How Does the Weather Affect Fish?

  • Watch this video and see how three professional fishermen use the weather to help them catch more fish. Several opinions are given as to which weather factor is the most important to consider when fishing.
  • Which opinion do you agree with and why? Find a partner and discuss your answer.

View Transcript

There are tons of variables in bass fishing but none are as important and have as much effect on the fish as the weather. You know, if we look at weather as fishermen, most of us look at it too broadly we look at the five-day pattern in a three-day pattern how the weather is that day. But the best fishermen are the ones that make little, small adjustments on the water hour to hour. If it's partly cloudy and you're catching on a jerkbait and it clouds up and gets real rainy, you may have to go to a spinnerbait to get those fish to keep biting. Those are the kind of adjustments that you've got to be willing to make during the day. Color changes, size of the lure, there's a lot of different things that can make a day successful as the weather is changing.

When it comes to wind, wind is probably one of the biggest determining factors in how a bass is going to feed that day. Weather, probably, where it comes into most play is when you're fishing clear water situations. Meaning it's a three-foot to 20-foot visibility type of reservoirs or river systems. Just for the fact that it pushes, the wind is going to push bait into a pocket if you have it. It also breaks up light penetration, so the fish don't feel as spooky; they'll actually come up shallower. Where if you have no wind whatsoever it's a slick calm, light penetration goes deep so fish are going to push down to eat. So, use wind to your advantage. Most people try to hide from the wind a lot of times a year, but I would say from post spawn all the way through into the fall, your windy shorelines are going to be some of your best fishing you can possibly find. So use wind to your advantage because it moves the bait, breaks up light penetration, and tends to make fish more aggressive and much, and be able to fish a lot shallower.

A big variable in bass fishing obviously is water clarity. You know the bass has to be able to see a lure before you can eat a lure and I look at the water and try and pick my lures accordingly. There's two things I'm looking at one is lure color and one is amount of sound that the lure is going to make those are the most important things. If I'm fishing really, really clear water a lot of sounds not really necessary, but I like to have a real flashy; a real bright silver or white something that's going to draw a lot of attention to the bait. If it's muddier water, then I'm going to want more sound and more of an opaque color you know your chartreuse is in your oranges and things like that are going to be most effective. So picking the color according to the water is very, very important.

I don’t pay no attention to none of that junk. I strictly think that the weather influences the speed of your retrieve. If it's very cold, the fish are very cold, you’re very cold, it’ll be slow. That's all you have to remember; that the fish feel the same thing that you're feeling. When you think about it like that, it gets kind of simple bass fishing. If you're hot, they're hot, you can really lure them faster and they'll go get it. If they're cold, they're not gonna chase it like that. Simply remember, the fish are just as cold as you are just as hot as you are. The only thing the weather dictates is the speed of your retrieve, 90% of the time.

YouTube | Bass Fishing and the Weather