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I am really curious to hear what everyone's opinions r about cold fronts and fishing??
All my life I always read that cold fronts shut the fishing down!! Well I've been on couple different bodies of water during cold fronts both at the beginning of them n the ass end of em.. I don't have an opinion on salmon but on gills and crappies I've caught them like as if it was 80 n sunny on those nasty cold cloudy days like yesterday for example I went back to my crappie spot and caught two limits plus a few bonus gills. Once again I'm not going based on yesterday's luck but have been on trips where the fishing continued to be good

I think time of year plays a large role. In my opinion cold fronts during the summer affect the fishing much more. I think overall what you see is that as a front approaches the fish tend to feed heavily, and then afterward (during the front) they arent nearly as active. There are more factors I am sure, and varying degrees to everything.

In regards to Lake Michigan, the worst part about a cold front is the prevailing North winds after it comes through. Fishing is always the worst when you can't even hit the lake.

On inland lakes I have had consistently the least amount of success on sustained high pressure periods.

To me after cold fronts are the difference between fishing the river or the lake. Imo it seems like atmospheric pressure would weigh down on a static body of water vs a moving body of water effecting the fishing more. Your awesome fishing trip has me rethinking that theory lol! As for before the front I've always been successful in the spring bass and crappie fishing more aggressively.

I personally think that atmospheric pressure itself does not affect fish at all. A fish moving a foot or two up or down experiences the same pressure change as a move from low to high pressure system. In the grand scheme of things, it just isnt that much and I would call it mathematically negligible.

What I do believe is that the pressure is an indicator or guide to what has recently happened rather than the cause itself.

A typical summer cold front example:
Fishing is normal, sun is out then the winds pick up and clouds roll in as a front approaches. Fish turn the feed bag on into an extended low light condition. After the front passes we typically will have gorged fish, cooler surface temps, and calm water with blue jay / high sun skies. All the worst things possible for fishing.

Now depending on time of year, water temps under a cold front may or may not be affected. Likewise our geo location might be more on the edge of the high pressure and end up with mixed cloud cover. Perhaps the front came in at night and didnt offer the benefit of low light feeding like it would have in the day. Under these conditions fishing should be much better.

It is also likely that fishermen do not try as hard when its cold out .

Thanks very interesting Alls I know is I try n fish whenever possible sometimes after work sometimes the lake doesn't allow for fishing so I fish some inland lakes.. also for those wondering about this crappie weather there still very aggressive as of 10 this am!!!!