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Posts: 6
| Does anyone know of a site where historical barometric pressure can be looked up? I haven't paid any attention to it. I'm curious now and would like to look for trends on certain days where I remember fish going crazy.
What is everyone's thought on if it matters? If you are a believer in this stuff, is it secondary to moon phases?
Thanks |
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Location: Contrarian Island | I watch it.... typically prefer a falling barometer way more than one going up.. have noticed that when it bottoms that is a good time to be on the water but there is no way to predict when it will bottom... moon and barometer have a big effect on fish.. watch both. most sites like accuweather have it ... |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I agree with Brad, but will also add I like a moving barometer, and it doesn't matter to me as much if it is going up or down. A steady, for me, has been bad.
You can also use Weather Underground for looking up past info. http://www.wunderground.com/history/
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Posts: 397
Location: Wisconsin | agreed, with both of you guys. Falling barometric has been the best for me. I do think time of year in comparison with the weather has the biggest effect. second would be moon phases. Barometric pressure effects both of these two variables differently |
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Posts: 1828
| I think it's good to be aware of the pressure situation (barometer reading) while you're fishing and before, but don't let a supposed bad pressure trend keep you from going. The whole weather picture means more than the barometer itself. |
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Posts: 1220
| Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always figured that if the sky was growing darker than my ex-wife's heart, and a growling thunder off in the distance, like the sheriff's deputy knocking on the door with the divorce papers.....well then, the barometric pressue was going down. It's the time when a game of chicken with the spikes will likely get you a fish or two. Just don't be greedy about it! |
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Posts: 117
| We have actually created a software so to speak where we have logged each fish caught for the last 4 years. You plug the time of day and lake you are fishing in the spreadsheet of each fish you catch and it will automatically pull all possible weather patterns, moon patters, you name it! I will say, that after 4 years of data of EVERY fish caught.....the pressure is something that should NOT be glossed over when looking at conditions....its a big piece  |
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Posts: 1828
| What the heck, I'll say more.
I started tracking conditions during my catches pretty closely in the last couple years. I look at solar time of day, moon phase, general weather conditions (wind, clouds, precip), barometer, then obviously bait, depth, etc.
For barometer I've noted actual inches Hg and the "trend". For the trend, I broke it down as follows (looking at 40 muskies):
"trough" (when the barometer bottoms out, only for a short period of time. So it was falling up to the period of fish action, and then started rising again immediately or shortly thereafter): 13 muskies
slow rise: 5
fast rise: 2
"crest" (a peak of the barometer. rose to high level, only for a short period of time before falling): 2 muskies
slow fall: 8
fast fall: 5
flat (barometer had been steady for more than a day before catching the fish. This could be low, high, or in between, but has to be steady): 5 muskies.
Below is a frequency distribution of catches vs. actual barometer value for those 40 fish.
Takeaways: barometer trend is more impactful than barometer value; no barometer value or trend is necessarily bad for fishing.
(catches vs. barometer.png)
Attachments
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 catches vs. barometer.png (19KB - 455 downloads)
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Posts: 157
Location: Lincoln, NE | I agree with the guys above. When I get back from a trip I fill out my spreadsheet with catch info that I remember off the top of my head such as lake, spot, time of day, lure, depth, water temp, etc. Then I use the wunderground link posted above and figure out what the barometer and weather were specifically for that day and that time of day. I don't track the exact reading just mark rising, falling, steady, bottom, falling - bottom, steady before rising, etc. Most fish caught have been on a drastic change and falling has been the leader in activity but there are a few surprises with the big fish we've contacted. Since the data is there on the website I could always go back and pull the exact numbers if I ever felt the need but when I'm on the water I don't have time to nit pick readings, you can feel when there is a change and either way it's not like I'm going to quit fishing til the day is over.
Timmy, I'd be really interested in learning more about that software. Is it for sale? |
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Posts: 9
| ScoutLook has an APP where you can snap a pic with your phone, and it will upload all weather, barometric pressure, moon phase, minor, majors, etc. at the time and location of where the pic was taken. Very cool! The data can be put in to a spread sheet.
I did this on all fish we boated last season and I can tell you, June through September 90% of the fish were caught when the barometer was moving up or down. October and November, it didn't seem to matter nearly as much.
Edited by N Eddy 2/4/2015 10:00 AM
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Posts: 431
| You need to graph the barometric pressure and the 2nd derivitive of the pressure with respect to moon phase (dx,dy) and when that is positive is when the big fish will bite. |
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Posts: 1828
| tackleaddict - 2/4/2015 10:57 AM
You need to graph the barometric pressure and the 2nd derivitive of the pressure with respect to moon phase (dx,dy) and when that is positive is when the big fish will bite.
Is it fun to use calculus terms that don't make sense? |
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Posts: 1828
| I guess a positive value of the second derivative of pressure with respect to time would mean that pressure is EITHER:
rising, rising faster than it was an instant ago, and about to rise even faster yet in the next instant,
OR
falling, but falling slower than it was an instant ago, and about to level off even more in the next instant.
So, basically, each side of a valley (or trough) in the plot is your "prime time."
But you can't bring moon phase into it.
If that was a joke, sorry for picking it apart. |
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Posts: 431
| jaultman - 2/4/2015 12:38 PM
tackleaddict - 2/4/2015 10:57 AM
You need to graph the barometric pressure and the 2nd derivitive of the pressure with respect to moon phase (dx,dy) and when that is positive is when the big fish will bite.
Is it fun to use calculus terms that don't make sense?
It is, but no wonder I failed. My mistake was trying to rely it into partials, which is where I lost it back in the day. Man that was a long time ago. I guess I underestimated my audience, I didnt think Id get called out haha
Edited by tackleaddict 2/4/2015 1:12 PM
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Posts: 1828
| tackleaddict - 2/4/2015 1:09 PM
It is, but no wonder I failed. My mistake was trying to rely it into partials, which is where I lost it back in the day. Man that was a long time ago. I guess I underestimated my audience, I didnt think Id get called out haha
No problem. I got a little brain workout out of the deal.
The funny the whole thing (less the moon phase reference) actually makes sense. You called attention to periods where the barometer is falling, but about to level off to a low-pressure period, and when it's starting to rise, and about to skyrocket. Both are good times.
But then again, as has been said countless times, any time you can go is a good time to go, and the only consistent rule is that muskies are good at breaking all the rules. |
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Posts: 2327
Location: Chisholm, MN | I use math when I'm fishing too! I just add up all the fish I caught that day and BAM, I got the total! 
Edited by Kirby Budrow 2/4/2015 1:50 PM
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Posts: 1828
| You're going to be in trouble when you have to use more than just one hand some day. |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Kirby Budrow - 2/4/2015 1:48 PM
I use math when I'm fishing too! I just add up all the fish I caught that day and BAM, I got the total! :)
I do this as well...
Alas, I have found that no matter how many times I add 0 to 0, I still get 0....
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Location: Eastern Ontario | I no longer keep records because after keeping a comprehensive log for over 20 years I discovered al my fish came from wet places on days ending with Y. Now I just go fishing whenever I can and being retired and 5 min. from the water is frequently. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | jaultman - 2/4/2015 12:43 PM
I guess a positive value of the second derivative of pressure with respect to time would mean that pressure is EITHER:
rising, rising faster than it was an instant ago, and about to rise even faster yet in the next instant,
OR
falling, but falling slower than it was an instant ago, and about to level off even more in the next instant.
So, basically, each side of a valley (or trough) in the plot is your "prime time."
But you can't bring moon phase into it.
If that was a joke, sorry for picking it apart.
Man I got a laugh out this. Then I thought how sad and which character I would be on The Big Bang Theory! |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | wouldn't it be great if that 2K to $4K piece of data processing flat screen would grab all that information every time you hit the Data Save key! Do that along with a waypoint,,,,,hook up the USB and download to your laptop. Someday maybe, I think Microsoft should get into the depthfinder biz. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | A good friend of mine (unfortunately passed away last year) kept very detailed records using our local college weather stations. He lived and taught a fishing course in Rockford, and I was offering an evening fishing course at Nicolet in Rhinelander dung those years. Both had a sophisticated weather station and a barograph, which allowed for incredible detail. I found little ups and downs on a trend were pretty special, and combined with solunar tables, accounted for the lions share of what we referred to as 'peak activity'.
Oddly, many of the really large fish we logged were caught during periods where neither a solunar major or minor nor a barometric spike up or down was present, and no other fish were boated. This syndrome supports SVL's 'Best time to fish is when you can' BST. |
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