WHATEVER THE WEATHER...
Low pressure fronts and new, warm winds are the dream combination for catching well, right? There can be a lot more to it than that, explains Ed Betteridge...
The weather plays a huge part in our angling. It affects not only how the fish behave, but also where in the lake they want to be and how strongly they will feed.
But it’s not always as clear cut as we’re led to believe, and fishing in periods of low air pressure or on the end of ‘new’ winds isn’t always the best option.
How weather influences a carp’s behaviour depends on many factors; the time of year, the make-up of the venue, the air and water temperature, the stock of the lake and - probably the biggest factor these days - angling pressure.
On most busy lakes these days the amount of angling pressure – generally speaking – affects the fish’s behaviour more than weather conditions, especially when the season gets into full swing. A good example of this is when strong new south-westerly springs up and the ‘savvy’ anglers see this coming and set up on the end of it. The fish may soon back off if there are a dozen lines in that end of the lake and no such pressure towards the back of the wind. But for the bulk of this piece we will take angling pressure out of the equation and assume it to be balanced over the lake. Instead we will concentrate on various meteorological conditions and how they have affected different lakes that I have fished, starting with air pressure.
FISHING THE ‘DROP’
Air pressure effects different lakes in different ways. A lot of anglers swear by low pressure fronts and ABOVE : Sleeping under the stars in high pressure conditions.
BELOW: I’ve often found the start of a drop in air pressure to be the most productive period. the overcast unsettled weather that accompanies them. However, on a lot of lakes that I have fished I have found the drop in pressure or, more importantly, the start of the drop, to be the key time. I have seen this happen numerous times over the years, but one example sticks in my mind. I usually do a long session with my family in tow during the summer, so one August a couple of years ago we turned up at the lake for a five-night session and got everything set up. The first few days were glorious sunshine, red hot temperatures and high pressure, but the pressure was forecast to plummet from 1030mb to 990mb over the course of the next three days, bringing with it rain, heavy cloud and big winds. To cut a long story short, I had four fish in the oppressive, still heat at
“I had four fish in the oppressive, still heat... but didn’t catch in the classic low pressure spell, and nobody else did either!”
the start of the trip, and the lake did another four fish, which is a lot for a low-stocked water containing around 50 carp. However, I didn’t catch in the classic low pressure, overcast spell and nobody else did either! I’m convinced that the fish knew the drop was coming and fed hard as soon as it started to go, but they were full up by the time the pressure reached its lowest ebb.
AGAINST THE GRAIN
Another water that I have fished that has strange patterns in pressure is Bundy’s Pit in Cambridgeshire. It is about seven acres, but very deep in places, going down to 65ft at its deepest. It fishes very well in high pressure, yet not so well in low pressure.
One summer I had done pretty well on there and I was getting big hits of fish, catching around 10 fish each 48-hour session with some big ones among them too. Flushed with success and confidence in equal measure, I arranged to do a magazine feature, and pretty much guaranteed the editor a big fish live for the cameras if he came down. However, the weather changed, and a low front came in accompanied by lots of rain and cloud cover - brilliant fishing weather in a lot of angler’s books! But Bundy’s shut up shop and I blanked for 40-plus hours in the rain.
We set about shooting the feature the best we could in the damp weather, and right at the end of the session we were just getting some pictures of me sat next to the rods when, to both of our surprises, I got a bite and landed a 32lb common. So, although the session didn’t end in a blank, it was a massive reduction in action from 10 fish per session. I have fished other deep lakes that have also fished better in high pressure conditions, and I think it’s because it brings the stock of the lake up in the water layers. Now, the upper layers on a lake of normal depth might mean the top two feet or so, but in a deep lake the upper layers can be the top 10ft, which is where I tend to concentrate my efforts on the steep marginal shelves.
I believe that in low pressure the fish spread themselves over the lake, from 5ft to 55ft down, so they are more spread out and harder to target.
A RULE OF FOUR
To my mind fish are subconsciously looking for four things when they move about the lake – warmth, oxygen, food and security. There are others, but these are the main ones.
Now, depending on the time of year and the general prevailing conditions, these four things change in order
“To my mind fish are subconsciously looking for four things when they move about the lake; – warmth, oxygen, food and security”
of importance. Warmth is the main controlling factor in winter and early spring, but probably one of the least important in summer, when the oxygen levels take precedence, especially if still, hot conditions have been prevalent over the preceding weeks.
Fish need to feed regularly in the warmer months, so they will naturally drift towards the beds of ‘naturals’, or a prebaited area (if deemed ‘safe’), and the ‘security’ factor is also highly important at times, whether that means a weedbed, a set of snags, or a safe area away from anglers’ lines.
It can be tricky trying to second-guess what is the most important of these four factors at any given time but, seeing as this is a piece about how the weather can affect your chances, I’ll stick to looking at warmth and oxygen, which are both controlled mainly by the wind, or lack of it.
THE IMPORTANCE OF O2
I see a lot of anglers setting up on the end of the wind without really knowing why they are doing it. There are several questions I ask before I start looking for the fish: is the prevailing wind making the water warmer or cooler on the end of it? That is not how it feels to us, because wind chill will always be a factor, but what effect will it have on the water? Is it going to be warmer on the back of the wind in the flat, sundrenched areas? Is the wind new or old? The fish can often move on to the end of a big, new wind, even if it’s cold, but they won’t stay there too long and will soon back off. I believe that they make the initial migration because of the extra oxygen that the waves impart into the water.
When I was fishing Burghfield in the summer of 2014 during a very hot, still spell of weather, I found all the fish hanging around in the weed just off the lake’s main water skiing route.
The water was that low in oxygen they were gathered in the only place that had a ‘chop’ on the surface, thanks to the boats coming through. As soon as the big winds eventually arrived, they were on the end of it in big numbers to take advantage of the oxygen injection, and a big hit was made.
So, to summarise, when I turn up at a lake, before deciding where to pitch up, I will always look at the four main factors of warmth, oxygen, food and security, and apply them to the time of year and the weather leading up to my visit to give me a decent starting point of where to begin to look.
Only then will I investigate the barometric pressure forecast and the particular attributes of the lake that I’m fishing.
Using the weather to your advantage is a matter of slotting all the various pieces of the jigsaw together.
With a bit of practice, it will start to become second nature, and when it does, you’ll find there are few, if any, missing pieces to the puzzle.
“I see lots of anglers setting up on the end of the wind without really knowing why they’re doing it”