Hello fellow fisherman (and women) if you have been following my earlier posts then you will have seen that i was trying to cover some of the more common fish that are in the mid-west. However, now that I have done just that we're going to discuss something a whole lot different. The weather.
Yes I know the weather is usually just something that you watch before you go to bed to see if your morning commute is going to be bad, but the weather influences fishing in a lot of ways. Obviously it can keep you from going fishing in the event of unfavorable weather but it can also do a lot of quirky things to the fish.

Rain can actually be a good thing for fishing as long as you can get ahead of it. Getting out just before a rain storm hits can be a great time to catch fish as they cannot sense a difference between raindrops and small insects hitting the top of the water. So if your in the right place at the right time then you could be looking at a 10-20 minute window of great fishing before the rain gets too heavy. (As a safety reminder please do not fish during a storm that involves lightning. Fishing rods are often made of graphite which is a natural super conductor and being that they are often pointed up towards the sky can act as a small lightning rod.) Rain can also cause shallow bodies of water to become muddy. The movement on the surface will stir up debris and silt from the bottom and make the water cloudy. When cloudy water is involved not only can you not see the fish (or more likely places they may be) the fish cannot see your lure/bait as well.

The next weather obstacle is wind. Unlike rain giving some benefits, wind does absolutely nothing for an angler. Wind makes casting very difficult as it pulls the line in directions you don't want it to go and can hurt your casting distance. Wind also makes it very difficult to keep a boat anchored or if your using a trolling motor then it can over power the small motor. Wind also makes the water choppy which means you have lower visibility into the water as well as poor travel conditions for a boat.

Choppy water from wind (left) and muddied water from rainfall (right).


But not everything the weather throws at us is bad. The weather gives us something that we cannot and will not ever be able to accomplish ourselves. Temperature control. Lake to hot from warm air temps and beating sun causing the fish to get sluggish? How about some cloudy skies and cool rain to drop the temperature a bit. Or maybe the water is too cold and the fish are trying to conserve energy? Then maybe mother nature will give you a warm air front with a few days of sunshine.

The main point i am trying to make is that while sometimes the weather can prove a hindrance it can also provide an opportunity. The best advice i can give is to pay attention to the weather, especially the extended forecast. Now when i say extended I mean 2-4 days (5 at the max) for accurate weather predictions. Not to diminish the skill of our weather men/women but sometimes the 7 day forecast is a little shaky. I would not completely rule out the 7-10 day forecasts however as they can be okay for tentative planning.

Hopefully I have given you guys some helpful advice on the weather and fishing. If you want a good way to keep updated on the weather i suggest you visit http://www.accuweather.com or download their mobile app.