Do you find post-storm fish difficult to catch?

[Spoonminnow]

We had one H of a storm in the n.e. that ended Friday! Over 3.5" of rain fell raising all waters, including a small lake I routinely fish and that a bud and I fished yesterday. Air and water temp. dropped as a cold front moved in overnight.

Just before the storm the fishing was great - size and quantity. We hadn't caught that many yellow perch and decent size crappie and sunfish in this lake in I don't know how long. But Sat., the wind gusts were near 20 mph with few clouds and it seemed the lake was higher by about 6".

Though I saw fish on the sonar in the usual areas, the bite was total crap! Tying to find fish that would react to lures I know catch fish was near impossible! We were lucky to catch 10 fish in 4 hours.

Anyone have this experience post-storm?

[Ketchn]

sure bro , barometer soars , water temps change , depth changes , water clarity as well ....
its shall we say the "perfect" storm to go "fishing" instead of the intended program ....
KETCHN ,,,,,

[Clint]

I’ve found that after a storm the fish tend to “hide”. If you can find them they will be bunched up in one spot. Look deep.


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[6poundtest]

I didn't do as well as I expected to during my trip today. We, too got about 3" of rain on Friday due to the storm. As mentioned directly above, I did better in deep water and most of my fish came after seeing groups clearly identified on the sonar.

[Spoonminnow]

I did better in deep water and most of my fish came after seeing groups clearly identified on the sonar.

That's what I found today.
Groups of fish tend to be deeper post-storm in lakes without pads like the one I fished yesterday and today. In fact the fish were found on sonar in the deepest end of the lake - 9 to 10'.

Note: add a foot because the transducer attached to the tm is one foot below the surface.


In fact the picture doesn't show it, but on another screen, it was filled with suspended fish not biting. The 10 fish I did catch (sunfish and 1 crappie) were scattered here and there and only one strike per area caught.

The day still was crap with a +15mph wind, water that read 77 degrees down from 82 (per sonar) and bright sun with almost no clouds. This may have contributed to the less than aggressive fish total in the lake that I saw all over the place.
Whereas the day before the storm, more fish were in an aggressive state and bit more lure shapes - sometimes 3-4 fish in one spot - no point wasting my time, staying past 1:30 pm.

Guarenteed the bank-beaters caught nothing.

[BuckeyeCrappie]

I certainly don’t do as well post storm as I do pre Iffn that makes sense.

[happycaster58]

Fronts usually have to come by and a few days later, the bite improves.

[Spoonminnow]

Fronts usually have to come by and a few days later, the bite improves.

It has.
Today the depth pattern changed from 7.5' to 5' and closer to shore vs way out toward the middle. The bite was still sporadic under a bright sun, but at least the fish I caught (14) didn't mess around and were easy to hook. I would have stayed out longer past 1pm but the tm battery was dying.

side note: I was getting ready to take the boat out and laid the rod on the shore with a lure still in the water. As soon as I lifted the rod, a small bass hooked itself. I cast again and caught two more tykes of the same 3" size and then a 7" bass. I'm talk'n only 3-4' of water.
What the *****??!

Some shots of the bass tykes:


fish did not bite in 8' but did in 5.5 (note add 1' because transducer is 1' deeper)

[CrappiePappy]

side note: I was getting ready to take the boat out and laid the rod on the shore with a lure still in the water. As soon as I lifted the rod, a small bass hooked itself. I cast again and caught two more tykes of the same 3" size and then a 7" bass. I'm talk'n only 3-4' of water.
What the *****??!

Former GF's family owned a cabin on a large "pond" ... and I found out real quick that you couldn't leave your baits dangling over the side of the canoe or their dock. Had a few instances of Bluegill actually jumping out of the water to attack my dangling baits. (wouldn't have surprised me as much, had it been Bass, but the Bluegill doing it was a first for me )

[Ketchn]

Former GF's family owned a cabin on a large "pond" ... and I found out real quick that you couldn't leave your baits dangling over the side of the canoe or their dock. Had a few instances of Bluegill actually jumping out of the water to attack my dangling baits. (wouldn't have surprised me as much, had it been Bass, but the Bluegill doing it was a first for me )

saw that this year myself for the first time , a big bluegill took my kids jig dangling about an3 inches above the water off a dock ....
never seen bluegills leave the water myself either for a bite to eat