Weather Conditions for Pike

[jeff smith]

I blanked today up the river but it was running very high and coloured after the recent rain .I'm never confident piking in these conditions but give it a couple of days and it should be right.Nice day though,bright and warm in the sun.Peace and quiet,deer,kingfishers,what could be better!.................well perhaps the odd pke or two!

How'd you get on Steve?

[Steve Burke]

How'd you get on Steve?

 

Two low doubles early on and I thought "yes!". Then it darn well clouded over for 3 hours. The sun didn't come out again until after the feeding spell was over!

 

I'll be posting more details on my pike blog "A Grand Day Out" in due course, but we've a house viewing this afternoon. See http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Grand-D...d33-t80704.html

[Dick Dastardly]

Ive posted about this in more detail previously but my experiences have caused me to believe that pike can detect the rising of air pressure (or more acurately the impending rise of air pressure) some time before a barometric barometer does! Therefore you can often leave the house with the barometer showing low,fish all day in low conditions,experience a sudden intense feeding spell (as you would expect during classic high pressure conditions) but not see the actual barometer record this rise till some time after ie by the time you get home or even a bit later.

[Houseplant]

just a thought, the whole of the earth's atmosphere, all 60 or so miles of it exerts about the same pressure as just 10 metres of water. given the relatively enormous pressure changes a pike will experience as it moves through the water column, do you think that subtle atmospheric changes can really be detected?

[Steve Burke]

just a thought, the whole of the earth's atmosphere, all 60 or so miles of it exerts about the same pressure as just 10 metres of water. given the relatively enormous pressure changes a pike will experience as it moves through the water column, do you think that subtle atmospheric changes can really be detected?

 

It would appear so. Apart from empirical evidence by a lot of anglers across lots of disciplines, French scientists found that trout swam higher in the water during periods of high atmospheric pressure. These trout were in a very big indoor tank in an environment where light and temperature were carefully controlled.

[jeff smith]

just a thought, the whole of the earth's atmosphere, all 60 or so miles of it exerts about the same pressure as just 10 metres of water. given the relatively enormous pressure changes a pike will experience as it moves through the water column, do you think that subtle atmospheric changes can really be detected?

As a youngster i used to keep cold water fish.One of the most interesting species in my tank was a weatherfish.When the weather changed,the fascinating little fellah got up to all sorts of antics.Found this on the net;

'The fish acquired its name "Weather Fish" from their long recognized erratic behaviour during changes in barometric pressure. At these times the fish may become very active and agitated. They were kept in containers as weather predictors and historically may be one of the longest kept species of fish. '

 

Jeff

[Dick Dastardly]

just a thought, the whole of the earth's atmosphere, all 60 or so miles of it exerts about the same pressure as just 10 metres of water. given the relatively enormous pressure changes a pike will experience as it moves through the water column, do you think that subtle atmospheric changes can really be detected?

 

This is an old chestnut but worth re doing.I will answer it as honestly and briefly as I can. Pike are more active hunters/feeders in high pressure weather conditions.Simple fact that I have noticed over many years and can actually demonstrate to anyone who cares to challenge by allowing then to join me on a few trips.I believe it is the actual weather conditions that the two extremes of air pressure bring that are the real things that influence pikes feeding behaviour.In fact even more acurately the different light values these conditions bring. But how do they detect the change of the weather conditions? as they certainly do and as I said before sometimes in advance of the actual weather itself.Has to be the pressure or the light but my bet has to be with the air pressure for the simple reason that the change of pressure manifest long before the light values change.

 

How can they detect such reletavly small changes? I dont know but then again we cant really apreciate how their "non human" senses such as the lateral line etc work can we as they are simply beyond our range of comprehension. I suspect though that with them living in a "pressured" enviroment (ie water) that they would be a lot more sensitive to subtle changes. Humans are no longer "sensitive" to a lot of influences that animals still are.For example look how migratory birds are still sensitive to magnetic fields?

[jeff smith]

Fascinating stuff.This is why i've completely given up on the telly!

Budgie-In your experience,do river pike behave in the same way as stillwater pike with regards to B.P?

I suppose this could also explain why a lot of 'traditional' pikers swear by cold frosty weather as being good for pike.I have to be honest and say than in my LIMITED experience the opposite tends to be true.BUT i have other variables to consider in the venues that i pike fish -tidal rivers.

[Dick Dastardly]

Fascinating stuff.This is why i've completely given up on the telly!

Budgie-In your experience,do river pike behave in the same way as stillwater pike with regards to B.P?

I suppose this could also explain why a lot of 'traditional' pikers swear by cold frosty weather as being good for pike.I have to be honest and say than in my LIMITED experience the opposite tends to be true.BUT i have other variables to consider in the venues that i pike fish -tidal rivers.

 

Jeff I dont have enough experience to be as adament about tidal rivers but on normal ones/normal stretchs of a river it is exactly the same.Obviously you have to allow for the additional factors of flooding with its changes in current and clarity to factor in.

 

One of the reasons that many newcomers/casual pikers find their results vary from mine is that they enevitabley use static deadbait techniques.Time has also shown that this is the better method (often the one that saves a blank) in low pressure conditions.In high pressure you can still catch on static deads but if you were to try lives/lures/wobbled baits you would be very suprised at the huge difference in fish taken on most waters.

 

As an example on a local river to me I expect to catch between 12 and 30 pike a day in good conditions.Out of this number I will be lucky if more than 1-3 are on deads despite using two of each.In poor conditions then I would be lucky to get half a dozrn fish but still 1-3 of these would be on deads.

 

Trout were also mentioned above as responding to high pressure conditions.I know that on one of the Trout Res's I fish that when we get our baits we often do the early morning feed of the stock fish.In HP conditions they to are noticably more up for it.Boilling at the surface for the pellets imediately whilst on LP days it takes a few scoops to get them going.

Edited February 7, 2008 by BUDGIE

[jeff smith]

Budgie,

 

You're right about the methods that have done well(more like saved the day) for me in low pressure conditions i.e static or twitched deadbaits.I think because the majority of pike i catch in the depths of winter are laden with lice,i assume that they are lying static on the bottom,and I therefore rely heavily on the deadbait approach. I do continually search along the river hoping to literally drop the bait on the pike's snout.To be fair,i don't get many small pike and am just as likely to get a high single,or a double as a jack using this approach.But then i don't get ANYWHERE near the numbers of fish that you mention.

Livebaits are near impossible to get on my tidal which leaves lures and wobbling-methods that i've only really used in the summer and autumn and usually result in a reasonable number of smallish pike..I think i'll take your advice and try a wobbled bait on my next outing.I'll have a bit more confidence in the method .The forecast is for settled high pressure for a couple of days and the river level and colour should be better by now.

Edited February 7, 2008 by jeff smith