air pressure usually drops somewhat during the day as the atmosphere cools. A falling barometer is thought to promote fish activity. Fish are very sensitive to changes in air pressure -- think of it as weight upon the water which they can feel.

Maybe that's what happened yesterday, Tim.

Yesterday's pond bite was similar. Basically, nothing until the sun got lower and the air got cooler. In fact, I noticed the water got warmer than the air. My catches occurred between 1:00 and 4:00 pm. Prior to that it was merely casting practice.

[Tim Elliott]

And it is the barometric pressure that I did not take into any consideration, one of the factors that I least understand, but wish to gain a better understanding. Very good point Mark.

Most of what we hear or read regarding barometric pressure and fishing typically relates to largemouth bass, yet they obviously are not the only fish affected by the pressure changes. I’m curious to know if each species of fish responds differently, or if we could generalize a pattern given that they respond to the pressure similarly. (Such as all fish becoming more active during a pressure drop, which seems to be the case.)

[Mark]

Tim,

Maybe shallow water fish are affected more than others. That would mean minnows and other bait fish would increase their activity during a pressure drop which may encourage feeding by predators -- the same way a moving tide can dislodge baitfish from hiding places increasing predatory feeding levels.

Who knows for sure? We can only judge by patterns of behavior we observe. I have gone out prior to rain when the the barometer was surely dropping expecting an active bite and have been disappointed. On the other hand, I've had some very good outings on cloudy days before rain.

But it is interesting that local reports on this forum often synchronize in terms how active the fish were in different bodies of water at the same time. One commonality to those reports is the barometric pressure. I think it does play a role.

[Magothyman]

Mark—thanks for the tips/advice. I will def try some different lures and vary their sizes. I probably can’t get out until Sunday or Monday. Al