Fishing Facts: Why Do Anglers Fish After a Hard Rain?

When people think of fishing, what comes to mind is a clear sunny day and a relaxing trip by the edge of a port or the middle of a lake. However, expert anglers know that fishing requires them to understand the benefits of timing and weather. For example, a heavy shower is an optimal time to bring out your fishing gear and have a more successful fishing trip.

The Trick to Fishing After Rainfall

Contrary to popular belief, fishing isn't always a relaxing stroll for hours on end by the nearest body of water. Sometimes, it requires quick maneuvers and an agile understanding of an environment after chaos, especially after a hard rainfall.

If you haven't experienced different weather conditions for fishing, you're definitely missing out. Following up after a steady rain is a short window of opportunity for you to grab your tackle gear and head to your favorite fishing site.

In this article, we'll share three tips for fishing after a heavy downpour.

1. Know Your Waters

Rain affects bodies of water differently, which in turn influences fish behavior in a unique way. For this reason, you must know how to handle fishing weather in the right body of water.

You need to bring large spinners for river fishing since the river flow will bring fish into a feeding frenzy. Since the rain will flush out all the delicious worms and other small critters for fish to eat, larger fish will be more aggressive in catching them out in the open. For this reason, you'll have a higher chance of catching unsuspecting fish as they fight over each other.

Lake fish will also be more active after rainfall since the rain will make the surface water murkier. Since the temperature will be substantially cooler above, you'll have a better chance using topwater baits, even for fish that are usually hiding deep underwater. Focus on ditches, ledges, or current seams.

2. Find Feeding Areas

Surface runoff from the rain will attract baitfish to gather themselves on these spots. In turn, fish will flock to these places while it's still reasonably clean. For example, bass will instinctively swim far distances from underwater to surface level just to feed along mud lines, creek inlets, and culvert piles. These sections will be hotspots to bring your boat to, especially if rainfall is still around.

3. Keep Up the Pace

Since there's not much sun out after rain subsides, fish like bass are more likely to roam around closer to the surface. Instead of assembling in specific areas in bodies of water, they will be more prone to spreading out wherever they please. This small window of opportunity means you should have your fishing gear ready to deploy instantly.

Speed up your presentation, no matter what you're fishing, so you can cover more water in this small window of opportunity. Remember that fish will be more aggressive during these few moments after the rain, so you shouldn't spend too much time in one spot. The trick here is to work smarter and not longer.

Conclusion

Timing is the most important principle in fishing, and this also applies to special fishing weather. Since you'll be running against the clock, it's best to have all your gear and accessories packed up nicely in your tackle box. Once you're in your fishing site, you'll have fewer worries unpacking to make you focused on having a great time fishing instead!