After the storm

[senkoskipper]

Anyone know how the fish will be biting after the storm rolls through?

[Mark Christianson]

I can tell you before the storm sure stunk.

Fished the Miss for smallies this morning(4 of us) and we got less than 10 fish for over 4 hours of fishing.

We hit it hard before and during the storm.

Nothing seemed to work.

[Slyster]

I'm not going out today- but would love to hear some reports on the action for future reference. Hopefully we will get some reports here from people who fish.

Enjoy the cool and clouds.. for shortly.. it's supposed to clear up and be HOT- they said it will feel like 105! Tough being out under the hot sun in 95 degrees with no wind!

[ZOKU]

Today absolutely sucked.

My friends and I all took vacation days today to fish. Had this thing planned for the last 3.5 weeks. *sigh* Hit 'Tonka at 6 a.m. We fished it hard hitting every bay as far west as Halstead's all of the way to CrystaL... I managed to boat just one bass.

What was up with that??? I couldn't *pay* to have a fish on my line today... tried absolutely everything. I swear!

I'd love to see any other reports?

[bassn1]

Fished Lake Lida (Ottertail Co.) before, during and after the storm.My partner and I got 2 SM over 3 lbs, 1 LM around 5 lbs, several 3 lb LM,and assorted northerns and crappies. All the fish were in 2-8' of water over major weed clumps. Cranks,spinnerbaits, jigs and Senko's were the ticket today.

Had to bail off the lake for an hour until the lightning quit.

[Derrik]

Koronis was an absolute flop. Managed 1 Northern on a black/white daredevle, and 1 LM on a senko.

That was from noon til about 7.

[cheektowaga]

Two of us managed 11 bass prior to the storm chasing us off the lake, most were small, few around 16-17 but one was 20.5! We fished from about 8-10:30am using mostly senko's (YUM's actually) and my buddy was tossing cranks.

[slicksnail]

I went out on Rice Lake in Maple Grove after the storm. I've never had much luck out there in the first place, but it's a block from my house and I can carry my canoe down there.

I caught one sunfish and probably 25 bullheads out there saturday. I fished for Bass/Northern, Carp started fishing panfish towards the end. That lake is nasty with green clumps of algea floating everywhere. I've never really caught anything out there, but there are always people fishing from shore. Anyone know what's up with that lake? I really don't think any fish live there.

[SCUMFROG]

We did ok before the storm, 21 inch 5 pound bass was the biggest, yeah baby. After wasn't so good. about 2-3 and a lot of short hits.

[Bassboy1645]

In my experience espcially around east metro lakes the bass bury in the cover after the storms. Slower presenations and lighter tackle seem to do the trick. All i ever used mostly was a medlight rod and six pound line with a pumpkinseed plastic worm or grub. This got alot of our after storm fish. For those of you wondering about good fishing after storms its usually because there is another storm coming within 12 to 24 hours. The mood of the fish also is influenced by how severe the storm was. and if all else fails go with a small, single colorado blade in silver, white spinnerbait. it is my go-to lure for a good reason. Best of luck to yall!!!!!!!

[JPSavage]

I quess we all know the theory regarding storms, cold fronts , etc.......You never know .......I was out 2 weeks ago , 8 am , cloudy, no apparent storm , yet cloudy......Caught numerous bass for several hours, then thunder, light rain,storm front conditions,still caught more bass, finally calms down and caught even more quality fish for 2 hours after the rain.....I give up, how much does a front alter fishing?.......Apparently some times it does and others it doesn't??????

[Bassboy1645]

Jpsavage, nice job on the bass. and yes your right too. Fronts can and do affect fish but no matter what the weather go fishing cause u never can tell. if u ask me, fishing beats the dump out of sitting around drinking beer any day!!!!!!!!!!!

[ZOKU]

I've been attempting to learn more and read more about not necessarily storm fronts but certain weather patterns, in general and its effect on fishing conditions.

I posted this reply to the Pike/Muskie section of the forum and thought I'd do the same here for anyone that missed it.

I'm just curious to see if anyone else can lend any additional information about this topic.

Here's what I previously wrote:

"I found this post interesting... only because I posted this yesterday after getting skunked on 'Tonka:

Did anyone else fish 'Tonka today?

I did a little digging yesterday evening and began looking at weather patterns and the conditions yesterday. The barometric pressure actually began falling Thursday during the late afternoon/early evening hours. It steadied itself throughout the evening but then continued falling again very early Friday morning where it eventually reached its low before the storm. I verified that data via information I found on our Doppler Radar system at work... (I work for Northwest Airlines and had a co-worker in our department take a look at the data from yesterday for me)

According to information I found here: Barometric Pressure Analysis

The best fishing conditions should have actually occurred on Thursday (when I didn't fish at all) With that said, does anyone closely watch the barometric pressure to verify fishing conditions? I found a few other articles online in regards to the barometric pressure and how it affects fishing conditions and there are a lot of "pro's" who won't even bother dropping a line in the water if the pressure has reached its high or low for the day... i.e., bottoming out.

I just know that I threw everything but the kitchen sink at 'em yesterday from 6 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. and didn't catch anything 'cept *one* bass. Perhaps there is some validity to my slow day yesterday... obviously, Commonsense Guy did much better. I don't know what I 'should' have been doing yesterday between the hours of 6 a.m. and approximately 11 a.m. when the stormed in and my window of opportunity closed... so to speak. I'm trying to justify the fact that I skunked yesterday. But I'm honestly looking for knowledge to better understand how these weather system do or do not affect our fishing conditions.

I know presentation, type of lure, lure color, etc, etc. all play a part in fishing... but does anyone think that there are some days *NOTHING* will work because of the barometric pressure? Or if not, how do you alleviate the fact that the barometric pressure is extremely low due to an impending storm front? How do you adapt? What do you do differently? Per the article I posted, when the barometric pressure has reached its peak or its low... the fish will typically move out to deeper water. Slower presentations are a *MUST* Ripping a buzzbait across the surface (as I did most of the morning yesterday) will *typically* yield very poor results. I say "typically" because I honestly think each fish has its own personality and will sometimes do something (like bite a lure despite the barometric pressure reading) simply because it can. In regards to deeper water and slower presentations, I'm just wondering what everyone is doing? How do you fish slower? Jig & Pig? Slow spinnerbait? Live bait? slow deep diving crank bait?

Sorry for the lengthy post... "

[st.crioxfishin]

For whats its worth, sometimes downsizing does help in high pressure situations, not always though. A guy in a tournament I was in on sun. caught his limit in 20FOW on a 4" worm. Its been hot until last evening and this morning. Could have been because of the heat.

Although barometric pressure may tell you some things and may effect the fish, IMO you can never really dictate what the fish may be doing if you aren't on the water fishing for them. EX: At times I hear people say that the only good time to catch them in mid summer is in the morning or evening-which can be true at times. But how do they know that with out being on the water in mid-day? Im not trying to sound mean, but its just one of my pet peeves when someone tells me that I can't catch them on a certain day because of certain weather conditions. Sorry for getting off topic a little bit, I just hadda get that out

IMO, Just fish, have confidence, keep it simple, and expirement untill you get them(I know its not easy somedays, but its fishing right!).

[st.crioxfishin]

For whats its worth, sometimes downsizing does help in high pressure situations, not always though. A guy in a tournament I was in on sun. caught his limit in 20FOW on a 4" worm. Its been hot until last evening and this morning. Could have been because of the heat.

Although barometric pressure may tell you some things and may effect the fish, IMO you can never really dictate what the fish may be doing if you aren't on the water fishing for them. EX: At times I hear people say that the only good time to catch them in mid summer is in the morning or evening-which can be true at times. But how do they know that with out being on the water in mid-day? Im not trying to sound mean, but its just one of my pet peeves when someone tells me that I can't catch them on a certain day because of certain weather conditions. Sorry for getting off topic a little bit, I just hadda get that out

IMO, Just fish, have confidence, keep it simple, and expirement untill you get them(I know its not easy somedays, but its fishing right! ).

[ZOKU]

Quote:

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EX: At times I hear people say that the only good time to catch them in mid summer is in the morning or evening-which can be true at times. But how do they know that with out being on the water in mid-day?

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Excellent point. It's another case of the "THEY'S". I hate it when "they" always say something and then before you know it, everyone is doing it (not doing it) because "they" said it would or wouldn't work.

I think the idea of fishing a bit more conservatively during certain weather patterns definitely holds some truth to it as well.