Truth

[BoatSquirrel]

Saw an article on Lawson Hibdon today who spoke the solid truth.  Took me a while to learn this one: "Wind more than anything else makes a bass dumber than a rock."  Yes sir. 

[TnRiver46]

Maybe one day I will experience this, I can only remember a day or two where I’ve had success in wind. And that success was limited at best. It was windy Monday and that was the first skunk I’ve taken in a while. Maybe it makes them so dumb they can’t find my lure?

[tander]

Wind plays a big part at the reservoir I fish. Find some rip rap with wind blowing in and I expect to catch some fish.

[Mobasser]

I've done well on some windy days, especially on lipless baits. But the question is how much wind. A chop on the surface is good, but much more than that I havnt done well.

[A-Jay]

Wind ~ she's such a fickle beast. 

Some days she's not enough,

other's, she's way too much.

(Like today and why I'm sitting in front of this PC rather than at the helm of the Pro-V Bass: Too Much !)

And on the rarest of days, she's like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears;

she's "just right."

I've been known to fish and have some decent success during all there,

but the 'just right' days (or even just times) can really be magic. 

I like those.

A-Jay

 

 

 

[Bankc]

That hasn't been working for me.  It's been pretty windy the last few days, and the bite has been non-existent.  

 

Here's today.  30mph winds with gusts of 55mph.  Not even a nibble.  On the plus side, your lures work themselves free of snags in this wind.  

[Skunkmaster-k]

Wind is your friend. An annoying, persistent pain in the butt. Yep, sounds like my friends. 

50 mph today 

[BoatSquirrel]

Years ago on the Clinch River in East TN, I used to fish beneath the dam for trout.  We always fished when the generators were off and the river was quiet.  We always caught dinks.  Then we got a canoe and we started fishing when the generators were on and the river was flowing.  We witnessed the most amazing thing- we started seeing, and catching big fish- 5, 6 lb trout- and it was amazing.  Why the change?  Because when those generators came on, the river came to life.  Thats what wind does on a lake.  The bait gets blown around, the water gets stirred up and the big predators know thats when to hunt.  Hope this helps a few folks catch a few more fish.

[PhishLI]

Moonlight, even 3rd quarter moonlight, over our shallow lakes means a dead bite. Forget about topwater or anything else. A little ripple changes the equation completely. It's not close to as good as a new moon and ripple, but the odds go way up.

[Black Hawk Basser]

It just makes sense.  It ramps up the food chain, limits visibility so predators have a sight advantage over prey, and I assume makes our fake offerings less visible, thus appearing less fake.

[TnRiver46]

13 minutes ago, Black Hawk Basser said:

It just makes sense.  It ramps up the food chain, limits visibility so predators have a sight advantage over prey, and I assume makes our fake offerings less visible, thus appearing less fake.

It makes sense……… to people…… on the internet………

 

But it doesn’t work when I go bass fishing ?‍♀️ 

[TOXIC]

There’s a reason they call it “Walleye Chop”.??

[Big Hands]

To a certain extent, it makes hunting easier for all in the food chain. All animals have to eat, and when that animal is preoccupied with getting their food while the gettin is better for them, it makes them easier to prey upon because multitasking divides up your attention. Next thing you know, you're sliding down someone else's cake hole.

[Zcoker]

Agree with most here. Wind has its place during an outing. For example, first light is the usual dead calm and serene....with some hot coffee in the mix lol....and then later a faint ripple appears on the water and then around mid morning into noon those afternoon gust kick up....The whole day is broken into meteorological elements, or parts that make up the whole. The secret sauce is in how one positons for each event, what bait used, etc. For the most, I prefer a moderate wind blowing from mid-morning onward. I just can't handle those dead calm, sticky-hot days without the slightest breeze....in Florida, that can be pure torture!

 

[Tennessee Boy]

19 hours ago, BoatSquirrel said:

 "Wind more than anything else makes a bass dumber than a rock."  Yes sir. 

I agree wind is good but more than anything else?   If I had a choice between mother nature turning on the wind or the man at the dam turning on the current,  I would take the current any day of the week.

[BoatSquirrel]

13 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

would take the current any day of the week.

Ah, a TVA fisherman weighs in!  Similar situations on different bodies of water but largely the same result.  See my later post about the fish in the Clinch River.  Wind is naturally generated current with the same result.  Good point sir!

[Black Hawk Basser]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

It makes sense……… to people…… on the internet………

 

But it doesn’t work when I go bass fishing ?‍♀️ 

Well you are about the only person I've heard of saying that wind has made bass fishing worse for you.  Here in the relatively clear lakes and ponds, it helps tremendously, if nothing else to shield your presence from the fish.  I'm not saying I'm dying to go when it's 20 MPH+, but somewhere between 10 and 15 seems to help a bunch here, especially in  late spring and summer.

[Chris Catignani]

4 hours ago, BoatSquirrel said:

... Because when those generators came on, the river came to life.  ...

We call it the shad machine when the generators are on.

[jimmyjoe]

46 minutes ago, Black Hawk Basser said:

it helps tremendously, if nothing else to shield your presence from the fish.

 

   And we shorecasters add, "AMEN, BROTHER!"  ?  ?             jj

[Bankbeater]

Wind is a must for me when I'm fishing coontail that is matted in large clumps on the surface.  The backside of the mat is out of the wind and the bass will usually be sitting in that still water waiting for forage on the surface to get blown by.

[king fisher]

My favorite lake the wind blows 15 - 20 mph out of the west every afternoon.  The bass know the wind is coming, and many days wait for the afternoon to feed.  In the morning I fish slow, tight to the cover and watch my line for soft bites.  In the afternoon, when the wind picks up its, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and A rigs fished fast along the bottom of rocky points and flats exposed to the wind.  I love the wind.  On the days when the wind blows 30 mph, the fish still bite, but fishing is difficult to dangerous.  I can fish the lea sides and hide from the wind, but I will also be hiding from the bass.  Those are the days I wish I had a boat.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, Bankbeater said:

The backside of the mat is out of the wind and the bass will usually be sitting in that still water waiting for forage on the surface to get blown by.

 

Deadly tactic for pre-spawn ?

[LrgmouthShad]

13 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Deadly tactic for pre-spawn ?

How do ya’ll know this stuff ?

[HaydenS]

32 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

How do ya’ll know this stuff ?

Years of hard work.

 

Every time I  go fishing, I hope I might learn some of this.  Reading it on the forums is half the learning, but it isn’t complete until you have success on the water.  

[Finessegenics]

7 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I agree wind is good but more than anything else?   If I had a choice between mother nature turning on the wind or the man at the dam turning on the current,  I would take the current any day of the week.

 

Could not agree more. I hope I don't make myself sound like an idiot so here it goes.

 

Doesn't that killer bite when the dam turns on have to do more with rising water levels + the increased current, rather than just increased current alone because of a good wind? That's what I'm thinking is going on in my river. Bite gets good when the current is increased because of rising water but I have not found that the bite gets any better when there's an increased current because of wind.  

 

Or are you talking about when water is being drained, also creating current but lowering water levels? Just trying to wrap my head around everything because I deal with a lot of fluctuation in water levels. This year was crazy in that regards for me.