How many times have you heard? “I’ll fish in the middle of summer or the dead of winter, but I hate fishing when it’s windy.” I’m not a big fan of it either however, if you can put up with making sure everything is secure so it won’t blow away, understanding what the wind does to the water and how the fish react to it can be extremely beneficial.
First off, there are a few things to discuss. Always make sure your trolling battery, or batteries, are fully charged. This is always a god idea, no matter what the conditions however, you will probably need all the power you can get while trolling the shores and trying to maintain stationary positions in the wind.
Anything light or lofty, like tackle boxes and fishing nets, should be secured or stowed low if you’re fishing from a boat or dock. Losing your gear or trying to catch a flying bag of plastic worms can get you into some tight spots and might even cause you to lose a fish or worse, take a dive into the drink.
Losing your gear or having to paddle back to the launch is never a fun experience to encounter. Trust me, I’ve been there. By the way, it’s also a good idea to keep at least one paddle in the boat, just in case.
A great new piece of equipment to add to your gear is the drift sock. Specially designed for windy conditions, the drift sock is used to slowly troll or maintain a spot without using a trolling motor or anchor, which decreases battery usage and cuts down on noise created by the troller or the splash of and anchor.
The “sock” is usually made of heavy gauge nylon and attaches to the boat with a rope like an anchor. You just drop the “sock” into the water on the windward side of the boat, as the wind pushes the boat, the sock drags in the water causing the boat to slow considerably and, in some cases, to even stop.
Very handy on those windy days and can be used to drift fish.
One fortunate aspect of fishing during windy conditions is that your favorite fishing spot will probably be less crowded. That is if your favorite spot gets crowded. Another good aspect is that fish can generally be more predictable.
Wind creates waves, which in turn breaks up the surface of the water. This is primary to understanding what the fish are going to do. Wind also cause currents to break up the sediment and food; this causes the bait fish to follow the drifting bands of food and cover located in these slight currents on the top of the water.
And where you find bait fish, you find bass.
The waves and debris also break up the patterns of light shining through the water, which can cause bass to become more active due to optimal feeding conditions. Fish are also less spooked on windy days because of the noise at the surface (chops and splashes) as well as possibly being pre-occupied with searching for prey.
For the most part, fish face into the current and will be more apt to strike prey swimming at them rather than chasing the prey. Casting into the wind and retrieving with the current can produce a number of strikes, especially if you can find multiple locations with the same characteristics.
Remember to note the conditions in which you catch a fish in order to reproduce your actions in other locations. Fish will position themselves and react in the same manner all over the lake. I try to keep a journal. Some anglers bring a small note pad with them to document catches and the conditions in which they fished.
It doesn’t matter if you’re fishing from the shore or from a boat, knowing what to look for on a windy day can produce some cool results. Just remember to cast into the wind and retrieve with the current. Try to position yourself downwind along the shore and pull your lure along those lines of transition, most often, bass will be hiding in ambush and will strike hard.
Lures that create a vibration and flash are optimal for windy days as well as muddy conditions. Wind will also cause mud lines to appear at the shoreline, structured areas or along wind induced currents. Big bass love transitional lines in the water. (Shadow lines, Mud lines, Weed lines and Sharp drop offs) Get two or three of these and a windy day together and were talkin’ results.
As far as bait is concerned, spinner-baits or rattle-type baits work the best, due to the noise and vibration they produce, especially if the water is muddy. Bright, noisy, vibrating baits usually work the best in muddy water. I say usually because you never know exactly what the fish are going to do. However, fish will generally act the same under certain conditions.
In muddy water, dark color crank baits and jigs work very well. If you use a spinner, go with chartreuse or white. There are now glow in the dark blades available on the market today. For obvious reasons, neon or glow in the dark blades and lures will produce desired effects in muddy water.
Top water, splashing baits do quite well also. I like to use two-inch, lipped minnows and poppers to bring the big ones to the surface. The splashing and popping creates the noises associated with dying or jumping bait fish. Ripping, top-water buzz-baits can be very handy on noisy, windy days also. I haven’t seen many anglers catch fish with buzz-baits as much as other lures, but that’s because I haven’t seen many buzz-baits used.
I prefer not to use them myself, for personal reasons. But try them out, who knows, you might have great results with them.
Line diameter should also be considered depending on the style of casting you use. You might not need to change if you flip or pitch cast or if you use a heavier lure however, if you use an overhand cast or you go with lighter crank baits, you might consider switching to a smaller diameter line to cut down on the amount of drag, which will shorten your casting distance.
Another factor to take into consideration is that the wind can often cause the water temperature to change. Currents caused by the wind will often bring the cooler water up from below, which in turn, changes the temperature at the surface. Depending on the season, this can cause fish to react differently.
One last tip is to try to ignore the conditions and just fish. If you become familiar with the way fish respond to certain conditions, the rest comes naturally. As I always say, find what works for you and go with that. So remember to secure your gear on windy days or leave it behind and until next time, good fishin’ to ya.
First off, there are a few things to discuss. Always make sure your trolling battery, or batteries, are fully charged. This is always a god idea, no matter what the conditions however, you will probably need all the power you can get while trolling the shores and trying to maintain stationary positions in the wind.
Anything light or lofty, like tackle boxes and fishing nets, should be secured or stowed low if you’re fishing from a boat or dock. Losing your gear or trying to catch a flying bag of plastic worms can get you into some tight spots and might even cause you to lose a fish or worse, take a dive into the drink.
Losing your gear or having to paddle back to the launch is never a fun experience to encounter. Trust me, I’ve been there. By the way, it’s also a good idea to keep at least one paddle in the boat, just in case.
A great new piece of equipment to add to your gear is the drift sock. Specially designed for windy conditions, the drift sock is used to slowly troll or maintain a spot without using a trolling motor or anchor, which decreases battery usage and cuts down on noise created by the troller or the splash of and anchor.
The “sock” is usually made of heavy gauge nylon and attaches to the boat with a rope like an anchor. You just drop the “sock” into the water on the windward side of the boat, as the wind pushes the boat, the sock drags in the water causing the boat to slow considerably and, in some cases, to even stop.
Very handy on those windy days and can be used to drift fish.
One fortunate aspect of fishing during windy conditions is that your favorite fishing spot will probably be less crowded. That is if your favorite spot gets crowded. Another good aspect is that fish can generally be more predictable.
Wind creates waves, which in turn breaks up the surface of the water. This is primary to understanding what the fish are going to do. Wind also cause currents to break up the sediment and food; this causes the bait fish to follow the drifting bands of food and cover located in these slight currents on the top of the water.
And where you find bait fish, you find bass.
The waves and debris also break up the patterns of light shining through the water, which can cause bass to become more active due to optimal feeding conditions. Fish are also less spooked on windy days because of the noise at the surface (chops and splashes) as well as possibly being pre-occupied with searching for prey.
For the most part, fish face into the current and will be more apt to strike prey swimming at them rather than chasing the prey. Casting into the wind and retrieving with the current can produce a number of strikes, especially if you can find multiple locations with the same characteristics.
Remember to note the conditions in which you catch a fish in order to reproduce your actions in other locations. Fish will position themselves and react in the same manner all over the lake. I try to keep a journal. Some anglers bring a small note pad with them to document catches and the conditions in which they fished.
It doesn’t matter if you’re fishing from the shore or from a boat, knowing what to look for on a windy day can produce some cool results. Just remember to cast into the wind and retrieve with the current. Try to position yourself downwind along the shore and pull your lure along those lines of transition, most often, bass will be hiding in ambush and will strike hard.
Lures that create a vibration and flash are optimal for windy days as well as muddy conditions. Wind will also cause mud lines to appear at the shoreline, structured areas or along wind induced currents. Big bass love transitional lines in the water. (Shadow lines, Mud lines, Weed lines and Sharp drop offs) Get two or three of these and a windy day together and were talkin’ results.
As far as bait is concerned, spinner-baits or rattle-type baits work the best, due to the noise and vibration they produce, especially if the water is muddy. Bright, noisy, vibrating baits usually work the best in muddy water. I say usually because you never know exactly what the fish are going to do. However, fish will generally act the same under certain conditions.
In muddy water, dark color crank baits and jigs work very well. If you use a spinner, go with chartreuse or white. There are now glow in the dark blades available on the market today. For obvious reasons, neon or glow in the dark blades and lures will produce desired effects in muddy water.
Top water, splashing baits do quite well also. I like to use two-inch, lipped minnows and poppers to bring the big ones to the surface. The splashing and popping creates the noises associated with dying or jumping bait fish. Ripping, top-water buzz-baits can be very handy on noisy, windy days also. I haven’t seen many anglers catch fish with buzz-baits as much as other lures, but that’s because I haven’t seen many buzz-baits used.
I prefer not to use them myself, for personal reasons. But try them out, who knows, you might have great results with them.
Line diameter should also be considered depending on the style of casting you use. You might not need to change if you flip or pitch cast or if you use a heavier lure however, if you use an overhand cast or you go with lighter crank baits, you might consider switching to a smaller diameter line to cut down on the amount of drag, which will shorten your casting distance.
Another factor to take into consideration is that the wind can often cause the water temperature to change. Currents caused by the wind will often bring the cooler water up from below, which in turn, changes the temperature at the surface. Depending on the season, this can cause fish to react differently.
One last tip is to try to ignore the conditions and just fish. If you become familiar with the way fish respond to certain conditions, the rest comes naturally. As I always say, find what works for you and go with that. So remember to secure your gear on windy days or leave it behind and until next time, good fishin’ to ya.
Chris Curley lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his dogs Puranah and Princess and with his cat Sylvester. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Curley |  |
