When looking at the forecast, what's your wind threshold

[Hez]

I've been planning my weekend fishing adventures the last few days, and I see the winds are going to be about 15 mph on one of my lakes at one point this weekend.  I plan to give it a shot, planning to fish from the side of the lake where the wind is coming from - it's usually pretty good fishing down there - and I think I can stay safe from the wind.  

When  looking at the forecasts before you guys plan a trip - what is the threshold for wind before you pull the plug on the trip and cancel your plans?

 

[Team9nine]

Haven't found a high limit yet (well, I have stayed home a time or two with 40mph sustained gusts). If I was in FL like you, hurricane force winds might get me to stay home also - LOL I will eliminate some bodies of water based upon speed or direction, but I can pretty much always launch and find some decent fishable water somewhere. Our winds typically top out in the low to mid twenties with gusts to 30, so not too terrible. More an annoyance. It pays to know good areas all over a lake because you never know which direction or how strong the winds are going to be when you want to go fishing.

-T9

[jtipton91]

20-25 mph

[riverbasser]

Normally this time if year when I expect to find bass in the middle of the lake anything over 15mph means white capping. So I go to the river instead

[Bankbeater]

depending on the type of boat I am fishing from, usually around 15 mph.

[Crestliner2008]

Depends on what I'm fishing for and where I am planning on fishing. Boat hull design plays a part as well. I do not find it enjoyable to fish in sustained winds of greater than 15 mph. Makes boat control difficult. However, if I'm drift fishing for crappie, then I like a pretty stiff breeze. I've caught many crappie while my jigs seemed to be water skiing!

[BareHook]

I fished a kayak tourney where the wind was a steady 30 gusting up to 50 in a pond. BTW first time fishing in a kayak.

Everyone ended up staked out along the shore and basically bank fishing

[Mike L]

Doesn't matter.  Keep the wind at your back or at an angle that will allow your casts to hit your target area. I'll stay home from a planned outing only if there is lightening.

Anything else just doesn't matter. 

 

Mike

[N Florida Mike]

In the home lake i have fished up to 25 with no problem.Due to the lakes shape, I can always find some shelter.Other places its 15 if Im still planning if Im not already there .

[Preytorien]

For me I look at wind forecast, then decide what body of water to fish based off of direction and such. If you've not got that luxury, I would say anything in the high 20's starts to get really really hard to fish anything but a crankbait or heavy C-rig.

I also do quite a bit of distance cycling, and I always find the wind speed listed on my weather apps or online seem to be anywhere from 5-10mph slower than what it really is. I'm sure it's because I live in a pretty flat region and the wind picks up, but I know when we're talking about what riding conditions we'll have, we always add speed to the forecast - anyways, that also impacts fishing too.

[RMcDuffee726]

From a kayak, 12 mph sustained winds.  The most frustrating thing in the world is trying to fish in a kayak when you need to constantly readjust yourself due to the wind.

[MassYak85]

From a kayak usually anything between 15-20 is my my limit. It's just too unmanageable for me to paddle to where I think the fish will be, and then finding a place where the anchor or stakeout pole will hold can be a challenge. Plus in that range, depending on the lake, whitecaps can start forming and depending on the direction I have to paddle back to the ramp at, it can be a little dangerous. 

[Catt]

I don't but my boat does

[blckshirt98]

I'm a shore guy and anything at double digits or above can turn my day of fishing into a day of suck crap.

[Logan S]

The wind itself usually doesn't change my plans...But if the lake/river I'm fishing is big enough to where it'll get rough I might change ramps or choose not to run very far.  20+ MPH on some places is no big deal, but 20+ from the right direction on the Potomac main river or the Upper Bay is downright dangerous.  

[soflabasser]

I got used to fishing windy days since it's so common down here.Anything under 30 mph or so means I will still go bass fishing if the rest of the weather forecast isn't so bad.

[Quesenek]

32 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

I got used to fishing windy days since it's so common down here.Anything under 30 mph or so means I will still go bass fishing if the rest of the weather forecast isn't so bad.

Same here, as long as the wind stays just wind I can make due.

[BassThumb]

Depends on the lake.

I've fished in 30mph winds on small lakes where I can find shorelines as wind-breaks and where even the windy side of the lake isn't too crazy.

However, I'm wary to go out on the round 130,000 acre Mille Lacs lake with even a 12-14mph wind because it can easily develop into 3' waves that'll threaten to swamp even a big fiberglass bass boat. It'll get so rough you can't stand up to fish, and when you do give up and head in, hitting waves in the boat will send spikes of pain through your spine if you try to plow through them on plane.

[WRB]

I agree that every lake is different and some can handle high sustained winds over 30 mph without issues while others turn into tremulous boating conditions quickly depending on shape, size and where the launch facilities are located. At the end of the day you need to be able to get back to where you started. Both Castaic and Casitas are good examples. Casitas rarely gets high sustained winds that create fishing or boat retrieval problems. Castaic nearly always gets afternoon high winds that blow onto the marina launch ramp, no fun surfing a boat on a trailer with 3' whites caps.

The big desert lakes like Mead can go from calm to 6' rollers in minutes.

High wind is a fact of life bass fishing that you need to learn to master.

Tom

[Airman4754]

Gusts up to 50 is the most I've fished in on a pretty small lake, it sucked. 

I don't really have a threshold. If the fish are there and they will bite I'll be there too. 

[Bluebasser86]

15mph is a gentle breeze around here. We tore them up one day early this year with high 30mph sustained winds and gust in the low 50's. 

[ww2farmer]

I don't have one................BUT.....if they are NOT biting when it's really blowing, I go home.

[scaleface]

I use to fish anytime I could launch a boat . The boat I own now     gets pushed around like an empty potato chip bag [22 foot Lowe deck boat ] in high winds .My little plastic gets swamped easily .So now days I try to avoid anything much over 15 mph and preferably less than 10. The heat keeps me off the water more than the wind .

[The Commodore]

Since I have gotten the motor guide xi5, I have become much more confident in heavy wind.  The anchor mode or heading mode into the face of the wind make it actually enjoyable. No need to worry too much about boat control.

[SudburyBasser]

On ‎2016‎-‎06‎-‎17 at 4:21 PM, blckshirt98 said:

I'm a shore guy and anything at double digits or above can turn my day of fishing into a day of suck crap.

Agreed. Nothing makes me hate the world more then a decent headwind when I'm shore fishing. I think I end up smoking and drinking coffee more than fish those days.

Boat I don't mind wind... you can usually position the boat or move to deal with the wind.