Barometric Pressure & Fishing … by Ron Newman

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The following is a very interesting article on the affects of barometric pressure & fishing by Kamloops Fly Fishers Association member, and long time BC interior fly fisherman, Ron Newman.

Barometric Pressure & Fishing …

Over the years, folks have said that fishing was better when the barometer was either high, low, rising, falling, or steady.  I even went on the Internet to see if there was a consensus and there wasn’t.  About the only thing that seemed certain was that there was no known scientific reason that the barometer should affect the fish.

So I finally decided to get the pressure readings for my 974 recorded fishing trips and see if there was any kind of correlation between barometric pressure & fishing.  I couldn’t get readings at each lake so I used the readings from Kamloops Airport which is essentially the epicenter of my fishing trips.  I got readings for 24 hours and 3 hours in advance of each fishing day.  I also got readings for the time I started fishing and 4 hours after that for to give a total of four pressure readings for each fishing trip.

Barometric Pressure & Fishing | Summary of Findings:

The average success rate for all trips is 1.91 strikes per hour.  And for those who care, 10 millibars equals one kilopascal.  Either is accepted for barometric pressure readings in Canada.

I had expected numbers to bounce all over the place and was surprised to see consistency as the data for barometric pressure changed.  The trend held true for readings prior to the start of fishing as well as readings during fishing and so the table shows the average of these readings.

Thus, the answer to the question about barometric pressure & fishing is that fishing is BEST when the barometer is high.  But it is also above average fishing when the barometer is low.  It is in the middle pressure ranges (1012 to 1018 millibars) that the fishing is below average. I also checked out rising and falling barometric pressures.  Prior to the start of fishing, it is best if the pressure is rapidly rising or rapidly falling.  While fishing, success is best if the pressure remains steady.

Barometric Pressure & Fishing | Pressure Change Summary:

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Those are the results of my investigations on barometric pressure & fishing.  Make up your own mind about how barometric pressure affects fishing but remember that according to the scientists, air pressure isn’t supposed to affect fish. If a trout moves up or down the water column by more than three feet it goes through more pressure changes than can be exerted by changing from the highest to the lowest barometric pressures.

…….Ron Newman

Ron Newman is a long time member of the Kamloops Fly Fishers Association and has spent the last 30 plus years fly fishing the Kamloops British Columbia area still water lakes for trophy rainbow trout. During this time Ron has accumulated a vast amount of knowledge on the subject which he has complied in his book, Rainbow Trout Fly Fishing : A Guide for Still Waters. Whether you are just a beginner fly fisher, or experienced and looking to hone some advanced stillwater fly fishing skills, we highly recommend that you pick up Ron’s book! A big thank you to Ron for allowing us to share some of that knowledge with everyone here at flyguys.net!

*** for more still water fly fishing strategies please hit up & review our still water fly fishing category here!

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