pressure and light

i have been having great sport up until recently when the weather broke - i used to think the bright weather turned the fish off and overcast was better

it seems this isint true - the swell and the waves seem to break just like before when the wind direction is correct - i was driving myself mad going between surface poppers, subsurface and deep divers to try and get some action

the bubble float with a sandeel was thrown on also - is it the low pressure that has turned the bass off feeding???

also the numbers are much lower - you could see them regularly wave riding and now its the odd group of 2 or 3 making a turn every few hours on the surface and thats it

the seal numbers were also down

maybe i was just spoilt

Speking from a Wexford and a south eastern point of view, a well as all the other issues that are linked to bass fishing atmospheric pressure plays a significant part in your success rate.

High pressure systems will bring settled calm conditions here and are often associated with coastal breezes during the day with calms at morning and evening - these breezes tend to run easterly or north easterly - after a few days any bass fishing thats normally associated with a 'waves on shore' routine will deteriorate. The fall back is to locations with current and even results here will deteriorate over time until all options slowly diminish.

During this difficult period there are some tactics that you can use to 'help' - transparency of lure, 'translucent flies' longer finer leaders - more aggressive popping action with smaller brighter lures, teasers or droppers all these and more can often 'bring on' an attack when fish are lazy. Water temperatures will remain at their highest at around now and wont change until later in September - water clarity in these situations is always at its best and with calm surfaces and improved clarity 'stealth' tactics are vital. Better chances are to be had at early morning/night during this difficult period.

The 'stretching of the elastic' as I refer to it will continue until the next weather system moves across the country as a low pressure and the associated weather will bring stronger winds and rain with cloud cover. If this dynamic of high pressure with approaching lows occurs over a spring tide sequence then you can garuantee lots of fun in any water table - bass will hunt actively through the dropping pressure until it affects their ability to hunt effectively - first surface lure fishing will deteriorate then mid water until finally you can catch them deep with soft baits (there is a slight clarity of water just off the bottom) and then not at all - this timing is dependant on the speed and the size of the system and a number of critical factors like size and nature of suspended particles

The next phase 'the tidying up' phase is when the low pushes through, with increasing pressure the water fines down with conditions improving a return to fishing should be expected again difficult to judge and is based over years of observations of timings and weather systems from your local.

Please remember low pressure combined with spring tides and assisting winds can have significant effects on water levels and strength of current often a dangerous time if you dont have much experience - opposing conditions will of course operate in reverse

Lure and fly tactics for these conditions is probably too much to go into here but they are vital.

The seasons of 2007, 2008 and 2009 were dreadful a lot of the time on this coast because of slow moving low pressure systems. Strong winds and dumping rain often made it nigh on impossible. the first 40 metres of water often brown and grey - for more details on the points mentioned above visit www.probassfisher.com

To get beyond this business difficulty I am learning the skills to manage my new Boston Whaler Montauk - see you in 2011 maybe

thanks for your incredible insights as ever jim and good luck with your new toy!

ill get out and see can i annoy them into a take after a good look at the predicted weather conditions