The Truth About Barometric Pressure

It is important to remember that these are still just theories, and there are some who believe pressure has little to do whether bass will bite. But hey, who better to trust than people who have experienced the highs and lows firsthand? The consensus among those anglers is to avoid fishing when barometric pressure has peaked. It’s raining out and the c­hange of air pressure has you moving slow and figh­ting fatigu­e. Well, humans aren’t alone in feeling this change in equilibrium.

Otherwise, if inHg can be considered normal, you’ll find that the pressure drops as a storm moves in. You’ll want to monitor the barometric pressure during either of these times, as both can indicate the prime time for fishing. At high altitude, there is less air over you than if you were at sea level – therefore, a high-altitude location has a lower barometric pressure than a location at sea level. If the barometer is stable over a long period of time , the fishing is usually better than average as the food chain establishes a regular rhythm. Although high pressure makes for tough fishing, there are changes you should make to improve your fishing success.

Canadian Weather Patterns

Fish at different depth levels, exploring where the lake trout might be hiding out. During high pressures, they are likely going to want to be as deep as they can just above the thermocline where oxygen levels are best. It’s all about the barometric pressure when predicting lake trout behaviors around a storm front. If you asked me overall, I’d say that high pressure will outfish low pressure 9/10 times.

Basically barometric pressure does not change very fast- about 0.001 to 0.002 atmospheres per hour depending on how fast the storm is moving. For the first couple of hours of fishing the barometer was slowly rising, then after 11am there was a huge flat spell for the rest of our fishing day. This in theory would bring with it slow to average fishing conditions. On this day between 5 of us walking the banks we landed 38 trout that spanned out across the entire day. It was an insane fishing bite that couldn’t have had anything to do with the poor barometer.

Anything below these numbers is considered low pressure, whereas anything above is high pressure. To put this in perspective, a dip into hurricane-inducing low pressure reads at 27.3 inHg, and a typical high-pressure, cold air, winter front may read as high as 30.7 inHg. For example, meteorologists generally record air pressure in millibars, or mbar.

I’m talking 6 hours or so before a storm is due to hit or right after. This will pretty much ensure that the weather is pretty stable, not too bright, not too bad, and it won’t have a ruinous effect on the fish’s swim bladder. Our earth’s atmosphere consists of nitrogen, oxygen, and a small quantity of more gases. So, the gravitational force pulls the atmosphere towards the earth’s center. It creates pressure on everything in the world that is called barometric pressure.

If you are fishing in low pressure, the fish can usually be found deeper. They won’t be feeding as actively, and you’re also going to have to slow yourself down in order to draw them in. Finally, in conditions of degrading weather or falling pressure, this is your time to shine. It is in these conditions that you will experience the best fishing, as the fish are likely to take any kind of food you can offer them.

Consult with the staff at your Canadian fishing lodge to see what worked for them in the past under similar conditions. Keep in mind the bites will feel less powerful due to the fact the fish are not as aggressive. They may feel like a slight “tick” or the line might feel “heavy”.

thoughts on “THE BAROMETRIC PRESSURE MYTH”

If you have a barometer, you will see the scale is dropping before the arrival of poor weather. Fast-moving baits are the best choice to use at this moment. Make an excellent rig based on what species you are targeting and cast into the water. Anglers capture way more fish than they get on an average day.

The powerful atmospheric lows of hurricanes can reach down to 28 inches or less. The difference between these two “normal” conditions (2.7 inches of barometric pressure) is equal to about .09 atmospheres. The barometric pressure difference from a simple passing cold front is only about .06 atmospheres. The dynamics of all weather and all temperatures, all locations, etc., can again nullify/change the exact effect. Barometric pressure among the most critical factors to consider when fishing. The most important of these include how water temperature impacts fish activity,the moon phase which impacts feeding patterns and wind direction which influences food location.