Fishing With The Wind VS Fishing Into The Wind

[LrgmouthShad]

17 minutes ago, Catt said:

NO IT AIN'T! I HATE IT!

Don’t be shy. Tell us how you really feel

[Tennessee Boy]

50 minutes ago, Catt said:

I'm talking sustained winds of 18-20+.

When the wind is that strong, positioning is critical.   I position my butt in my recliner and post BS on BR.

[Big Hands]

The best thing I can say about the wind is that if it blows hard enough, it makes all of us more equally ugly, and for some of us, that's a good thing.

 

As for fishing, I like to have my boat holding while facing into the wind, but at some point, I just have to have the skills to be able to fish in whatever conditions are presented to me. Often, if the wind is blowing steady in one direction, it's blowing kinda hard. Less than that and it's more like the wind is 'light and variable' even if generally from one direction.

 

The late Spring through early Fall weather pattern where I live is that on an average day, the wind will be coming in gently from the N/E early in the morning. Then, at some point in the morning, it goes slack for a period of time, and then comes in from the S/W, gently at first, and then blows 10-15 until the late afternoon/early evening. Then sometime in the middle of the night it shifts back to coming out of the N/E into the next morning.

 

If I try to duck out of the wind, say behind a point or in a cove, it often changes directions over and over and I simply need to constantly adjust. The bottom line is that I don't worry about it that much, but I do find that some spots seem to turn on with a little breeze blowing across them and I have other spots that are holding fish regardless of how the wind is blowing and the question is 'do I want to fish here in these conditions?'

 

Since no one is paying me to fish in conditions I find unpleasant, I am often not angry enough at the bass to insist on fishing in those conditions. If I can't find fish in a place where I enjoy fishing, I head home.

[Functional]

This is honestly a great thread. I've read about the wind but some of the posts in here are simple but packed with information. I've got no less than 3-4 things to try and see which works better for me. 

[WRB]

The windiest lake that I have ever fished is Isabella in central California. Isabella has a wind warning beacon light to clear off all the boats on the lake when high winds are coming.

The 2nd is lake Castaic and you can’t launch when high winds are predicted. Castaic is V shape lake with 2 arms; ski arm and fish arm. Wind out of the NE are known as Santa Anna’s with 50-70 mph down the fish arm. On shore winds are from the NW and prevailing winds but also can be over 30 mph sustained blowing directly onto the launch ramp with 2’+ white caps, gets difficult recovering your boat.

Most of our lakes are fairly sheltered except during Santa Anna’s winds, safety 1st so stay off the water.

The plains states are all windy most of the time so you either adapt to wind or stay home.

Tom

 

[Catt]

Environment is the part of bass fishing we can't control, we just learn to deal with it.

 

For me its a case by case basis, all options have to be open.

[Big Hands]

I have been genuinely scared by twice that I can remember out on the water. The first time was at Lake Mead in the 70's. One minute it was glass calm, and within ten minutes it got super rough. We were in a 16' flat bottom ski boat and as we were trying to make our way back to the marina, we came across another boat full of people that had stalled out. We were able to tow them back and we all got out OK.

 

The second time was at Castaic Lake. The main launch ramp is at the south end at the vertex of the "V" and has never had any sort of barrier to buffer waves. The first bad part was travelling in the troughs that were 5' - 6' deep and you couldn't see any shore at least part of the time. I was able to keep my 19' Ranger in the troughs and criss-crossed until I finally made it back to the ramp. The ramp presented a completely different set of dangers. I luckily had a passenger and was barely able to get him onto the docks that were pitching up and down, and then I had to get my bow either into the wind or going back and forth in the troughs. Then I had to literally surf the boat onto the trailer as my partner slammed the hook into the bow eye and yanked me out while we took breakers over the transom. 

 

Castaic Lake and Lake Isabella (but Isabella is about four times bigger) are similarly shaped and oriented and the wind can come up suddenly there too. They have a light at mid-point and if it comes on, you better get your boat to the nearest shoreline pronto.

 

These incidents are why when the wind gets ugly, I am happy to head home sooner rather than later, and live to fish another day.

 

 

[Bankbeater]

How I fish in the wind depends on what type of cover or structure it is blowing toward, and how hard it is blowing. 

[Catt]

10 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Don’t be shy. Tell us how you really feel

 

Do I like fishing in the wind? No!

 

Do I like fishing in the rain? No!

 

Do I like fishing in the cold? No!

 

Do I like fishing in the heat? No!

 

But I do like catching bass & I understand the best times are when conditions are less than ideal for me.

[TriStateBassin106]

Trying to work the bank can be a nightmare with the wind hitting the front for guys like me with little bass raider boats/kayaks, I usually try to position myself to where the wind/breeze slowly takes me along the bank with the motor at 10 speed setting or less if I'm trying to pitch and flip docks, if the wind gets above 15mph I'm usually going for a reaction bite at that point, ideal wind for me is 7 to 10mph even with a rudder it can be difficult to move into the wind and try to fish, I've lost multiple fish trying to keep my boat straight with one hand on the endura max and the other on a rod, I have my trolling motor in the rear maybe I should get another rudder for the front? 

 

I do prefer fishing into the wind for reaction bites. 

[PaulVE64]

I think it's safe to say that I catch fish throwing both directions but my biggest fish always come with the best drift