Fishing “pressure”

Believe it or not, this kind of bad weather is sometimes good for fishing. When the weather warms up, fishing can get a bit tough. But when we have the threat of thunderstorms and even rain like we have and will have for a few days, one of the major components in fish biting turns in the fisherman’s favor: barometric pressure.

When the pressure is falling BEFORE an approaching storm, the fish go on a feeding spree. I don’t have room to go into the scientific explanation of that here, but most experts believe that when the pressure is really low, fish are “uncomfortable” because of pressure on their swim bladders, so they become less active and don’t feed. The reason they feed right before this happens is they can sense a drop in pressure and they make a run for the supermarket before it closes, so to speak – in other words, they go on a feeding spree. After a drop in pressure and a return to high pressure (often called blue bird days), it takes the fish a day or two to level back out, but then they bite again.

Armed with that fantastic scientific knowledge, maybe you can catch a mess of fish between the storms the next few days…. BE CAREFUL, though. NEVER stay out if their is lightning in the area. You don’t want to be on the water. One fishing friend pointed out to me that he wasn’t worried about that, though. He said, “you never hear about fishermen getting struck by lightning.”

I countered, “Yes, that is true. And the reason is that they have enough sense to GO HOME when it starts lightning!”

It’s time for big ol’ bream like this one!

This week’s fishing report:

Bream fishing and catfishing have been super the past week or so on Lake D’Arbonne. It’s a great time to catch a mess of fish off your pier or boat dock. Crickets work well, but red worms seem to get more bites. There are some nice chinquapins being caught as well. The crappie fishing has been good, too. Fish are in a bit deeper water and suspended from 6-8 feet deep in most places. Bass fishing is good when the pressure is dropping and especially early and late. Some of the still mornings have produced an excellent topwater bite. Fish are in 5-6 feet of water

At Lake Claiborne, the report is very similar. Bass fishing is good around the banks and on the flats. Crappie seem to be hanging around suspended tops and the bream and catfish are doing excellent. This is the time of the year when striper fishing starts to pick up. The best lures are bucktails and spoons.

The big bass bite at Caney Lake isn’t as good as it has been, but some good ones are being caught deep. There are good reports of schooling bass here now as well. Lipless crank baits work well when the fish are up and splashing and worms rigged with light weights will catch them when they are down. The same report applies to Poverty Point Reservoir where fishing is very much the same as Caney. As for the Ouachita River, bream have started to get on the beds in backwater lakes and some white perch are being caught along the creeks around fallen treetops. Bass fishing has been fair.