Back in the mid 70s a mate and I used to do a lot of Barbel, Chub and Pike fishing during the year, and we used to keep detailed fishing logs containing Air & Water temperatures, Wind strengths & directions, Air pressures (together with the pressure trend), weather conditions and even cloud types and cloud coverage.
This sounds a bit over the top but as we were both working as Meteorologists in the Met office at Northwood (HMS Warrior) at this time we had most of this data at our disposal anyway, and we just did it as an experiment to look for any weather conditions that might influence our catch rates.
There were no surprises just confirmations to what we had thought already which basically was:
If the air pressure had been steady for a day or two, or had been falling after a steady period then we would be expecting more bites than usual; as long as there wasn’t too much precipitation.
If the water and the the air temperature had been steady or had started to rise then this also gave us more confidence of having a good day or good nights fishing.
However; as most anglers know already; the more that water warms up then the less oxygen it will hold, and in oxygen depleted very warm conditions it’s less likely that the fish would be feeding much anyway.
The old adage that when the wind is from the east the fish bite the least and if it’s from the west the fish bite the best was also usually quite true too.
The above didn’t always ring true as there were often other things that would influence our results like days when rain would run off of the roads into the streams & rivers or snow melt ran into them and put all the fish off feeding, or the water levels gushing through after stormy periods bringing all sorts of things floating through our swims, but generally overall the above was usually correct more times than not.
Although I still occasionally look at weather charts before I go fishing I only tend to go fishing when conditions look right to me and as I’m now retired I can go any time I want and at a moments notice as long as her indoors gives her permission and if she is a bit stormy or particularly cold I just sneak out anyway
:wh
Keith