Thanks to the "tail" of a frontal system producing pouring rain, thunderstorms, and waterspouts over Miami, I am in front of the computer instead of rolling tarpon. Though I've been flats fishing since 1962, I've only seriously studied the anatomy, effects, and geographic "reach" of cold fronts for the last thirty years.
WHY STUDY FRONTS? For lots of reasons- as an angler, I am weather-attuned. Firstly, because I love the study of weather, but mostly because it has such a huge impact on flats fishing. Weather systems- in this case cold fronts- penetrate shallow water more effectivley than deeper water. Cold fronts affect the flats of the Yucatan Peninsula, Cuba, Florida, and the Bahamas as well. The overall effect of fronts on flats fishing is negative. Tarpon and permit like warm, stable, balmy weather. Forget what you've heard from "experts" about bonefish feeding binges just before a front....this simply does not happen with predictable regularity. Though bonefish do not have the "wind sensitivity" of tarpon, they sense the "changes" occuring with the passage of a front, and most anglers acknowledge that storms, temperature and barometric drops are off-putting to bonefish. Contrarily, bones feed just fine on super windy days, provided the water temperaures are high enough, and the weather has some high pressure stability.
Fronts make it tough to see into the water- this primarily deals with the approach and leading edge of the front that has the clouds and rain of contrasting air masses. After the front, the skies clear up in the presence of dropping temperature changes. As the front approaches, the wind first goes into the South, and pinwheels clockwise around the compass to a Northwest to North direction. The return of non-frontal weather sees the wind shifting back to the East in our region. Flats fish like tropical stability-hence the constancy of Christmas Island.
The geographic position of flats will determine what weather systems affect them, including cold fronts. If you are planning on fishing the Bahamas from November to April, it's best to choose those islands in the extreme Southeast portion of this Island Nation. This year, the fronts have reached deep into the Bahamas, going as far as Long Island. Today, for instance, radar indicates the bottom of Long Island missed the mass of rain and clouds, but certainly not the weather effects. My research indicates that cold fronts generally do not reach the islands to the South of Long Island, and this "sanctuary" begins with Crooked and Acklins Islands as a general rule. Ditto for the extreme Southeastern part of Cuba's Southern coast-this may be of interest to non-Americans who are permitted by law to travel and spend money there. In our hemisphere, the best-postioned flats fishing areas are far South in the bottom of the Caribbean Sea-namely Los Roques and Bonaire off the coast of Venezuela. Then, no one has to debate the frontal "reach" areas of the Bahamas!
Jan
No comments:
Post a Comment