Low pressure = small jigs?

[troutcrazy]

The pressure is low, and the bite was slow.  Hardly caught a thing today until I tied on the tiniest tungsten jig with a tiny Maki Polli.  Fishing for perch.

Is this a common phenomenon?

[ice fiend]

ive caught some of my biggest perch on tiny jigs its not uncommon perhaps your bait imitated what they wanted
 hope this helped

[Registered Kayak]

I can catch just about anything on 3mm tungsten in perch colorations, anything. I always am curious to see what they are eating when I clean. usually small copepods or larvae. however today, I found a lot of smelt in the bigger perch today. I have my best luck using bug imitations.

[fishingidjit]

The bite was slow today, maybe I should have downsized ?

[thefishingweatherman]

I have a hard time believing that air pressure has anything to do with the way fish bite. I think cloud cover, wind, temperature probably have a lot more to do with their moods. When a fish moves up and down the water column, the pressure changes it goes through are orders of magnitude higher than what it could sense from the slight changes of the weight of the air on top of that water. The only way a fish could possibly sense a change in air pressure is if it sat precisely at one VERY precise level for a long period of time - something that probably never happens. The difference in pressure between a high pressure ridge and even the deepest low pressure system is relatively small, and those changes are only felt over a day or so at a minimum. It would have to be a very special fish to sense any of that.

[jbritch]

The Farmer's Almanac says the best fishing is when the pressure is dropping, usually signaling an approaching storm.  Also, I just watched a fishing show on tv and the "experts" said the exact same thing.  My mother has a big array of bird feeders out her favorite window and she swears that the birds predict bad weather because they clean out the feeders in a frenzy every time just before the weather changes.  I know that deer browse the heaviest just before a big snow so they can lay down under the firs during it; fish probably fill up then for a similar reason.

[thefishingweatherman]

The Farmer's Almanac says the best fishing is when the pressure is dropping, usually signaling an approaching storm.  Also, I just watched a fishing show on tv and the "experts" said the exact same thing.  My mother has a big array of bird feeders out her favorite window and she swears that the birds predict bad weather because they clean out the feeders in a frenzy every time just before the weather changes.  I know that deer browse the heaviest just before a big snow so they can lay down under the firs during it; fish probably fill up then for a similar reason.

There's a weather proverb for just about everything... Doesn't mean any of them are true. Not sure how a fish can sense such a small change in pressure that happens with the weather over the period of days, when they are moving up and down the water column all day, which comes with large pressure changes of its own.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

The pressure is low, and the bite was slow.  Hardly caught a thing today until I tied on the tiniest tungsten jig with a tiny Maki Polli.  Fishing for perch.

Is this a common phenomenon?

I think it's the other way around. High pressure after a storm (low pressure event) shuts the bite down considerably. This isn't anything I have read; but have witnessed first hand.

[troutcrazy]

Right, I guess I'm kind of mixing up two different issues.

Issue One:  does pressure actually affect the bite?  I've heard people say it does, but I'm not convinced.  One explanation I heard was that perch have a hard time deflating their swim bladders when pressure is low, and therefore will only take small bait.  It sounded clever on the surface, but I'm not convinced.  They're still on the bottom, so their swim bladders must be just fine.  This came from someone trying to sell a perch rig consisting of several small tied flies and a weight (actually it looked great).


Issue Two:  Can a smaller presentation coax a bite on an otherwise biteless day?  I think YES!
I learned this last year, late season on Bomoseen.  I use pretty small bibbetts to begin with, but nothing was biting.  I met a guy who lives right on the lake, and he said "you're not going to catch them with that today.  try this," and he gave me a little micro jighead and a Maki Poli (that's the smallest maki).  He said to send it to the bottom and coax them up slowly with subtle moves.  It worked!  (I've met a few generous fishermen on that lake who gave me bait and tackle that changed my whole idea and got me into good fish-- good vibes down there).

Maybe it was coincidence yesterday-- maybe the bite would have started anyway.  But after hours with no bite, as soon as I switched to the micro rig, I started catching perch.

The water was pretty deep, so I rigged the little jig with a weight 2' BELOW it, like drop-shot... actually the weight was a big Swedish Pimple, just in case something big and exciting happened by. 
(Actually my other rig that had a Hali as a weight DID hook something big and exciting-- I could see it's basic shape and color through the ice-- no way it was gonna fit through the hole, but it escaped before I had the chance to see it through the hole.  Either a bass or a walleye).

[stubborn1]

I'm not certain about low pressure= a tough bite, but I do know that fish feed on changes in pressure.  The most furious bites I've seen were on dropping pressure, as Jbritch and Farmer's Almanac suggest. The best walleye bite I ever saw was as a serious thunderstorm rolled in.  Just last week I had non-stop action for perch and 'seeds as the wind switched from south to north and it started snowing sideways.  I'm sure I don't know how to explain it, but I believe that birds and deer and fish know what's on the way.  I've had worse fishing when the pressure was high/steady.  Maybe the reason they don't bite on a high (after a low) is because they're full!

[thefishingweatherman]

Let's do some math here.

The average sea-level pressure for the US is:
1013 mb, or 14.7 pounds per square inch.

The lowest pressure ever recorded at sea level was on 10/12/79, during Typhoon Tip in the western Pacific Ocean:
870 mb, or 12.6 psi

So, if Vermont got hit by this storm, the maximum pressure drop would be around (14.7 - 12.6) = 2.1 psi... Not very drastic change in the scheme of things, especially when you consider it would likely take a day or two for this drop to occur as the storm moved in.

Now, let's say you're a monster lake trout, hanging out on bottom at 100 feet of water.

You have a substantial 43.4 psi of water pressure on you, plus that of the air, which is applied to the water. So, let's say it's a sunny day with high pressure around. So you have 43.4 + 14.7 = 58.1 total psi on you.

Now, let's say you're hungry, so you come up to 10 feet of water to hunt smelt.
The water gives you 4.4 psi at that depth, and the air 14.7. That's 19.1 psi total.

In a matter of minutes, the fish underwent a change of (58.1 - 19.1) = 39 psi... Think the fish is still in the mood to feed then? If pressure truly affects a fish's mood to eat, then surely this fast dramatic change would affect it far more than the 2.1 psi change that happened over two days as a monster storm came in...

Get my point?

[fishingidjit]

No science from my end ,just lots of experience being an "old dubber".The barometer affects the fish bite.

[pokholes]

No science from my end ,just lots of experience being an "old dubber".The barometer affects the fish bite.

50 + years of practical experience, I agree the barometer does affect the bite.

[perchhauler]

Overall, I would bet most fishermen had a better day yesterday, than today. 

[VTMatt]

Superstitions run deep in this thread.

[bootstrap]

i think the small jig preference has more to do with them being full of spawn this time of year.

[stubborn1]

VTMatt, you really believe that wildlife doesn't react to changes in barometer?  You're so smart that you know better?  Hundreds of years of observations by hunters and fisherman isn't superstition.  You don't have to agree, but your dismissal seems pretty disrespectful. I appreciate The Fishingweatherman's math, but I imagine that fish experience changes in weather and pressure differently than we do.  I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I can't argue with what I've experienced firsthand.

[VTMatt]

VTMatt, you really believe that wildlife doesn't react to changes in barometer?  You're so smart that you know better?  Hundreds of years of observations by hunters and fisherman isn't superstition.  You don't have to agree, but your dismissal seems pretty disrespectful. I appreciate The Fishingweatherman's math, but I imagine that fish experience changes in weather and pressure differently than we do.  I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I can't argue with what I've experienced firsthand.

Who said anything about Wildlife as a whole? Us anglers are always looking for weather patterns when it comes to fishing. I can see rain, sunshine, temps etc etc...affecting the fishing because there are scientific and real reasons for it that are easily explainable.  But barometric pressure?  I'm not convinced. 

[wmhunts]

Im not sure the pressure changes fish activity, but I do believe it is one way for us to predict fishing activity. my opinion: real high pressure blue bird days not so good, real low not so good. Changing pressure thumbs up! steady normal conditions are time to go as well

[thefishingweatherman]

Correlation is not causation... For instance, I've noticed that every year snowshoe hares turn white in the fall, right around the time that winter sets in. Does that mean that their color change causes the winter? Of course not. Actually, you couldn't even technically say the reverse, although that is closer to truth... Technically, changes in the the hare's body chemistry cause the color change. So to say pressure changes affect the bite is along these lines - it may be correlated with changing feeding habits, but not necessarily a direct cause.

Personally, I have not noticed any difference insofar as how fish bite with high pressure vs low, and I fish a lot. Some of you are pretty convinced, and I can't argue with your experience. However, my point is, if there is a reason for that, for the reasons I posted above, it seems very unlikely (to impossible) that any of that has to do with the changes in air pressure, which for a fish, are tiny, happen slowly, and are masked by much larger pressure changes that they experience moving up and down the water column.

I think the weather can affect the bite, but cloud cover, wind, temperature, and precipitation are the most likely processes to affect them.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

Not being a fish; it's impossible to speculate how pressure affects them. Being a fisherman; I know how it affects me.

[VTMatt]

Not being a fish; it's impossible to speculate how pressure affects them. Being a fisherman; I know how it affects me.

Yeah, some people get grumpy for lack of whites and you get grumpy when the pressure is between 28 and 32?  I knew it!   

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

Yeah, some people get grumpy for lack of whites and you get grumpy when the pressure is between 28 and 32?  I knew it!   

So that's what it is!!!!!!!! Thanks MattVT!!!!!

[VTMatt]

So that's what it is!!!!!!!! Thanks MattVT!!!!!

No problem Perch_the_of_Lord!!!!!!