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.
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