It’s a hot sunny day with no clouds in the sky and your first thought is that it is a beautiful day to get outside and find adventure. You grab your fishing rods, your lucky fishing hat and jump on your truck with your tackle box by your side. Getting to the lake you notice that it is calm, and the water is like glass. Not a ripple or wave in sight. What a beautiful day for fishing, right?
Weather Affects Fishing
Wrong. This may appear to be a very calm and comfortable day for you as a fisherman, but for the fish, there is zero cloud cover, so the surface level of the water is extremely hot. There is no wind to move the water and produce more oxygen and stir up food sources. The solid blue sky gives a very uniform contrast to anything in the water from the fish vantage point. Lastly, there is no cloud cover to provide shade or cooler areas of water for the fish.
Your perfect fishing day now became a very difficult day to be successful on the water.
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When the water temps rise, the fish tend to seek deeper water where the sunlight does not affect the temperature as much. Usually just below the depth of visibility will be the highest the fish will go in the water column. With the fish being deeper, they will be taking cover in vegetation and structure to stay cool and in more controlled conditions. This makes them more lethargic and not willing to chase food either. Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen than cold water. Fish need oxygen to survive and are stressed when oxygen levels are low. This can lead to fish becoming lethargic and less likely to bite.
Pro tip: If you are fishing a day with clear weather like this, look for docks, lily pads or other visible surface structure to target those big bass that are hiding in the shade.
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How Bad Weather Affects Fishing
Let’s look at the other side of this story.
You wake up and the clouds are rolling in. The winds are picking up a little and temperatures have been a little cooler lately. You are not sure if you want to go fishing or wait for warmer days. You decide to give in to your urges and load up your gear and hit the water.
This time, the water has a constant breeze on the surface, and the cloud cover makes the visibility a little lower in the water. Surface temps are a little cooler the last few days. Now with less visibility, the fish feel a lot safer in their environment and tend to venture out and hunt more. They also are not as jumpy with movements in their surroundings. This makes them more aggressive and more likely to attack a fishing bait.
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Spinnerbaits and other moving baits that cause vibration are key choices when visibility is lower. Fish will strike from movement when they are more aggressive. Fish are cold blooded, and their body temperature is influenced by their environment. Including water temperature. This means that fish will be more active and in shallower water. The fish have better oxygen levels, more consistent water temps and more aggressive in this situation. That means better success on the water.
Is Wetter Weather better?
Again, not a comfortable condition for the fisherman, but is it better for the fish? When it is raining, light rain of course, I prefer to go fishing more than sitting inside and watching the raindrops run down my window. Some of my best fishing days have been in light rain. The rain will help oxygenate the water and help wash insects and other food sources into the water from the shoreline, trees and other structures above water.
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Another great part of a light rain is cooling the surface temp of the water. This will make post rain fishing even better too! One thing to watch out for is heavy rain and of course, lightening. The heavier rain will cause so much noise and disturbance in the water that it can disorient the fish and cause them to go into hiding and not behave normally until the rain stops. Lightening may not affect the fish as much as the fisherman, but I highly recommend always avoiding lightening for your own safety.
Future Forecasts
Weather that is good for the fisherman is not always good for the fish. My pro tip is to avoid fishing days with bright blue skies, no wind and extremely hot temperatures. If you cannot avoid those conditions, then be prepared to fish deep, cast often and be very patient. A nice light rain and steady breeze may be your friend when fishing and remember, the fish never mind getting a little wet.
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