CTFishTalk.com: What pressure (etc) should I be looking for? - Connecticut Bass Fishing ( CT Bass Fishing ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

zegermanznew · Joined: 05 Aug 2012 Posts: 40

At work all day (outside) I've been getting drizzled on. Its hot and humid one minute, nice cool and dry the next. Seems (to me) my area is on the cusp of good fishing weather, so for shitsngiggles I checked the pressure and my area is reading 29.92in.

It dawned on me almost immediately, being I've never checked it before, I have nothing to gauge it off of!?! What is high and low pressure (generally speaking), and whats better for catching? I've heard higher, but number wise, whats higher?

Im gonna go fishing anyways, but I would like to know more.

Any other information you would like to add about conditions would be appreciated too. I have a decent understanding of temperature (air, water) and sunlight, but Im always down for a free education!

Thanks for reading.

ETA:
After some googling, I have found that at sea level 29.92 is considered normal or neutral. Today we spiked at 29.98 around 3 PM but now Im back to neutral. Oh well, off to do some fishing . . .

scot.mcpherson · Joined: 16 Aug 2012 Posts: 4

It's not that the pressure is better for fishing or not, but a drop in pressure often lifts fish higher in the water column. But there are lots of reasons for it that may not be simply pressure related. When the pressure is high and a low pressure front comes through, it's usually associated with wind and clouds, the wind disturbs the water and increases the dissolved oxygen at the levels, clouds block out the brigthness of the sun so fish aren't hiding from it as much, and the blocked sunlight also cools the water tempurature at on the top surface levels also.

It all adds together to mean a low pressure front lifts fish...doesn't make it better or worse, nor is it specifically due to barametric pressure, but rather what else is involved in a low pressure front that does this. Water is not compressible, so barametric pressure has no direct effect on the water itself.

zegermanznew · Joined: 05 Aug 2012 Posts: 40

Thanks a ton for the reply, sir. Great information!

The fishing was great, for anybody interested. 1lb 14oz-er on the very first cast, line was only in the water maybe 6 seconds, hadn't even put my tackle box down.

1st, 5th, 9th, 11th, 15th and 16th casts all landed bass, all floating around the 1lb range. 3 or 4 got off the line . . .

They stopped biting a few minutes before sunset.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I've always wanted to add the barometric pressure to my fishing reports, so that I could see whether there was some kind of a correlation between fishing success and failure, but I've been too lazy to do it. If anyone here has direct experience with it, I'd love to hear about it, too.
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hoppy · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 393 Location: congamuck

there are some days the fish seem shutdown do to weather or they will go on a feeding frenzy when a storm is rolling in. Can swing the fish both ways. I dont pay much attention to it to be honest. Im a true believer that if you put the right bait in front of a hungrys bass face............the bass wouldnt care if it was rainy, snowy and or 90 degrees out. I believe timing and tactics are much more important.