East Wind

[Hogweed]

Hi Guys,

You know the old saying: "Wind from the east the fish bite the least"
But I have to ask:

A) Is it true?

B) Isn't a cold East just as bad as a cold North wind?

C) Would it stop you going fishing?

On occasions where I have had a bad session I have thought that perhaps the Easterly was to blame. But maybe it could've been just a bad swim due to other factors.

What are your experiences/thoughts?

 

[floatfish]

In my experience, later in the season, once the wind swings into anything with North or East in it's direction it tends to do very little for your fishing. Also does nothing for your comfort whilst fishing.
Tend to stay at home and watch the football,if any, on the box.!

 

[john step]

a.yes
b.yes
c. NO. I tuck in behind my brolly with the wind at my back.

 

[binka]

Wind from the east fish bite least, wind from the west fish bite best

 

[smudger172]

Its wind in your bivvy you have to worry about.... phew...:wh

 

[wanderer]

The Easterly wind usually only occurs during periods when the barometric pressure is high, in itself the wind is not the problem, the pressure is.

 

[no-one in particular]

Graph from a mixture of fish over 15 years, note - east winds do not mean no fish.

 

[barbelboi]

Can anyone explain how high pressure actually affects fish...............

I always associated stable air pressure with good fishing, and falling pressure with very good fishing, however I have been proved wrong by the fish many times over the years and have, on occasions, caught well on what is considered a 'waste of time' time to fish. I take more notice to my gut feeling and time that I have available

Also hydrostatic pressure is much more intense than air pressure due to water being considerably denser than air. So, if a fish changes its depth even a couple of feet up or down it will go through more of a pressure change in seconds than any of us will ever experience on dry land. How could the barometric pressure above the surface affect a fish that goes through equal to a surface pressure change if they move only a few inches up, or down in the water............

 

[Alan Tyler]

...indirectly, in a word. How, heaven only knows.

I've had too many duds on perfect-looking days to let it deter me, but high pressure, wind from the North or East, big moon and clear skies will see me stick to local waters and be sure to pack a pike-set when appropriate.

Short, cheap sessions which can be ended as soon as it's evident that "they aren't 'avin' it", or the tootsies get cold and there's nothing on the wildlife/sunset/social front to hang around for.

 

[wanderer]

I am not an expert on the subject, but I can give you food for thought, hydrostatic pressure obviously increases with depth, fish can adjust their swim bladders to cope with deeper water but living in an area that doesn't contain extreme variations, the fish adjust to a flexible Norm within certain parameters. Barometric pressure has the effect of creating weight on the surface, water cannot be compressed so the pressure is tranfered directly to the swim bladders and bodies of the fish. To see extreme pressure effects, imagine the centre of a hurricane, the water surface no longer finds its own level, the water is lifted in the centre, due to low pressure and is literally sucked up by the spinning vortex, high pressure flattens the surface of water.

 

[S-Kippy]

I love the science, Jerry. I should have paid more attention at school but I was never one for "ologies" of any kind.

I don't think it's the pressure in isolation but the other factors associated with it. High pressure this time of year usually means bright days and falling temps at night. Not great fish catching conditions. Give me overcast and stable temps any day and ii don't care which direction the wind comes from but give me some wind and preferably a constant blow from the south or west. Then I'm confident of catching.

Over the last few years of my zander odyssey its become very apparent that the hysterical gits do not like it when the barometer gets over 1020....normally because that means brightness and unstable temp . 2 years ago I had a dreadful run where the barometer stayed high for weeks and the damned things just would not pick a bait up properly. I don't bother going when it's like that .......like I should have started this years campaign by now but I haven't because of the prevailing conditions. I know exactly where they'll be but I also know they will not be having it. I'll wait until the barometer drops and we get 3 or 4 days of wind and rain from the sw. Then I'll go and I'll expect to catch.

In my experience fish seems to know when a change is coming . Too often have I struggled on what should have been good days when the weaather is on the turn in the next 24/48 hours for that to be a coincidence.
.

 

[wanderer]

I love the science, Jerry. I should have paid more attention at school but I was never one for "ologies" of any kind.

I don't think it's the pressure in isolation but the other factors associated with it. High pressure this time of year usually means bright days and falling temps at night. Not great fish catching conditions. Give me overcast and stable temps any day and ii don't care which direction the wind comes from but give me some wind and preferably a constant blow from the south or west. Then I'm confident of catching.

Over the last few years of my zander odyssey its become very apparent that the hysterical gits do not like it when the barometer gets over 1020....normally because that means brightness and unstable temp . 2 years ago I had a dreadful run where the barometer stayed high for weeks and the damned things just would not pick a bait up properly. I don't bother going when it's like that .......like I should have started this years campaign by now but I haven't because of the prevailing conditions. I know exactly where they'll be but I also know they will not be having it. I'll wait until the barometer drops and we get 3 or 4 days of wind and rain from the sw. Then I'll go and I'll expect to catch.

In my experience fish seems to know when a change is coming . Too often have I struggled on what should have been good days when the weaather is on the turn in the next 24/48 hours for that to be a coincidence.
.

I have spent several nights fishing this summer with high pressure , the usual flat calm and high temperatures, no low temperatures, no chilly wind and the results have not been good, nice low, cloudy weather, low pressure , bit of breeze and its a different story, summer or winter, high pressure is bad news. On a related subject, how about your opinions on moon phases, I think these also affect your catch rates.

 

[no-one in particular]

Generally the 1st and 2 quarters in the day time as I only fish daytime. New and full being worse. Now whether that means they are feeding more at night and less during the day during the new and full, I do not know but I suspect it might be. Its the same for carp, new and full being the worse so I suspect its the best phase for them at night, if that theory is correct but its nothing certain, just one way of reading it. However, based on that and if I was fishing at night, new would be first my choice followed by full, 2nd quarter and 1st quarter. Reversed for day time fishing.
Confused, so am I and if you want a graph to help, tough luck, it took me half an hour to compile one early this morning, upload it onto photo bucket and produce it on here and no one mentioned it or liked it. So you will have to stay confused. Beautifully produced as well even if I say so myself.

 

[john step]

Further...This morning I had a walk round a local club lake. There is a chilly unpleasant East wind.
The carp were porpoising and crashing right in the ripple in the wind.
So who knows anything????

 

[wanderer]

Yes, but were they feeding, or just taking in the oxygenated water.

---------- Post added at 06:22 ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 ----------

Current Barometric pressure UK, 1020 -1029, not a good sign.

 

[ciprinus]

Graph from a mixture of fish over 15 years, note - east winds do not mean no fish.

hey!! has anyone seen this graph??
i think its a beautiful representation and its obviously been painstakingly reserched mg:

 

[barbelboi]

I love the science, Jerry. I should have paid more attention at school but I was never one for "ologies" of any kind.

I don't think it's the pressure in isolation but the other factors associated with it. High pressure this time of year usually means bright days and falling temps at night. Not great fish catching conditions. Give me overcast and stable temps any day and ii don't care which direction the wind comes from but give me some wind and preferably a constant blow from the south or west. Then I'm confident of catching.

Over the last few years of my zander odyssey its become very apparent that the hysterical gits do not like it when the barometer gets over 1020....normally because that means brightness and unstable temp . 2 years ago I had a dreadful run where the barometer stayed high for weeks and the damned things just would not pick a bait up properly. I don't bother going when it's like that .......like I should have started this years campaign by now but I haven't because of the prevailing conditions. I know exactly where they'll be but I also know they will not be having it. I'll wait until the barometer drops and we get 3 or 4 days of wind and rain from the sw. Then I'll go and I'll expect to catch.

In my experience fish seems to know when a change is coming . Too often have I struggled on what should have been good days when the weaather is on the turn in the next 24/48 hours for that to be a coincidence.
.

I know one thing Skip, if the weather's like we had on the Itchen a few years ago - with chocolate brown water/vegetation/road salts and whatever else charging through, torrential rain, hail and a blizzard all on the same morning when the temperatures dropped about 7 degrees between 8am and 1pm I think it could be somewhat challenging. BTW, do you still have the blizzard pic?...

 

[wanderer]

hey!! has anyone seen this graph??
i think its a beautiful representation and its obviously been painstakingly reserched mg:

Everything with an E in it seems to represent a lower catch rate, yep good graph, too vague, is it carp captures, different waters, or an overview, please enlighten us because it is very interesting.

 

[stripey]

I think it depends on the water, i fish a small lake in leicestershire and if the wind is coming from the west then you cannot get a bite for love or money,it doesn't seem to affect other lakes i fish, and i have never experienced a west wind affecting any rivers i fish, but here is a poser for everyone to try and answer, i fish a small river in leicestershire called the river mease, and where it goes through a village called Measham there is a peg on a wide bend with a snag in the middle of the bend [remember this is a small river]and if the water level was up 1" the flow around the snag would go right to left and you could not buy a bite,but if the level was normal and the flow would go left to right you could catch small chub and dace all through the session, none of the other pegs are affected by the level only increasing by an inch, strange or what!

 

[wanderer]

I could hazard a guess that the presence of the bend, when the water level and flow are slightly raised, causes a backflow, the fforce of the river is turned back on itself by hitting the far bank, an oxygenated undertow creating a little micro climate or slack water from the mainflow.