Weather affects on ice fishing.

[Elkhunter1834]

Wondering what are people’s thoughts, Does weather patterns affect the fish bite/activity under the ice? Planning long distance trips to other lakes around are crazy winter weather. What experience has people had?
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[Jmorfish]

I'm heading out Mon. p.m. for an ice trip, and I know that's pretty close to a new storm coming in.... so I'm predicting we won't do that good, as I've usually done best just at the early stage of a storm already here.... but we're still going, and hope I'm wrong this time....Guluk...
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[klam]

When we were younger we fished during many a blizzard and still caught a good number of fish.
Now we wait for blue sky, sunshine, and no wind.

I think the weather plays more of a part when fishing the soft water.
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[Brighamfish]

Last year on the Berry we had one of our best days ever there. Everyone in our group pulled 20+ fish all nicely sized. It was a beautiful sunny day with very little wind. The next day was a sideways white out and like the sun the fish were nowhere to be seen. Definately felt like the weather played a part in fish cooperation that trip.

I've fished other places in whiteouts and had great success. Fish are fickle. You just never know how the weather, moon phase or increase in swamp gas over lake Okeechobee is going to affect them. If you fish a particular lake and species of fish often I think you can get their pattern down a lot better. From lake to lake and species to species it's a lot harder to have any solid rules.
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[lovetofish]

Barometric Pressure. Try keeping a log of pressure readings and compare against successful/unsucessful trips.

I don't know if a lake covered in ice has any effect of BP. I rarely ice fish anymore. But I've found the following to be pretty accurate during spring, summer and fall. Especially during falling pressure right before a storm hits.

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[li]High Pressure (30.50 +) = Clear Skies = Fishing Medium to Slow = Fish slowly in deeper water or near cover.[/li][li]Medium Pressure (29.70 – 30.40) = Fair Weather = Normal Fishing = Test lures, baits, and techniques to see what works.[/li][li]Low Pressure (29.60 -) = Cloudy/Rainy Weather = Fishing Slows = Fish slowly in deeper water or near cover.[/li][li]Rising Pressure = Improving Weather = Fish Slightly Active = Fish slowly in deeper water or near cover.[/li][li]Stable Pressure = Fair Weather = Normal Fishing = Best time to test lures, baits, and techniques to see what works.[/li][li]Falling Pressure = Degrading Weather = Best Fishing = The fish will attack anything you throw at them. (well, pretty much)[/li]
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[a_bow_nut]

The one big difference will be that the water temperature won't fluctuate like it does at other times of the year. Which might lead to the bite picking up quicker.
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[RonPaulFan]

That variation from low pressure to high atmospheric pressure is nine tenths of an inch of mercury. Multiply that by the specific gravity (density) of mercury and that is just one foot and three sixteenths of an inch of vertical difference in water. The pressure at different depths of water is far more significant than changes in atmospheric pressure. Pressure is greater going deeper, so at low atmospheric pressure, the fish would have to go just a foot deeper for the same pressure compared to high atmospheric pressure. That's hardly a difference yet somehow the fish use detection of that difference to control their eating patterns. Silly fish! What are they thinking?

Wind and rain and sudden change in air temperature is felt a lot more by fishermen than by fish. Besides, they're already wet, so what do they care if it rains on us!

I don't understand what they are thinking on pressure, but for calm and sunny going deeper makes sense because predator birds can spot them shallow and dive in and bring them up to another world. Likewise utilizing wind and rain to feed near the surface makes sense because either will break up the flatness of the surface of the water to make it hard for the preditor birds to see the fish.
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[Springbuck]

For panfish, the consistently worst conditions for me icefishing are always COLD, high pressure, hazy, foggy, socked in, still as the grave, inversion stuff. The next worst is the back side of a cold storm front.

I really seem to do best when there is a little breeze off and on, mixed sun and clouds, and warm-ish, or before a front, even into a bit of a snow and blow, but not if the temp plummets or it's a strong, cold storm.
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