Air Pressure

Total Carp Staff  |  Feb 22, 2012  |  First Published: Feb 21, 2012

Question: Can you please explain what air pressure is and how it has an effect on my fishing? Andy Stone, via www.totalcarpmagazine.com



Marc Coulson says: For the scientific definition of air pressure, you’d be much better off going on Google or Wikipedia. Essentially, it is the pressure exerted on the earth by the air above it. Many factors influence air pressure, none of which I have any scientific knowledge of! I work on the premise that I do not need to know what it is; just what its effect is on me and my fishing.

I will generalise wildly here and give you the following, brief, summary on its effect on carp and carp fishing.

Basically, the more pressure from the air, the higher water pressure will rise also. Water pressure is at its most severe the deeper you go (this is why even today mankind cannot explore many of the oceans’ beds because the pressure is so severe in the really deep seas that any submersible would be crushed like a paper model).

Carp are thought to find high pressure uncomfortable so, naturally, they will rise up in the water until they feel most at ease. Sadly, there is no magic formula to directly equate air pressure to the ‘comfortable’ depth, but this at least gives us a modicum of understanding.

So, in another sweeping generalisation, when the pressure is very high you will often have success on zig rigs because the fish can be found up off the bottom. When the pressure is low (and particularly when it is falling) then the carp spend more time on the bottom (where they predominantly feed), so are eminently more catchable.

Okay, so that is about as ‘layman’ as I can put it and I only hope that any boffins out there do not pour scorn on this general explanation too much. Hopefully it will give you a little more understanding.

Remember this, if the pressure is low (often accompanied by cloudy skies, rain and wind) then you should try your best to be fishing. Very often, the least comfortable conditions for us to be out there are those that the carp find to their liking.

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