|
If you've been fishing for very long, you have no doubt observed that the
behavior of fish, particularly bass, seems to be altered significantly with the passage of even a weak front (transition from
high barometric pressure conditions to low pressure conditions). In particular, you have probably observed that fishing usually
gets really "tough" with fewer bites and fewer fish caught immediately after such an event.
There have been many articles
and even whole books written by those much more experienced in this subject than I. Most offer tips on strategies and tactics
to deal with it. That is not necessarily the purpose of this article. My purpose is to share some of my personal observations
of bass behavior just before and just after passage of a mild front.
Some years ago, I had travelled to Lake Fork,
Texas for a two-day fishing trip. It occurred in mid summer when daytime temperatures often reach the mid to high 90s.
For
the first day of the trip, the weather was typical, with light (< 10 mph) SSE winds, morning temperature around 78 degrees
and afternoon temperature in the mid-90s. The skies were mostly clear with just an occasional fluffy cloud passing by.
That
morning, I started fishing the visible edge of a weed line (hydrilla) that extended for some distance in the upper end of
Birch Creek. I was casting a Texas-rigged Berkley power worm to the edge of the weeds. This pattern had been quite successful
many times before and with the beautiful weather, I was anticipating having a good day. However, by mid-morning I was still
looking for my first bite and, as I am prone to do, getting a bit impatient.
At that point I came across an opening
in the weed line, caused by a pocket of open water that extended back so that it formed a little pool bounded on 3 sides by
visible weeds. The pool was approximately the size of 3 small cars. As the trolling motor moved the boat past the opening,
in the exceedingly clear water I could see a large number of small bass in the pocket. They were either suspended motionless
in the ~ 4 ft. deep water or were swimming around in a liesurely manner. None of the bass were large, ranging from 10 to 12
inches in length.
Having fished so long that morning without a bite yet, I decided to have a little fun with the small
bass. I put down my baitcasting rig and pulled my spinning outfit from the rod box. I tied on a 1/16 oz. slider head and put
a small grub tail on it. On the first cast into the open area, several bass charged the bait immediately as it hit the water
and one nailed it. As I brought the hooked bass to the boat, several others milled about it, trying to take the bait away.
I spent 15 or 20 minutes there catching a small bass on every cast and witnessing the same extremely aggressive behavior that
I had seen with the first one.
I then went back to fishing for larger fish for the rest of the day. I don't recall
how I fared afterward but that is not relevant to this article.
I spent the night at the lake and got up early the
next morning to start another day's fishing. When I arose, the first thing I noticed was that the wind, though still light,
was now coming from the North and the air temperature was just a few degrees cooler than the previous morning. The skies were
completely cloudless. There had been no overnight wind, rain or storms that often accompany a frontal passage, but the change
in wind direction told the tale -- there had been a minor frontal passage overnight.
I started fishing again on the
same weed line edge, and in the same manner as the previous day. Once again, mid-morning arrived and I still had not had the
first bite. About that time, I came to the small opening in the weedline where I had caught the small bass the day before.
Once again, as the trolling motor moved the boat past the opening, I looked over and saw that those small bass were still
there! I was really expecting them to be gone, but there they were, appearing to be acting in the same manner as they had
been when I first saw them the day before. Once again, I pulled out the spinning rod and made a cast with the sliderhead/grub
into he opening. To my surprise, when the bait hit the water, EVERY BASS immediately disappeared into the weeds. After retrieving
the lure and watching for just a moment or two, I saw the bass once again slowly begin to emerge from their hiding places
in the weeds and hold in the open water. Another cast and the same result! Immediately when the bait hit the water, every
bass disappeared into the weeds, only to start emerging again a minute or so after the lure had been retrieved.
Next,
I made a long cast with the slider head/grub, well past where the fish were holding and began a very slow swimming retrieve.
This time the bass did not disappear when the bait hit the water well past them, BUT as soon as the swimming bait neared them,
they pulled the disappearing act again. It looked like they were actually spooked by or fearful of the same bait that they
had so aggressively attacked the day before!
There you have it! Two different days, same group of fish, their behavior
changed from "wildly aggressive" to "fearful/easily spooked" with nothing more than a few hours elapsed and the passage of
a small weather front.
Admittedly these are not large bass, but they are bass and as such I strongly suspect that what
I witnessed can be applied to other, larger bass.
A few points I got from the experience:
1. A frontal passage
may not actually cause fish to relocate as I had previously thought was the case, but it most definitely will affect their
behavior, making them inactive, or even worse, fearful and easily spooked.
2. I think the behavior of these fish illustrates
why post-front fishing can be so tough. I doubt that EVERY bass in the lake exhibits identical behavior as these, but if MOST
do, it surely accounts for the lack of results in post-frontal fishing.
3. The fact that the tiny lure actually spooked
these fish tells me that one should avoid large and noisy baits, and to use much lighter tackle and line.
4. It also
suggests to me that post-frontal fishing probably should concentrate on deeper fish (where hopefully the pressure changes
will not have such a drastic impact).
Here's hoping that my retelling of this experience will help you as you try to
cope with some tough post-frontal fishing conditions!
|
