ULTIMATE ANGLING - the Ultimate SA Fishing website
General Angling Topics => Shore Angling => Topic started by: okkiebutler on September 30, 2011, 03:26:57 PM
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:rain: I would like to know what others experience with high versus low atmospheric pressure. My neighbour at Zona Braza(Xai Xai) maintains that the fish don't bite when the pressure is low and it is a waste of time. I think he is right - what do you say guys?
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Atmospheric pressure is a good prediction of weather patterns.
Low pressure indicates stormy weather and the fish will go off the bite.
High pressure indicates fair weather and stable conditions... more chance of fish feeding during these conditions.
More importantly, is the very beginning of a dropping barometer - Fish will feed before an approaching storm or between the approaching fronts, or as the barometer rises and falls through the course of the day.
On a rising barometer (after a storm) the fish will feed better too. In my experience, it's when a Barometer starts to move that's important.
These are very basic, general guidelines, as there are always exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking...
■ Rising Barometer: Fishing is Best
■Rapidly Fluctuating: Indication of good fishing (regardless of fluctuating up or down).
■Static Barometer: Fishing is poor
■Falling Barometer: First part of fall is good fishing. After the fall continues for several hours, the more the it goes down the poorer fishing will be.
■Unusually Low Barometer: Don’t bother as there is no fishing, because there will be a big storm!
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(clap) Thanks for the info - it is exactly what I needed!
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:shre:
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Now that is very good advice :udman:
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Now the difficult part is matching the barometer with Sea Temperature, the tides, the wind, the current, the time of the day, the moonphase, your bait, your tackle and your cast!! :rotfl
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Nice Reefs! Cred!
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My 2c,
The barometer has caused every grey hair I have on my head, we wont say how many but you get my drift...
Ok, now the CORRECT barometer reading differs throughout the areas and obviously what fish you are targeting and to a fare degree what depth they are found at, or where they are found in the water column.
Reefs is spot on, although the comment on a "Static" barometer not producing bites is up for debate, only because of the fact that it varies from place to place. For example, on our SA coastline we the fish tend to bite on the move of the barometer, rise and first drop, but in mozambique a stable barometer around 1018 is perfect and you will find all species of fish eating in that, deepsea and R&S. Also in opinion In mozam especially but here in SA, if you have a flucuating barometer, you will battle to get a get a constant pattern for the fish to settle, flucuations mean change in wind High pressure, low pressure, High pressure, low pressure and this may happen daily, one day east, one day west, just like the weather we are having in KZN now. This seems to make the fish very uncomfortable as the pressure on the water is on and off.
Think of it like this, fish balance themselves through the amount of oxygen in the water, if you have this increasing and decreasing constantly you will be unbalanced.
For example, best way of thinking of it, as a person we need oxygen to breath, in ordr for us to live, eat, walk etc etc, no give us too little oxygen we will become lethagic and lame, give us too much oxygen we will pass out, give us lots and them a little and them lots we will probably pass out too, but keep that flow constant we will operate to the best of our ability. If we know that the supply will be gone soon we will try get as much nutrients into our bodies, by eating, to obviously with stand the bad times and visa versa with a rising barometer,
High pressure, deep lethagic fish\
Low pressure, deep lethagic fish
Stable, fishing gets better
Rise, good fishing
First drop, better fishing
Anyway that all varies in regards to alititude etc,
Thats my 2c and my personal experiences and many many hours of research..........
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u learn something new everyday.... i understand low is bad rising is good.
now...
http://www.southafricanweather.co.za/aat/line_chart_48.asp?areaID=FALE (http://www.southafricanweather.co.za/aat/line_chart_48.asp?areaID=FALE)
is this good or is this bad?
as someone who knows didly squat looking at this graph after understanding this post, id say the fishing is going to be awesome from 5.42 onwards.
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And when you are out at sea and you can see the wind coming as it whips up the surface, and you know you should be running home, the fish go on the mightiest feeding frenzy ever. This happens without fail and usually ont he days when you havnt had a decent pull all day. The temptation to stay is always there as the fish are bossies when this happens. eish.
I personally have always been too lazy to monitor pressure and catches, but am going to start doing it more to establish my own patterns for the species we target (were once allowed to target)
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As CASTSA said, I believe the oxygen in the water to be a major influence on fish behavior. Have never been successful when the pressure is low.
I remember an old fisherman's pointer - when the mountains are clearly visible the fishing will be good. Makes sense as the fogginess on mountain tops is usually the result of low pressure. Somehow they got it right!
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and according to this chart fishing is going to be poor.
http://www.southafricanweather.co.za/aat/line_chart_48.asp?areaID=FALE (http://www.southafricanweather.co.za/aat/line_chart_48.asp?areaID=FALE)
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i must admit you guys have some good topics!
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For most fishing, salt, fresh, river, offshore as the barometer starts to fall is when fishing is best.
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:cnfzd :-( SO NOW THE BIG QUESTION IS WHERE CAN U BUY A GOOD AND FAIRLY CHEAP BAROMETER
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casio watch
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If one is looking at barometer readings, lets say those provided by SA weather, one can see what has been happening over the last couple of hours to a couple of days.
My question is, is it possible to predict what the readings / graph will or might do in the days ahead??
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brilliant info. (clap)
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great info Reefz a quick one what is a good website to use to check out all the condtions before planning a trip :dunno:
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The observations here are pretty much aligned to what I have found over the years. But it gets a bit trickier than what the guys have set out. Consider:
Fish behaviour will be heavily influenced by their recent past experiences - of barometer, tides, moon, wind and sea conditions, ground swell, temperature... the list goes on. If the fish have had ideal conditions for a couple of days then they will be well-fed and disinterested no matter what. If they are trapped for eg by a cold current into warm bays you will catch them even if conditions are less than ideal.
So while barometer is one of the things you should look at when planning a trip, you need to look at what it has been recently. You also need to look at all these other windows and see how to get the information to work out when a good few of them are going to coincide. If you keep a good diary and do so for a few seasons you will get a reputation for (a) being a bit anal in your approach to fishing, and (b) your predictions about the fish are going to start becoming true more often than not. Good local knowledge is the most important thing you need to access.
As far as the windows go the following is a rough order of importance I am attaching to the bigger ones these days:
- [size=78%]Moon phase (cf tides and whether you can get to the ledges/banks at what time of day). In some areas you want the neaps, in others the new moon springs for the changes that these phases bring to the local sea conditions. And local [/size][size=78%]knowledge[/size][size=78%] is the key to getting this one right.[/size]
- [size=78%]Recent wind and wave conditions - if these are good or bad will affect whether the fish are even there or not[/size]
- [size=78%]Water temperature and prevailing wind conditions (trapping warm/cold water, clearing surf or working surf). you need a week's historical observations [/size]
- [size=78%]Predicted wind and wave conditions - this goes to whether the fish are going to be reacting to a change. This is where the barometric trend comes into it.[/size]
And that's about as much as I look at. I look at weather models, sea conditions and I talk to as many people as possible when I am fishing. You soon learn to sort out the b.s. from the proper observations.
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@karpenta...I agree with you 100%...
Pressures count for a lot but you could have the best pressures which far as I am concerned above 1018 and have really bad fishing cause there is a strong sw blowing which is opposite to the natural current along our coast line and that will just slows the current and with a mix up of the turning current and the wrong winds with the perfect pressure the fish won't bite..
So to get that perfect day is almost impossible..rite pressures , rite wind , rite current and water temperature its not going to happen to often....and that makes the difference between an average fisherman and a brilliant fisherman cause even on a bad day the brilliant fisherman will catch fish...and far as I am concerned as an average fisherman it comes down to many hours on the water and continuously trying something new
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I might have missed it in here somewhere, but what would be considered a high barometric press and what would be a low....?
1000 and below will be low and a 1010 and above high...? :dunno:
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:-) ..Something I firmly believe in is a trend...I have kept a fairly up to date diary of my outings/trippies as to the conditions ..ie ..baro..water temp..wind ..tide and colour of the water....What Ive picked up over 7 years of this record keeping that those five things I mentioned are aligned I have had a HIGHER success rate of hooking and landing kob on spoon...I know this is specific ...BUT one can note for any target species and your own area...For me and my East Coast its these 5....Baro rising and topping out at 30.3inches or 1021hpk....outgoing tide with 3 hours to low.....a water temp of around 18/19....a slight west wind moveing into a full east and a nice clear sea with lotsa working water...This is a trend I noticed when Ive caught the most kob....NOW , I am also not saying you wont catch in adverse conditions coz fish do eat...BUT...by noting you most productive conditions , one can then optimise your fishing time as we all have other irritating things to do than fish..LOL.........This works for me and of course time spent at the water with a line in the water does help!!!!
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This is a topic i know very little about and i'm enjoying all the infomation
My question to you boys, does the atmospheric pressure increase or decrease just before a strong south wester?
So is it good fishing or bad fishing just before the big blow?
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This is a topic i know very little about and i'm enjoying all the infomation
My question to you boys, does the atmospheric pressure increase or decrease just before a strong south wester?
So is it good fishing or bad fishing just before the big blow?
:-) ...Michael , in my humble opinion , and here again , Im speaking from my experiences and my piece of coast line.....When I see the glass falling rapidly i get excited coz that means a west is on its way....a west , here , cleans up the sea and brings in the slightly warmer water...THE moment that glass starts to turn a rise...I get my kit ready.....and when it gets to that 1000hpk mark I start checking tides out and where to go gooi.....So , I know this is not answering your question , BUT , it will start giveing you an idea as to what works for your specific area and what doesnt...BUT...as a very general rule of thumb , when the the baro is already falling the fish tend to go deeper...BUT...here again , fish still eat...Like I said before , check your areas out and make notes...it does help...
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Think it was posted before but the CSIR linked website with weather bouy off Durban gives atmospheric pressure in graph format - can see if pressure is falling, rising or constant. Site also gives swell height direction etc.
http://wavenet.csir.co.za/OnlineData/Durban/durbanweatherD.htm (http://wavenet.csir.co.za/OnlineData/Durban/durbanweatherD.htm)
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Sorry,just on my way out.Wife bought me this barometer below about 7 years ago.I find Weather Forcasts are regularly wrong and I regularly prove them wrong by virtue of barometer readings which are far more accurate than forcasts.I tap mine everyday,every night to check what's heading our way.
Briefly,will come back to this,but Bear in mind,there's a window period,whereby Barometer will normally offer whats happening in next 48 hrs.
When barometer falls below 1000,and definitely at 950,a storm is heading our way.I don't have time to go into in depth,as wifey's waiting. Saw big storm coming 2 or 3 years ago,which created carnage at Cape Point and surrounds,barometer fell out of bed.
Great anglers have built in barometer,know the signs,will elaborate later on this.
Briefly my best fishing has been on drop,as this is future weather coming in,fish go on frenzy feeding and thereafter disappear.At home,ants,roaches,all come out the woodwork at barometer drops,and then just disappear the next day.So,fish are similar.I often know more about weather,prospects for fishing with watching action of pests,watching nature,like birds,which fly away,flies suddenly disappear,etc,etc.
Birds at home,lots of them suddenly appear in our trees to accumulate food,geese come up from our vlei,due to high water tables they know are coming,frogs arrive in swimming pool,moving away from Sandvlei where water levels will rise.
So,there's lots of variables,signs,and apologies if anything said here is repetition of what others have said.Just came across this topic,haven't read it,No disrespect intended.
This is not something that can be covered in 2 sentences,but with combo of reading the signs and barometer,etc,one can know a lot more about what's on the cards,but window period is what matters.If barometer hits a low say as I'm writing this,I would normally have caught fish at Macs today,but should barometer remain low for another day,I would blank tomorrow.
Apologies,this was somewhat rushed,but it really is a compelling & interesting,could not ignore it with wifey chasing me on here,and personally,best gift I ever got was this barometer that wifey bought me.
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Barometer was bought from 'De Villiers & Sons.
Phone nr is 021/712 0616
Address is 6 Joubert Close,Tokai,Cape Town
Be Warned,wife just told me 'Those Barometers are not cheap',as she pulls me out the front door by my earlobe :hehe:
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This is a topic i know very little about and i'm enjoying all the infomation
My question to you boys, does the atmospheric pressure increase or decrease just before a strong south wester?
So is it good fishing or bad fishing just before the big blow?
MichaelK, here in Durban, our average pressure is 1013mb.
to answer your question, the pressure drops before the SW.
Typically (in DBN), our coastal lows bring NW and sunny skies ahead of the SW. As the SW hits, the barometer will rise considerably and rain usually follows. The lower the barometer ahead of the system, the more severe winds you might expect at the onset of the SW.
I Check out Windgugu for all this info (includes barometric pressure).
example of the SW forecasted this weekend, although the wast that came through recently has already raised the baro a little...the first half of the table below shows SW on sunday am at 12kts, up to 21kts by 11. On the right, look at the blue line. thats pressure, changing from around 1010mb on sat evening to a027mb on sunday evening. cloud cover and precipitation are indicated as well. visit windguru and check it out...
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Walt, you are correct.
on a dropping barometer ahead of the west (rise), and even at the onset of the west, you will do some (bat
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w;k ..Over the years ...the fish(not many :hehe: )..that Ive caught , 95% of them have been on a rising glass , Sooo...If I was a betting man and it was down to a baro reading whether I go gooi or not ...I would go on a rising glass every time......BUT...IF you go for sharks , rays etc...these dont seem TOO effected by barometric/air pressure.......
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Oh...and a steady baro ...say over a 72 hour period ...is almost always not good fishing , well maybe NICE weather , but not good catching...BUT...fish still eat....
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Put together a guide on this recently - Hope it helps explain in a bit more detail!
https://slaneyfishing.com/barometric-pressure-fishy-myth-untapped-resource/
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Great post. Thanks for sharing!
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:tkx: enjoyed the read :toppie:
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Very interesting read! Thanks.
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I agree that atmospheric pressure seems to affect fishing - but I doubt it is as simple as the quoted article states.
My main reason for doubt is based on the weight of water versus air.
The weight of all the air above the water (at sea level) is 1 atmosphere or to make it a bit easier to understand about 1015 mb (milibars).
A big fluctuation in pressure (enough to impact fishing) is around 5 mb.
Above the water this is a fairly substantial change.
Below the water this change can be achieved by varying your depth by only 5 cm!
If fish vary their depth to compensate for atmospheric pressure changes, they would seldom have to change their depth by more than 3 or 4 cm to stay equalized.
If a fish dives 10 metres it will experience double the pressure that it would have at the surface, so I doubt the daily fluctuations of 3 - 5 mb (less than 0.005% of this) would impact it's comfort.
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I cannot fault Crankman's reasoning or arithmetic :bow: . Perhaps one of our members can shed light on the matter . :toppie:
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Just asking , is atmosheric pressure at sealevel 1013 or 1015
Enjoy all discussions involving weather and conditions and WHY they happen
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And can someone please explain something to me
Although i dont understand much , i try to go to synoptic charts once a day just to try and get the " bigger picture " of our weather, but what does that thickish line on top or in front of a low pressure system- with the teeth sticking out, means.
Do that imply the severity of the cold front , or what?
Also, in some LPS, the " rings" around the LPS, seems closer than in other systems, what does that imply.
I did try Prof Google, but you know if you dont know what youre asking, he wont help :hehe:
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"cold front"
"warm front"
"Isobars"
those are the terms you want to search with..
The line with teeth is a "cold front" denoting cold air (denser and heavier) meeting warm air, the cold air acts like a wedge forcing the warm air up and over it, the colder air is the less water it can hold (less vibration of molecules of gas and less space for water molecules basically) and temperature is a measure of energy. Lift air requires energy and the air looses this at the rate of 1 degree for every 100m, so as the warm and moist air is forced up and over we get clouds, wind and rain..cold front..ahead of that is a warm front sometimes which is the line with the semi-circles which is warm air moving into and getting forced over cold air. The lines of air pressure are "isobars", contours of same airpressure. Air will flow from high pressure to low pressure like water will flow downhill, imagine close lines on a map making a steep gradient, a river will flow very fast down a steep hill, spread out contours the river will flow slow and lazy, same with the wind and isobars. Steep air pressure gradient and air will rush in a clockwise direction (in S hemisphere) from a high pressure perpendicular to the close lines to the low pressure..of course taking into account sometimes there is land in the way and sometimes masses of cold dense air and that makes weather happen either way..sometimes land can squeeze the air out like a sponge as it forces it upwards against gravity and on the other side of the land will be dry..all matric geography, I suggest downloading some coursework and brushing up..always useful.
Anyone see the photo from space of lesotho that was published recently of the snowfall? Shows the effect of having some high mountains in the way of cold wet air quite well..
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=92617 Nothing biting then but trout ;)
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Thanks VeV
I will do as you say.
hopefully next time it will be more "intelligent " questions.
Lack of matric geography though just make me more dumb, and enquisitive, i suppose.
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There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers haha
Barometer is relative though..2day the front came over, barometer crashed, then settled at a low pressure when we had our lines out..I got to the parking and someone was packing up and said the wind would blow me back to my car soon enough, bite was slow, wind was MAL, waves were wild, was threatening to rain the whole time didn't look like good fishing weather but then again I got a gallie round 4kg (released) and other guys got a 10kg cracker, both at our feet..so its relative, with no line in the water jy vang niks. :)
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Bearing in mind that NOT all bony fish like a low pressure OR a high pressure and then some bony fish are not as active on either pressure falling OR rising ...BUT a dead steady glass is just plain terrible....
Only way to REALLY use the barometer for effective fishing is to take notes for your specific area and also of note thst barometric pressure can differ as little as 10km along a coast line...making notes and after awhile you will see a trend and its this trend that one needs to adhere to ...
The TREND id your FRIEND!!! :fshn: :fshn:
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A fish senses pressure changes through its air bladder.
Fish that have small air bladders don't seem to be as affected by barometric changes as those with large bladders. But remember, forage fish they feed on have air bladders, and that alone could have a big impact on where you might find fish and how they behave.
[/size]Fish with large bladders quickly sense when the air pressure is dropping, because there's less pressure on their bladder.
And when there's less pressure squeezing their bladders, the bladders expand a bit.
When their bladders expand, fish become uncomfortable.
They relieve their discomfort by moving deeper or by absorbing extra gas in their bladders. :hnthnt: