On Terrell Lake in Washington, YouTuber Josh from NWTrailSeries was out kayak fishing on a breezy bluebird day pulling in fish after fish when something shifted.
Kayak angler weathers windstorm
When Josh arrived at Terrell Lake, conditions were breezy and sunny, but he was ready to make the best of it and headed over to the far side of the lake where the trees offered cover from the wind. Despite the initial breeze the fishing was great. The previously blue sky began to cloud over when Josh, in an Old Town Sportsman 106 PDL, experienced the wind switch and a big gust pushed him several feet across the surface of the water.
“The fish are biting right now,” Josh remarked, mostly unbothered while catching fish on cast after cast. The sound of the rising wind whistled in the camera’s microphone and conditions began to deteriorate.
“Whoa, this weather is changing,” said Josh. “The weather is changing. The fish are happening though.”
Whitecaps began to fill the lake and Josh through one more half-hearted cast before deciding it was time to pack it up.
“I think I may have overstayed my welcome,” he noted.
Waves splashed over the bow of the kayak and Josh whipped out his rain pants and jacket and quickly put them on.
“I think the faster we’re off the lake the better,” said Josh as he aimed head-on into the waves and battled his way back to the launch. Ultimately Josh made it back across the Lake without incident.
Unbeknownst to Josh at the time, Western Washington was experiencing a sudden windstorm with sustained winds around 30-40 miles per hour and gusts reaching 50 miles per hour. Josh shared that typically he doesn’t even consider heading out to kayak fish if the winds are over 15 miles per hour.
Is fishing better before storms?
Plenty of anecdotal evidence supports the idea that fish are more active before storms, but what exactly is enticing the bite before inclement weather? Outdoor Life reports that the falling barometric pressure often associated with storms coaxes fish to feed.
Spud Woodward, Assistant Director for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division and fisherman, told The Weather Channel that while there’s no definitive answer on exactly how barometric pressure affects the behavior of fish, a fish can sense the barometric pressure change through their air bladders. As their air bladders expand in the low pressure, the fish become uncomfortable and they’re likely to move lower in the water column. In advance of a low pressure system and impending cold front, fish may feed heavily before the pressure drops and they head for deeper water.
In a word? “Sometimes!”