Does weather affect fish under ice?

[Luck e 1]

Just a quick question from someone who is still an ice-fishing rookie.

Does weather affect fish when ice is still 10 inches thick? I am asking because I went out Wednesday night to a lake with good crappies and gills, and had a hard time getting the lookers to bite. Action on the vex...just very few takers, even after I tried different lures, sizes, colors, actions, bait...

Thanks for the help guys.

[Duffman]

Without a doubt, the weather affects the fishs attitudes all year long. That's the main reason why the fish will go from sniffers to biters back to sniffers again.

[Gissert]

Yep, just as Duffman says. Sometimes the weather has even a more profound effect in the winter.

We were fishing up on the NW Angle of LOW the first week of March. Fishing was very good for a couple days. The weather was cloudy, with light winds. On the last afternoon, the sun came out and the wind picked up a tad as some high pressure began to roll in. Just as the clouds cleared, the fish shut down. Even the eelpout shut off. The good bite to no bite was very pronounced.

[icehousebob]

The amount of sunlight and cloud definitely has an affect. More important, I believe, is the barometer reading, and what its done in the last two days. I've cancelled fishing trips when there has been a big barometer drop recently. Give me two days of steady barometer and I'll catch fish. A falling barometer gives you a narrow window of opportunity when fish go really active. Of course, sometimes other things affect the fish and my theories go down the tube.

[The Donk]

I agree, the pressure from fronts are critical to watch. I like fishing right before a front moves in, the fish seem to go on a last "minute" binge. Also, the steady barometer for a couple days can tell you alot about a fish's normal pattern. If they have one

[efgh]

I beleive the barometer has the greatest effect on fish, a sudden drop or raise in pressure, I think affects their air bladder, and the fish think they got a belly acke and go off feed till the pressure equalizes and they feel normal and resume feeding, I know how we feel with a belly acke and I for one don;t feel like eating.

[Luck e 1]

Interesting...I love learning all this new info.

Where do you find info about pressure? I have heard it expressed in terms of a number, but don't know what 'normal' or 'falling' means.

Also- how does this translate into fish location?

[oil painter]

The pressure is defined 3 ways rising falling steady, falling brings low pressure [rain snow clouds humidity etc.]steady means the same o same o multiple days of the same system whatever it is. And a rising barometer brings clear skies,cooler temps and follows a storm front. If you want to catch fish in the latter expect slow going . Rivers however dont seem to react the same as lakes to the changes.Hope that helps!

[Minnetonka]

The pressure that is refered to is basicly the weight of the mass of air above the surface. I would have to look it up to be sure, but I think it is 14.7 pound per squar inch on the surface of the water and as you go deeper, it doubles every 33 1/3 feet down. The pressure at the surface varies between "high" pressure systems, which are usally cludless blue skies. Or, a "low" pressure system, which is a storm of cloudy condition. The lowere the pressure, the more severe the storm. This change in surface pressure is measured by using a device that has a tube of mecury in it. the change in the height of the mecury in the tube is expressed as millibars.

[Surface Tension]

Barometric pressure and cold fronts effect fish. I had to catch myself because I almost said they effect fish negatively

Fish will change their habits when a cold front rolls in just like you put a jacket on. You adjust and so do fish. More times then not fish will go to stable water when the cold founts come in. That stable water is usually deeper. By deeper I don't mean a drastic drop in depth. It could mean 5 or 10' max which usually is on the next break from where they were before the cold fount.

As an example lets look at a pattern where the eyes are up shallow following the warm water during the spring. Often that means a wind blown shoreline, that warm water will stack up. Here comes that cold fount. Instead of warm water getting blown onto that shore its dropped in temp. If you didn't change your location you'd swear the fish are turned off. Thing is they aren't there. I'll guaranty if you back off that shallow shoreline to just off the break your going to find those eyes again. If the cold fount continues for more then a day or two then you have to go deeper yet, that stacked water(warm water out deeper)is gone. Now it gets tough to figure where and at what depth to start looking and it becomes a crap shoot but one thing to keep in mind is at the first opportunity of warm winds and that wind blown shoreline the eyes will be there.

[CrappieJohn]

Something else to consider is the fact that fish are cold-blooded and that their activity level is relative to water temperature and that fact is why they can appear to be so fussy when things change. A little goes a long way at this time. During the winter months the water temps are perhaps the most temp stable of all of the different seasons, yet the fish seem to have highs and lows in their activities. Barometric pressure change is one of those "outside" variables that will affect the location and attitude of the fish.

Consistant, stable weather will likely show the fish as being agreeable to a fair bite. Immediate pre-frontal conditions may see them go wild as compared to the stable conditions even while immediate post frontal conditions may seem like they disappeared and/or simply are very reluctant to hit. As a rule, the deeper the front (colder,clearer) during the winter and under the ice, the longer it will take to reach a bit of equilibrium in the water again. Two, three, even four days might be the length of time for the fish to re-acclimate to the conditons following a cold front.

Remember that the water is captive....literally. It is covered with a cap of ice. This covered water has less an opportunity to change with changing weather conditions. Likewise, the fish found under the ice are captives as well to change. If you look to open water during this time, when daily changes can really upset under-ice fish, you'd likely find the fishing more agreeable to catching. Fish will move now to those open pockets.

Rivers will definely be less affected by the cold fronts if they are open water. I fished Friday on the Mississippi River below a dam one day after a major storm swepth our area. Much lower temps (17 degrees at the onset of the fishing), clear skies, high barometer, 33 degree water.....every negative influence imagineable to ice fishermen did not stop the walleye bite on the river.

[BobT]

I've heard the term "cold front" used many times with regard to fishing. Could someone explain precisely what that means? Is it relative or are there certain weather patterns that are being referred to? In other words, does a cold front necessarily include a drop in air temperature or is it more related to barometric pressure?