Most calls came from frogs of various sorts, I'm pretty sure, although there could have been insects or other critters among them. Whatever the blend, the chorus that came from the little wetland was genuinely striking as my wife and I ran beside it early Wednesday morning. We usually run a few days a week, almost always at first light, and I don't recall ever noticing quite so much frog singing. This morning, only 48 hours later, not a peep came from the same little pond as we ran past it.
As a fishing writer I talk to a lot of guides who spend two or three hundred days on the water every year. No matter what strategy we discuss, at some point in a conversation, they typically talk about how fish react to changes in temperature and barometric pressure and consequently how strategies need to be altered.
Day to day changes in fish behavior are hard to observe, except through long-term looks at where you catch fish and how they bite under various conditions. Frog behavior is a lot easier to see (OK, hear), but I think it's similar. On Wednesday morning, the temperature was nearly 60 degrees, the skies were dark, the air was thick, and big storms were just to our west. This morning, it was 25 degrees cooler, with clear high skies and post-front winds creating the only movement on the water or around us. The frogs are hunkered down this morning, and I'm guessing the fish are lying equally low.
I won't get to test any frog theories on fish today, but I'm going to try to remember those frogs when I'm fishing before or after a front and to adjust my mindset accordingly.
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