Barometers are usually used to measure the atmospheric pressure and for weather forecasting. According to a certain study published in the in-fisher magazine the weather conditions affect the feeding behavior of fish. Apparently they’ve discovered that when a cold front is building up the fish will be more eager to bite and thus you’ll catch more of them. There isn’t a valid explanation till now why this happens but it’s ‘proven science’.  Fish can go up and down in the water thereby moving through different pressure areas with little or no bad side effects. The only logical explanation so far as to why a fishing barometer works the way it does is because the variation in atmospheric pressure affects the air bladder in the fish. When the barometer is low, the bite is off, as the fish will spend most of their efforts on equalizing their air bladder and pay less attention to eating. However, when the pressure is high the chances for catching fish is far greater. Fish will feed at the onset of a storm and between the approaching fronts, or as the barometer rises and falls through the course of the day.

Unfortunately it’s not as easy as it sounds – you might know how to read a barometer and interpret it’s measurements, but as I’ve previously stated this isn’t quite an exact science – it’s more of a ‘field tested science test’ that worked on most occasions. You can get a fishing barometer from Cabela’s – a specialized fishing store and much more. Here’s a link to one of their cheap models that’s currently being rated at $12.99 and it’s got a rating of 3.6 out of 5 – so it’s not quite perfect but you’re getting what you’re paying for so it’s understandable.

Here’s a review of the Cabela Fishing Barometer:

Keep a constant eye on atmospheric pressure changes to take full advantage of the best times to be on the lake. When the barometer is on the rise, the needle moves through the multicolored key to let you know the fish are at their best. A red indicator shows you where the needle was at the last time you set it to give an instant indication of rising or falling pressure. The rubberized body provides an easy grip, wet or dry. And it comes with a lanyard to prevent accidental drops.

Below is a picture that best describes how the fish is affected by the change in the atmospheric pressure. The fishing barometer is used to interpret such signs and give results based on those interpretations. All in all, a fishing barometer is a must-have tool for every professional fisher and not only. As a rookie fisher it could help you improve your fishing skills.

fishing barometer

So when you read a barometer the needle will gradually rise up the scale from day to day. In most cases, a high pressure cell means calm, clear, sunny weather, and as the needle moves up the scale, the increase in pressure is suggesting fine, or “fair” weather is on the way. Similarly, as the high passes over the daily change in the needle’s position will show a decrease in the air pressure, and suggests that if this continues you will experience a period of low pressure. Of course, as in most things to do with weather and life, it’s not quite that simple to read a barometer, which means that although the pressure changes recorded by your barometer have some predictive value, they won’t always be right. For example, if the center of a high passes at a certain distance from where you’re located, you may not experience the fair weather that your barometer predicted before the pressure, and the needle begins to fall. Another general rule of thumb in “how to read a barometer” is that very high pressure readings may indicate windy conditions to follow. The reasoning behind this is that an extreme reading usually means a high pressure gradient to the next low, and high pressure gradients mean strong winds. This rule doesn’t apply in quite the same way to very low pressures. While the pressure gradient will certainly be high, the low is actually the focus of the winds, and unless you happen to be under the eye of a hurricane, the strong winds have already arrived. But you can, if you know how to read a barometer ,turn it into a very useful forecasting tool, but you will need to keep records of the weather to do so. Apart from pressure changes, you can record wind direction, wind direction changes, cloud cover and type of clouds, and the occurrences of rain, snow or thunderstorms.

So let’s recap on what you need to know about how to read a barometer:

Get a regular mercury barometer and start measuring the atmospheric pressure around you by simply measuring how high the mercury column goes up or down. The way you’re going to measure it is from bottom to top using a simpler ruler, keeping in mind that under regular atmospheric pressure the vacuum at the top of the barometer is at almost 30 inches (29.92 to be more precise). When the mercury column drops below that point, we’re experiencing a drop in atmospheric pressure and that means we’re going to get bad weather. This thing works viceversa as well so if the mercury column rises you can expect nicer weather. All in all learning how to read a barometer is a good thing if you’re an outdoor enthusiast and want to know how to plan your trips.