myth

Barometric Pressure and Fishing

Must be the season for articles on how barometric pressure affects fishing.

Two posts feature a common myth to explain why fishing seems to get better when barometric pressure drops.

Sorry, but the above posts about how barometric pressure affects fish have disappeared on the two sites, maybe they read the Midcurrent article linked below.

Both these stories trotted out the apparently solid advice that it is changes in Barometric pressure detected via a fishes bladder that triggers changes in feeding habit. Trouble is there is no scientific evidence for this theory, as can be seen here: Pressure Myth (link fixed)

Now, to clarify something here, the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming that fish often start feeding more aggressively as barometric pressure drops, this being true in both fresh and salt water. But the myth given to explain this behaviour is just that, a myth. It may be a myth that has in fact hindered us from exploring this aspect of fishes’ behaviour more fully, and more accurately

Posted by Tony Bishop in Articles and stories on fishing in general

Trout ‘dumber than goldfish’

The myth of goldfish having a memory span of just three seconds has been shattered.

Research by Queen’s University in Belfast shows that goldfish are capable of both remembering and learning. And they are more intelligent than trout.

In the study goldfish and trout were given electric shocks as they swam round a tank. The goldfish quickly learned to avoid the areas where they were likely to get a shock, while the trout kept straying into the hazardous part of the tank.

Posted by Tony Bishop in trout information, weird fishy stuff