Fishing after thunderstorms?

[SmallieBigs]

Is it pointless to go fishing right after a thunderstorm? I'm asking because I woke up @ 3 am this morning to go walleye fishing and we had a big thunder banger going through and the storms lasted for a couple hours...

Does it take awhile for the fish to turn on again? Or are they not bothered by storms? Is it just the atmospheric pressure changes that affect them?

[stripernut]

I don't know about Walleye, but I have had great luck with bass and trout, right after a thunder storm. I plan on fishing today with storms rollining thru...
Tight Lines,
Allan

[SmallieBigs]

Thanks Allan,

    The window of opportunity closed on me for walleyes today. My son is on his way home from gramma and grampa's soon. All my good spots are a little tough to get at and I don't want him tumbling down a rock face I'll probably get him out on the pond in the canoe for some rainbows and if they aren't biting the sunnies and perch always are!

SB

[1fish@atime]

I woke up to them as well. Got up at my usual 5am to get stuff ready. By 6am everyone had bailed out from going.
So I guess I'll mess with the trailer lights some more and maybe go lay a fly or two down on the Hudson.

[phead lakeman]

Ive always had really good luck just b4 and during T-storms, but usually not after. I feel the fish get spooked and go deep after heavy rain or T-storms. I also feel that the rain knocks down the bugs onto the surface and that gives the fish plenty of food. But ive caught some of my biggest fish in the worst conditions where i shouldnt of even been out there.

[SmallieBigs]

Yeah I've always had real good luck just before the storms and during just rain storms, but once it's over they seem to shut down. I've heard of walleye scattering during T-storms so maybe it does spook them into closing their mouths

[Long Grove labs]

Some of my best times fishing have been after BIG Tstorms. The fish usually go nuts with all the new food in the water.

[slipperybob]

Early spring thunderstorms = no luck for me.  Mid summer thunderstorms = great fishing for me.

[SmallieBigs]

Early spring thunderstorms = no luck for me.  Mid summer thunderstorms = great fishing for me.

Could be due to blocking the heat/sunlight of mid-summer, maybe cooling the water temps a little or all three?

[Velcro]

I've never caught a walleye but with other species I've had best luck fishing with worms after a lot of rain.

[slipperybob]

Could be due to blocking the heat/sunlight of mid-summer, maybe cooling the water temps a little or all three?

Maybe also the wind action that churns the water and oxygenating it.  Maybe it changes the convection currents of the deeper water and forces fish to move to more traditional shallow water structure.

[Boomer]

I have had luck just after thunderstorms before. Just be careful. Remember that lightning can strike behind as well as in front of a storm. I had a close call once in the UP of Michigan. We bailed off the lake as a massive line of storms were coming in - good choice! After the storm passed he asked if I would want to go out on his pontoon boat and fish a little. I cast my line out and the line never fully hit the water. (I am told that an electrical charge in the air can hold the line off the water.) I cranked in a few yards of line when I felt a definite jolt in my hands. He laughed but I made him take me directly to shore!!!

[SmallieBigs]

That's funny Boomer, I never heard of the line being held above the water before...

When I was a kid me and my father got stuck in a T-storm above the timberline on a mountain near Rand, CO scouting elk. When you're up that high there's almost no warning when a storm moves in it just comes over the other side of the mountain. We were lucky enough to find an outcropping to hunker down in until it was over. I was only about 11 or 12 and it scared the crap out of me. There's nothing like literally being inside a thunderstorm; you could feel the electricity in the air all around it was not a cool experience. I won't go far from the car if there's a chance of lightning.

[BoutTime]

Well the three of us all got skunked today after last nights T-storms.

Alot of floating dead fish too. Me thinks they got zapped.

[stripernut]

After writing my post this morning, I went out on a local pond and picked up a few bass on topwater. The line of thunder storms had pasted in the night.
Allan