[Alphahawk]

Originally Posted by bd-

I think in rivers and tailwaters, current is king. Nothing affects fish feeding more than current. Temperature can be really critical too, since it triggers a lot of insect activity, which in turn gets the small fish feeding on the bugs, and the big fish feeding on the small fish. Frontal activity can have an effect if everything else is stable, but there are a lot more variables in river fishing.

As far as fronts go, especially on lakes, I actually think stable conditions are best. The first couple "bluebird days" of a cold front (high pressure area) are usually lousy fishing, but if you have stable conditions for 4 or 5 days, that can still give you a pretty good fishing day. When fronts are moving through and the barometer is up and down all over the place, it can be hard to figure out what the fish are going to do.

Falling barometric pressure on the leading front of a low pressure area seems to trigger some sort of feeding frenzy sometimes, and you can catch a bunch of fish on the lead edge of bad weather rolling in. I don't know why. But once the pressure has finished falling, it seems like everything is done for a while until conditions stabilize again.

From my experience, fronts actually affect small bodies of water MORE than big water, for the reasons Travis pointed out. If a fish is in big water where he can just move 10 feet deeper, that creates a much bigger pressure change on the fish than a weather system moving through. But in a small pond, the fish usually can't move much deeper or shallower, so he's more of a "prisoner" to the barometric pressure from the atmosphere.

bd

X2 on your post....You have that right "Current is King" in a tail water. Appreciate the response to the question. I will still fish the back side of a front but more often than not I have been burned. A good example was about 2 weeks ago when I fished Nickajack on Monday and caught plenty of Crappie and yet did not have a cooler so kept none. Went back on Wednesday as the conditions were right for Crappie...cloudy, a little wind. But the front came through Tuesday and I knew it but went anyway. Fished hard but caught only a couple of fish. It was a perfect place for fish...a flat with a drop off to 22 feet. Licked my wounds and waited on Friday to return and killed the Crappie once again. If the weather is not too bad tomorrow I am going again. It will be cool and damp but hopefully the cloud cover...and a 1/64 Trout Magnet...will turn the fish on.


Regards