Air pressure and catches

[severnfisher]

The issue of the relationship between taking times and barometric pressure rises is an interesting one for salmon anglers.

I was wondering how many people actually take note of the pressure trend when fishing and of those that do have people noticed any patterns?

From the limited sample available to me and a small group of fishing friends I would say that there is a very strong relationship between a rising glass and salmon 'switching on'.

For instance, of eleven fish hooked in the last fortnight or so on the Severn every single one took on a rising glass and most of them when the glass was rising quite quickly (i.e. a couple of mili bars in an hour or so).

The link below gives you the pressure chart for Worcester for the last week. Given we are mainly looking at big weather trends this is broadly accurate for the river between Tewkesbury and Bridgnorth.

www.pollenuk.co.uk/weatherupload/Weather_Summary.htm#barometer


The salmon taking times coincide with the steep upward curves i.e. tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday evenings ( but not just dusk) or the top of peaks i.e. friday middle of the day.

Any views or comments.

Tom

[acw]

Tom ,
it is useful for those on the river bank like yourself ,for those of us unfortunates who live hours away well we just have to fish when we can .

Thanks for the continuing help in our pursuit of Severn Salmon ,see you soon I hope .

[severnfisher]

Hi Andy,
A pleasure to be of help. Try to get here soon

I don't just use it because I live near to my fishing. I use the long term weather forecast when planning a trip to say the West wales rivers. I now wouldn't bother if it suggested a serious downward pressure trend.

Obviously if you have to arrange your fishing weeks or months in advance then that is a different situation.

Tom

[conwyrod]

Based on limited observations, I'd agree Tom.

Not just salmon fishing, but also trout and sea trout as well.

[salmofisher]

An interesting recent book on this subject is" Trout, Salmon and the Evening Rise-The Barometric Breakthrough" by Andrew Bett .
The sample sizes he uses are less than would be regarded as statistically sound but it makes thought provoking reading.
There are other references on the same subject but,as yet, no clear chance of finding fishings equivalent of the meaning of life. But then if we could find the answer what would the point of going fishing?

[severnfisher]

Agree with you salmofisher. There are plenty of human variables in salmon fishing: presentation, location and the application of stealth, not to mention other natural variables such as the light, wind and air temperature, as well as the state of the water, and, of course, most important of all, the presence of fish.

John/conwyrod,
Have you been studying the barometric trends then?

[conwyrod]

Not really Tom, just that it has been mentioned on forums before and it does seem to tally with my experience. I've certainly found those periods of very low pressure we occasionally get in the autumn (still autumn days) very poor for fishing.

I know lamson subscribes to the theory about rising pressure being good.

[lunesman]

A friend of mine, who is a technophobe, splashed out a couple of years ago and got himself one of those barometric watches, you wear on you wrist.
Since then he is a great advocate of better fishing on a rising pressure.
Regards Lunesman

[lamson]

Jun 7, 2008 13:36:16 GMT conwyrod said:

Not really Tom, just that it has been mentioned on forums before and it does seem to tally with my experience. I've certainly found those periods of very low pressure we occasionally get in the autumn (still autumn days) very poor for fishing.

I know lamson subscribes to the theory about rising pressure being good.

.......and the week before the full mooooon for the sea trooots, ooooooowwww ;D

PS perhaps it's me who responds well to rising air pressure , not the fish

[Willie Gunn]

Wait till Grahan comes home, he has had one of these watches for over a year now and has kept a record of the pressure changes every time he has caught a fish.
I seem to remember him saying steady was in front by a short head, followed by falling but I might be out.

[eskimoo]

I would agree totally with the idea that the pressure affects the fish I note pressure every week and rising is best but a long period of high will help them run a system, the other factor to think about is wind direction west is best east is pants no matter what the pressure, if the pressure is rising after a good down pour and the river has risen thats the time I think that the fish are most likly to take.