Does weather affect the bite?

Just got done reading the Josh Jones article and I came across some blasphemy!!!

Question: What is something you believe about bass fishing or bass behavior that most bass fisherman don’t believe?

Answer: Weather does not affect the bite. Cold fronts do not affect the bite. One of my best days was in a snowstorm with a 30 mph East wind! (Side note from the author, my book High Percentage Fishing comes to this same conclusion through statistical analysis of more than 40,000 freshwater fishing data points. Check it out on Amazon: High Percentage Fishing)


What do you all think about that? I 100% disagree....and think that his own answer explains why. He said one of his best days was in a snowstorm with 30mph wind.....well maybe the weather was WHY it was his best day. I think that our perception and understanding of how weather affects the bite is likely wrong....but I do think weather affects them. How would it not....what living creature isnt somewhat affected by weather?

Lets discuss....and please not derail this with JJ hate! LOL

He fishes with an a rig. That bait tends to shine in colder weather. He’s also not fishing for shallow fish which will be more affected by fronts. He’s an expert at what he does but not about bass in general.

Ok. So does that mean you also disagree and think the weather does affect the bite?

Yes. Weather 100% affects the bite.

Weather affects where the bass will position and where the active bass will be located.

fully agree! I think what he was meaning was more something like "just cuz you dont think theyre biting....theyre still biting" but yea, I dont see how weather cant affect them. Maybe all these recent results help us realize....maybe a cold snap wakes them up to eat as much as possible since they dont know how long the cold will last.....and bass are stupid....but maybe theyre smart enough to know cold weather=shad kills 🤔 and little things like that

If we can all agree on the fact that weather affects where on the lake the bite will be then we also all agree that the weather in fact does affect the bite. I wonder if the way they take the question is, "do fish bite regardless of weather?" To this i would say yes, fish have got to eat, but where/when they are eating does factor in the weather imo.

Weather affects shallow bass for sure. Too many days fishing post cold fronts to deny that for me. On the other hand, I can't disagree about suspended fish since I don't troll around in the middle of the lake looking at live sonar. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt about his off shore suspended bass. I would love to see TPWD track some of his deep off shore bass to learn more about migration. Let's just say congrats to Josh Jones and thank him for sharing his success. I am upgrading my electronics as a result of so much recorded evidence that I need it. May end up being another toy if I get frustrated, but I think it will be fun finding out.

agree! I have no idea how weather has 0 effect on a living and breathing animal...cuz weather messes with humans all the way down to the roaches! I do think our understanding of the bass mindset might be way more off than we like to think. WHY THE HELL DO THEY BITE METHYALATE...or even chartreuse!!!



Yup id like to see some tracking too! And if any bass would be minimally effected itd be suspenders....especially deep suspenders.

agree with you....had too many glass days getting skunked and then the wind turning on my bite to say weather doesnt have some effect on them

Here's how I did my study. I collected 40,000 freshwater fishing catch data points from a 10 year period. The data came from all over the place. Sharelunker data, Toledo bend lunker club, a bunch of tournament data, fishing clubs etc... I then imported the weather conditions down to the hour for the zip code the fish was caught in. Fishermen lie about all kinds of stuff especially the lure they used, but I don't think they usually lie about the approximant zip code or the time of day they caught the fish. These data points were all submitted voluntarily. Even so, I'm sure some did lie, but that's where the power of statistics comes in. 40,000 data points is a pile of data and can be smoothed out for outliers.

So now that I had this data I looked at "hours" when it was sunny, cloudy, rainy, dropping pressure, rising pressure, steady pressure, new moon, full moon, quarter moons, time of day and magic "majors and minors". I compared how many fish were caught in hours of certain conditions with how many fish were caught in hours of other conditions. Then I used a statistical tool called ANOVA. Basically an analysis of variance to see if two averages are different statistically. What the math showed is that about the same number of fish per hour were caught in all weather conditions (adjusted for seasons). The only things I found that mattered statistically speaking were wind (it helps) and fishing pressure (it hurts massively). Nothing else mattered. Guys catch fish in all conditions.

Does that mean weather doesn't impact fishing? I guess I can't say for sure. It sure seems like post frontal blue bird skies fish tough for me. Then again, I've crushed on some of those days as well.

What John Hope told me from his tracking studies is that big fish eat every single day. They don't get big and fat with a hang over gut being all picky about what weather they gorge in. (Typed all this super fast over lunch my apologies for any grammar errors)

Jpurdue's study is an awesome case for "fish gonna eat" regardless of weather. But CCTX is also 100% correct, that you have to adjust where and how you target them based on the weather. I've had amazing days in 105 degrees sunny no wind (shallow swim jig usually), and I've had amazing days in 30 degrees sleeting 30 mph winds (deep umbrella rig usually). It's about adjusting position and presentation to the conditions.

That high bluebird skies, dropping water temps, and light winds 24 to 36 hours after a major cold front affect the bite seems like a no brainer. I haven't plotted any data points, but 25 years of experience tells me the fish generally become less willing to eat my lures during those conditions.

One year we fished a trail with five tournaments. A major cold front passed Friday or Friday night before every tournament. It was frustrating for us. I realize someone is going to win no matter what the conditions, but biting fish make the pursuit more enjoyable.

I agree. There is always feeding fish. The weather changes where they are and what they eat. They don’t just go hungry. Bass are programmed to eat. That’s about all they do.

This man understands.

I dont have a bunch of data points, but I've fished Camelot Belle after a cold front... 64 acre lake with hundreds of DD bass in it and never got a single bite in 8 hours of fishing nor did the owner of the lake.


I'm going with the legend Rick Clunn over Jones on this one. Clunn said that cold fronts absolutely affect the bite, pushes fish deeper and tighter to cover while significantly reducing the size of the strike zone. Doesnt mean they stop eating but they sure get harder to catch. May not be as tough to make them bite looking at the fish on Live scope, but for the ole average Joe thats not the case.

You are throwing an ineffective bait on glass smooth days...the wind picking up made your bait less conspicuous and gave the fish less ability to really observe the bait. At that point, they eat it first, then spit it out if it ain’t right.

Also to be clear my data came from all over the US. Definitely not just Florida strain.

Yeah, i think your data does prove fish gotta eat regardless of weather. But fisherman also adapt to the weather as well so it seems your study cant really disapprove the notion "weather does affect the bite" but does prove fish will eat all year long in all conditions you just have to figure out where. Imo thats what separates good fisherman vrs the rest, figuring out the "where"

Except for the FACT that fish don't eat the SAME regardless of weather. Bass metabolism does slow down as the water gets cold. Bass metabolism does speed up as the weather warms. Weather does change where fish are located because it changes where their food is located. All these things are proven facts. So does a bass still have to eat regardless of weather? Sure, but that doesn't mean its the same volume of food or at the same interval, and it certainly doesn't mean that it finds that food in the same place. All of the facts affect the bite. To say it doesn't is borderline insane in my opinion. Now, if you want to make the point that on any given day, in any given weather condition a great bag of fish can be caught.....I buy that 100% and we are just arguing semantics I guess. The definition of affect is "to act on and cause change". Weather certainly does that to bass and bass forage.

I think we are in agreement here. My point is the fish eat every day. The weather doesn't cause the fish to have lockjaw. Of course bass feed less often in cold water than warm water. Of course water temperature changes move bait fish.

All my data showed is that fisherman (presumably changing their approach) catch plenty of bass in all sorts of weather conditions. More than all that, my data showed that weather doesn't matter much at all in comparison to fishing pressure.

I have recorded logs since early 80's and I see patterns of weather that do effect how and when they bite best. I agree you can catch a few just about anytime but I can assure you low barometric pressure is best.

I had some fish is a huge trailer tank back in the early 90's where I watched them for 4 months . Watched and recorded how, when,what they ate and for how long as well as barometric pressure, and colors where I had 10 native bass and 10 Florida strain bass.

Weather systems that bring in a low pressure and bad weather is usually a great time to catch a giant but high pressure behind the storm is extremely tough.

I learned a lot from this as well as tagging fish at Lake Fork to help me understand the Bass better and how to have success in catching them. 39 years later I am still after them and hope it never gets old.