Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Barometric Pressure and Water Temperatures and the affects on fish

This fishing season I will be tracking the barometric pressure and both the air and water temperature. I want to correlate them to the sun and moon cycles as well as fish caught per hours of fishing.


I borrowed some paragraphs from various sources from the web and have put down the following information:


Barometric Pressure



Fish tend to feed more actively just prior to a cold front and during frontal passage and are more reluctant to feed after the frontal passage.


Fish, like many other animals, have very good senses about the weather. They are extremely sensitive to passing fronts and pressure changes. Cold fronts will lead to unfavorable fishing conditions. The high pressure that accompanies cold fronts contributes to lethargic fish that won't move as far or as near the surface. Fish are less likely to come up and feed as frequently during high pressure as they will when the pressure is lower.


Because fish are so good at sensing changes in pressure, they will often increase their activity in the days before a cold front sets in, creating good conditions for catching. After the front sets in and for a few days after, conditions will remain poor. Warm fronts, however, offer up ideal fishing conditions. Lower pressure and fewer winds will bring fish closer to the surface and liven them up for swimming longer distances.


Post-front fishing is always tough. Such fronts typically do not affect deep-water fish as much. The cause of it all is the sudden change in barometric pressure (fish detect this by way of their swim bladder). It sends fish into panic mode. They need assurance and a return to comfort. Normally, this comes via a couple of days of stable weather.


Watch that barometer closely. A slowly-rising barometer is best, and a fast falling barometer can be good. An extremely high barometer most often translates to poor fishing.


A front can have much more influence on a clear lake than a stained or muddy one, yet a lake can be much more affected than moving water or a river or creek. Tributaries with a current flow are considerably less susceptible to drastic changes, than still water.



As a general rule, concentrate your efforts in shallower water on falling pressure and deeper water on rising pressure. Normally, barometric fluctuations are most important during late fall, winter and early- to mid-spring. Because that is when fronts are the strongest, that seem to move from both the northwest and due north across the country. Fronts that occur during the summer and early fall seem to move more from the southwest and west and have less effect, plus the recovery time is much quicker during these warmer months.


Many people think the best time to fish is on a beautiful bluebird day. Let me tell you that is not normally the case— because that’s the conditions you normally get just after a front has passed through. This is the type of day when the pressure goes up and the fish go down or into thick cover with a case of lockjaw.


Water Temperature


Biologists say that bass prefer water temperatures between 65-75 degrees. In the mid- to high 70s they remain active up to 15 hours a day. Above 80 degrees, however, activity drops off. At 85 degrees, they’re active less than eight hours a day and at 90 degrees it is down to only four hours of activity. Research has also shown that when water temps are in the low 70s only 40 percent of the bass activity is in the evening. But at 82 degrees as much as 70 percent of the activity occurs after dark. This makes a fairly good case for night-fishing during the hotter summer months, especially in clear water lakes.

Getting closer

Nothing really new with this post. Time is marching on and I am getting closer to getting to the lake and making some informative posts about fishing.


New fishing rods and reels, lures, lines are purchased. A number of new fishing techniques studied and are ready to try.


The weather has been amazing in the Parry Sound area and the snow is rapidly disappearing. It looks like ice out will be early this year.


Two early chores will be getting to learn the lake and mapping out the contours, in particular the shoals and the midlake humps. The second chore will be getting to learn my Hummingbird fishfinder, setting it up to accurately to locate fish and also learning the gps features, in particular mapping waypoints for danger areas and for fish hotspots. The other big thing is my fish finder unit has down and side scan and I would like to learn to interpret the readings better.


Fishing will be only open for Lake Trout and Perch when I get there. I will look forward to Pike opening, but really looking forward to the Bass opening on June 23rd, then the real fun begins.

New Fishing Techniques

This will be an interesting summer for me and the fish. I will be trying a number of new techniques for me.


I have attended two bass fishing seminars at Bass Pro Shops. Today's seminar was very interesting as you listen to the pros about the equipment, lines, knots, lure choices and techniques. Today they talked about Alabama rig fishing, tubing, frogging, reactive flipping, swim baiting and drop shotting.


Without a doubt I will be doing more vertical fishing during the mid day. As I try each new technique, I will give a full report on it. Opening season is still a few months away, but I definitely will be ready for it.

Crestliner Boats

There are a lot of good boats, lots of different kinds of boats. Last year I chose the boat that I felt was the best boat for me. A Crestliner Superhawk 1700. I used it for a month in 2011 and will evaluate it as I use it in 2012. For the one month of daily use the boat with the 115 hp Mercury motor, the boat and motor was exceptional.




I debated buying a fibreglass boat, but it made sense fishing on a shield lake to go with an aluminum boat. My experience in fishing in a number of different aluminum boats was that the Crestliner road and handled better than the other aluminum boats. The quality and features were other selling features. As mentioned I will give a thorough evaluation of the boat.


One thing, when I first got the boat the Mercury motor came with a prop with a 19 pitch. I thought that it was a little slow out of the hole. With help of Glenn Burney Marina, I found the right pitch prop for the boat and motor combination, which was a 17 pitch prop, which made all of the difference.


I bought the boat at Glenn Burney Marina. We dealt with Rick Cole who was excellent to deal with. If you decide to buy a Cresliner, I highly recommend buying it at Glenn Burney through Rick Cole. Some of the new Crestliners come with some cool "Madfish Graphics"




Fishing with my nephews.




Madfish Graphics



First day with the boat.

2012 Fishing Regulations are out

The 2012 fishing regulations were released in PDF today:



Parry Sound is in Zone 15 and the following PDF is specifically for Zone 15 regulations:



Key fishing season opening dates:

Lake Trout - opened all season

Pike - Third Saturday in May (May 19, 2012)

Bass - Fourth Saturday in June (June 23, 2012)

Fishing line decisions for 2012

Made my final line decisions and ordered my line for 2012, right or wrong.


I read lots of reviews, pros and cons of each of the line types and cost was a consideration and past good experience with monofilament factored in.


I purchased a spool of 40 lb test Power Pro Spectra for my top water/frogging rod


I purchased a spool of 16 lb test Sunline Super FC Sniper Fluorocarbon for my crank bait rod.


I purchased a spool of 7 lb test Sunline Super FC Sniper Fluorocarbon for my dropshot rod.


My main line for all of my other rods is 17 lb Sufix Elite Monofilament. In the reviews I read, it had almost zero memory, was very castable, good strength both dry and wet and had good knot strength.


This excellent review helped me make my decisions.

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewsufixelitepg2.html


This other link mentioned in an earlier post, also strongly influenced my decisions. http://www.bassfishin.com/blog/fishing-line-guide/

Preparing for the 2012 Season

Getting ready for the 2012 season has been interesting.


I have been studying different types of fishing techniques for smallmouth bass fishing. I have mostly used horizontal fishing techniques in the past, throwing spinnerbaits, crank baits and top water. I have been reading and watching vertical techniques, such as tubing, drops shotting and will also try a double fluke. As I try them, I will post about my experiences.


I have recently purchased a Shimano dropshot spinning rod. It is 6'8", medium power, with an extra fast tip. I also purchased a new reel. It is a Shimano Stradic CI4. It is suppose to be an excellent reel. I will give a review on the equipment.


In my readings I have come across a lot of new knots such as the San Diego Jam knot, the Uni knot, the Surgeon knot, etc. as I use them, I will write about what I think of them.


I have spent a fair amount of time learning about fishing lines. There is the good old monofilament that is trustworthy and inexpensive, and then the two super line types, fluorocarbon and braid. More expensive lines, have superior performance, but a bigger price tag.


Sunline is a premier fluorocarbon (FC). Power Pro is a premier braid line. I still haven't decided yet which line or lines I will choose yet.