Forecasting Weather & Spearfishing

Rain,rain, and more rain...much needed, indeed....but man hows about we get it in small dosages,right?


I'm often consulted by friends and acquaintances (you know the random caller, " Yo Tone how you think the weather will be for a dive"), that seem to believe I have some type of magical spearfishing forecastability (is their such a word) on the weather...yep true I'm more often right than wrong, but its not really magic just some plain and simple cross referencing, and yep a little experience thrown in for good measure.
Well, the weather being as such, guess I'll take advantage and post a few tips/ methods I use to forecast the weather for optimal spearfishing (sounds fancy huh).

First off I use a few sites and cross reference them to come up with a spearfishing weather forecast. It just happens to be I got links to those site on my link bar, here they are again:
www.weatherunder.com
www.NOAAbouy.com
www.buoyweather.com
www.weather.com
If you look thoroughly enough you'll find most of the same info on all the sites (more or less), but I just go straight to the specifics on each of the sites. If I had to pick a favorite I'd say its www.weatherunder.com , but they're all good and each serves its purpose.


OK so back to forcasting the weather for spearfishing, how do I read'em- I first go to www.weatherunder.com and enter the zip code of the area I will be spearfishing in the search bar. Once entered you get a box on the left giving you current condition and a box on the upper right giving you a pretty accurate (up to the about the 3 next days, although it goes further I just analyze those first 3). I read how the day is presently, then look how it will pan out in the next few days-this sections breaks up the wind/tempt in time sections, which I happen to like- leading onto the day we will go spearfishing. I then go to the left-side box with the current info and click the Local radar link I use this to verify what I just read for the next 3 day forecast, generally my experience has told me that if you see 30% rain lingering in your area it'll probably rain, even if the wind says (remember the right bar says wind and rain) it will be blowing it out...If the radar says 15-20% and the wind says it'll blow it out theirs a very big chance it will. Next I go right below to the Wundermap, it gives me a few different visuals (satellite, hybrid, terrain and the area- local, regional, and for extended forecast I dip into the continent)) on the weather, and those orange markers are weather stations so clicking on them gives you minute details on whats happening, scroll to the right and you see another box click on the weather station there to get the same feed (just that you can see the name of the actual station)and some even have a link for a more in-depth analysis...Moving right along I go to in the same section a few links down I go over to Marine forecast and click that...that will give you a NOAA (yeah my fav. NOAA) forecast, scroll down that page and you see the tides...always good to know as good spearfishing and tides go hand in hand....finally I read the forecast in the main page on the lower left.

My next step towards determining the weather for spearfishing is to head on over to www.buoyweather.com and once there I click on the map with the buoy having the area I will spearfish, this takes me to a section that gives me a 2 day forecast on the boating, and a 2 day forecast on the wind and waves broken up by time, I find the wind and wave forecast is pretty accurate on this site. It also use to have a "virtual buoy" info/forecast but its now a paid option....so off we go to my next puzzle piece on determining the ideal or best weather for spearfishing...drum roll....www.NOAAbouy.com , those of you who read my blogs know I don't like NOAA, as it pertains to forecasting, but to get raw info, they are top notch, why cause they have the weather stations out there reading real time, another reason I dip here is because some of the other sites may not at the moment have the latest update. So at this site I click on the weather station in my spearfishing area and read what they say, in particular the pressure (rising/lowering more on this later), wind, direction, and of particular importance where the Gulf current is presently (more on this later), so yeah its a short visit here, next I go to the very commercialized www.weather.com for another quick visit, I dial in my area and pop onto the outdoor activity section click on the weather bar and that tells me the sunrise&set, the moonrise&set and the moon phase (more later), it also shoots me a quick tide reading for the area as well as a 10 day marine outlook (more on forecasts latter)...after this I go back to the Outdoor activity bar and click on "Fishing Reports", why?.....because I can and now you can too...lol, in all seriousness you can get an idea on whether the fish will be active or not by looking at the graph which is an accumulation of info from various sources.

OK so now that you got a picture from various sources you can draw a somewhat accurate picture. One thing to remember is a forecast is just that, an estimated guess, based on past weather throughout the year...every site has a different forecast model so each will provide a bit different info, its up to you to interpret it, and the more info you have the better your chances (although too much might be overwhelming).
Here are a few more tips to help you better predict the best weather for spearfishing-
*When the tide is rising or falling the fish will be moving
*A few consecutive windy days will stir the bottom, in the shallow stuff
*The closer in the Gulf waters are to the coast the clearer the water will be
*An E wind (on our coast) brings in cleaner water.
*A rising or lowering Barometer makes fish active
*A few windy days with winds laying will usually lay earlier than predicted
*On our coast any wind from the West, is fine for diving
*After a shower the wind subsides, do to pressure
*A forecasted windy day with rain will be usually less windy
*A day or two before heading out call the LDS in your area and ask how viz and conditions are.
*When the moon is full the tide will be ripping and the tides will swing to the extreme (a higher high tide and a lower low tide)
so their you have it MOST of my tips on forecasting the weather for the best spearfishing, yes of course their are more, quite a few more...but that's the magic part...and no magician tells all his secrets !


Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone
http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/