Weather Impact on Fishing

Curious which characteristics of the weather impact fishing…

Looking at this weekend it went from -8 day -15 night to -20 day -30 night. Not sure if temperature itself plays a role in the fish behaviour, or if it’s moreso winds and barometric pressure.

Do you pay attention to the weather and strategize your outings? Any trends or things to watch out for?

Nip is funny in you can catch a batch one day and Zip the next day back.

From my experience, in the cold weather like this, the fish often are lockjawed especially when it's a blue bird sky. On the swing in temperatures the bite will be on again.

I have to agree, in bluebird skies summer or winter, the fishing is tough. Not sure why. Just before a storm or during a snow storm the bite is on. Again not sure why.. With the dark clouds looming I have had fish literately jump out of the water to smash a lure.. Nuts! Lol Unfortunately since I have to drive home generally, that's when I am leaving.. Ugh

Thanks guys, very interesting.

Did I mention this weekend on top of cold front is bluebird skies

We’ll put the theory to the test.

What they said above, high pressure , sunny skies

like today.barometer through the roof......can still catch just tougher to do

I keep an eye on the minnow bucket in house barometer if minnows on the bottom that is where i am fishing if on the top I bring it up. Just my 2 cents.

I had the great opportunity of experiencing the results of extreme weather swings this week as i spent Tuesday to Friday on the Lake.
We arrived Tuesday around 2:00 it was -25ish with wind from west, Fishing was slow. Wind picked up from the south over night and the Temp climbed back up and by morning it was -9 fishing was still tough. Moved out deeper in the afternoon,by this time the temp came up to -2 and the sun came out and the wind died down, the Bite got crazy and we went on to a 30 fish evening bite stayed hot through the night, the next day temp stayed steady around -7ish and we had the blessing of a 100+ fish day, Mostly Walleye ( a great range in size), a handful of jumbo perch, one burbot and a few mud puppies in the evening. That Night the wind swung to the north and the Temp dipped down to -30ish and 30km from the NE and we only caught 4 fish that morning from 7:00-!0:30.
Very interesting to watch the fish change their behaviour on camera and on the Sonar.
Regardless of the weather i just love getting the opportunity to get out there, I enjoy fishing in the hut, but i do prefer the days where the weather allows me to sit out and chill in the sun and have a few beers and watch the action on the lake.

Best advice I can give during cold fronts is to down size your baits, the bite is still slow but you can get fish. I've done ok changing to 1/16-1/32 oz jigs and small pin head shinners, baits you would normally use for panfish or perch will get you more action during cold front periods. I've caught 5 pound plus size Walleye on 1/32 oz panfish jigs on Nip during -25 to -30 cold days, but like I say the bite will be still be slow.

I think it's the barometric pressure. Apparently when the pressure starts to drop it triggers a feeding instinct on fish in response to an upcoming front. I am not sure whether this pattern holds true for winter when the lake is covered with ice.

Dang we must have 3 barometric pressure drops everyday, funny how it coincides with when the wife is hungry at breakfast, lunch and supper.