It was not the type of day you’d expect to catch a single fish.
The hot, bright sun beamed down from a cloudless sky and the humidity was terrible. The only reason my wife and I were on the water at all was because we were on vacation and it was cooler on the water than ashore.
We motored up to Young’s Point on Chautauqua Lake and began casting for muskellunge with little hope of success. Suddenly a huge muskie shot up behind my wife’s Suick, grabbed it and bored for the bottom. She repeatedly tried to set the hook, but after a short battle the lure floated to the surface filled with deep teeth marks.
A few minutes later I had a hit and lost a muskie well over 20 pounds. Before noon we’d seen over a dozen monster lunge, fought several and didn’t land a single one of the brutes.
My parents had similar experiences, Mom hooking into a huge muskellunge that towed their canoe all over Maple Bay. Both of them still looked pale underneath their sun tans, but losing a huge fish will do to you. The lamenting that took place over our sandwiches put a funeral to shame.
Why were the biggest muskies hitting that morning in those conditions? Three hours later, around 3 p.m., a big storm blew in. In the hour before the storm we all hooked and landed four muskellunge 36 to 40 inches long. Wonderful, but they were babies compared to the leviathans moving in the morning. Apparently the big fish felt the storm coming over six hours in advance.
You’d think fish hit because they’re hungry. Sometimes, sometimes not. Then, you ask, why do they hit? Great question and over the years I have discovered a few answers, but not all.
Game fish are predators; their goal’s catching a meal with the least possible effort, ignoring healthy prey and grabbing the first wounded minnow every time. Most lures appear in some degree to be acting unusual and are easier to see, track and ambush than the erratically darting natural meals hiding in the weeds. For these reasons, artificial lures often out catch live bait. For the same reason a fish not actively feeding will strike a lure if he feels it’s just too easy a meal to pass up.
Can external stimulus affect fish feeding behavior? It certainly can.
Fish are very sensitive to barometric pressure. Usually a high or rising barometer creates poor fishing. A low or falling barometer usually turns fish on.
Notice I didn’t say always, these rules are generally accurate. But, never ever hesitate to fish during a falling barometer, the odds are on your side.
Light intensity is also an important factor. As a rule, low light conditions produce better fishing than bright ones. I believe baitfish feel safer in low light and move more. Bigger fish are also more aggressive, blending into their surroundings as they hunt.
Fish are very sensitive to the relative positions of the sun and moon in relationship to the earth. I always look at the Solunar Tables to see which time of day is the best to be on the water.
You may laugh at this notion, but over the years I have found those tables to be very accurate when predicting fish activity. They may hit 30 minutes early or later than the predicted time, but once you see the pattern, it will hold for the week.
Another factor to keep in mind is the sudden appearance of a large amount of feed. Such things as a large fly hatch will stimulate trout on a stream or walleyes in 20 feet of water. As the larvae hatch, minnows begin feeding and the predators go after the minnows, larvae or both. Always check your fish’s stomach and see what’s there and determine what’s taken place, why the fish are feeding.
During a flat calm, a sudden breeze springing up and creating waves will many times stimulate a short feeding window. The shore the waves are striking on is better than the calm side in most cases.
Your ability to accurately predict when fish feed can lead a fishermen to one of those days he never ever forgets. After two weeks of hot, dry weather watch for the first rainy day and get on the water if at all possible.
The barometer’s been sky high, the light blinding, baitfish reluctant to move. That coming storm front will bring a rapid drop in barometric pressure, low light, a lively wind and jump start the fishing. For a magic hour the biggest fish in the lake will begin prowling the darkening waters with murder in their hearts and you want to be on the water with them.
If the storm front coincides with a major Solunar Feeding period, watch out! Anything is possible, in fact, almost certain. Most of my biggest fish of all species has been caught in conditions exactly like this.
But, dear reader, why do fish feed at other unlikely times, when experience has proven they shouldn’t be feeding at all? I, for one, haven’t the slightest idea and doubt I ever will.
Best of luck and watch for those feeding windows.
They work!
