Fishing in Windy Conditions

[Shrek]

Fished on Saturday just gone and had 6 'bows from my local club water. I was pleased with this as it was very windy making casting interesting and cold with it, with all my fish coming to a GRHE on an intermediate line.

My problems was this, I tried fishing a floating line but, with the wind blowing from left to right, the drift on the water was quite strong, thereby making presentation for nymphs and buzzers nigh on impossible. The lakes are very elongated and fishing is mainly from one long length of bank so moving to have the wind off my back or in my face wasn't an option.

My questions is this, how do you get round it?

I wondered about fishing buzzers on the intermediate but would the retrieval of line against the sink rate of line be enough to get an even retrieve, or would the flies still sink even though being retrieved, bearing in mind that I would still like a very slow figure of eight retrieval.

Any pearls of wisdom you can offer on this would be greatly appreciated as it's not something I can think of a way to combat.

Cheers,

Adrian

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

One of the major advantages of a very slow sinking (intermediate) line is the ability to fish sideways or into a very strong wind if you are casting from the shore.

The fact that you caught those fish in difficult conditions is proof of the pudding.

I never go trout fishing without a slow sinking line.

 

[chef]

have you tried using a sink tip, ?

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

I don't like sink tips - Period!

Casting with these anachronisms is horrible. The reason for this is that you have two lines of different densities spliced together and your timing and presentation goes out of the window.

If you want to get down deep with a floating line use a long leader, or one of those sinking braided leaders from Airflo.

Or even a slow sinker.

Sink tips - forget 'em.

 

[Shrek]

Can you fish buzzers effectively on a very slow sinking line though?

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

Yes you can.

Use a heavy fly on the point that will sink the two buzzers in the droppers quickly.

Retrieve slowly and "swing tip" as well as feel the line for takes.

 

[Shrek]

Thanks Ron, I'll give it a go this weekend.

 

[AL.]

Interesting one this. I was experiencing the same problems on tuesday. I'd be interested to know what intermediate lines people rate ( i am considering the ice blue cortland ?). i only ever use a floater but with the airflo sink tips which is ok but you still get the surface tow on the floating line. Also i struggle with a long leader in the wind whilst buzzer fishing Any tips Ron !
Cheers
AL.

 

[Shrek]

I've got the Snowbee Prestige Intermediate in a #7 and am getting on very well with it. This sinks at a rate of 1.5 to 2.5 ips. They also do a "Neutral Density" line which sinks at 0.8ips. Thinking of getting this in a #6.

As for a long leader in the wind, the keys are:
1. Watch your back cast. Don't start the forward cast too soon or you'll have a tailing loop to contend with.
2. Don't try and cast too far. Control is better than distance.
3. Use a knotless leader or similar. This helps me immensely and enables me to get a good turnover, especially in windy conditions.
4. Keep your casting "in plane". Try not to let your rod wander about, just straight back and forth.

These are points that have helped me. Also, very tight loops can cause problems too so open up your loop slightly.

Hope this helps some.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

All my intermediate or should we say slow sinking lines are Clear Airflo. These lines are often called "Slime Lines" They have a tendency to sink evenly without the middle bit first and then the tip if you know what I mean.

It depends obviously on the strength of the wind as I do like to allow a floating line to belly out and drift in a side wind.

However if the wind is really strong then on goes the slime line. Once sunk, it is not affected by drift as much as the floater.

Remember one thing. Trout tend to swim down wind deep and then come upwind nearer the surface looking out for buzzers to intercept. By fishing across the wind you are presenting your fly side on, not end on; and the fish tend to see it better resulting in more takes.

Secondly when they take a fly like this they tend to "side swipe" it resulting in a fish being hooked in the scissors.

Casting with a wind over your left shoulder if you are right handed is easy. The other way it becomes difficult and you can hook yourself somewhere if you are not careful.

Casting directly into the wind with a long leader is not easy. However it can be done like this:

First of all you need to double haul cast.

Secondly, as the cast goes out, stop the line suddenly so that the leader turns over and goes straight. A weighted fly on the points helps.

This is far more easy to decribe than to actually do it.

It might be easier for some to put a slime line on and use a shorter leader.

All this comes under advanced casting techniques. Don't try it unless you are a fairly competent caster otherwise you can end up in all sorts of tangles. And wear a proper hat, not a baseball cap together with specs and long sleeves.

That's why I have a bush hat.

 

[AL.]

Cheers Adrian and Ron. Some food for thought there. I Think a lot of my problem is not opening up the loop a bit and the whole lot crashing into the rod on the forward cast. I've spent so much time practising to get tight loops that it's hard to break the habit. I do like the idea of the slime line and shorter leader in a strong wind though.
Al.

 

[Shrek]

Glad to have been of help.

If it's any encouragement, I'm in the same boat. Having just got the hang of tight loops I forget I have to open them up sometimes and that calls for a different casting style. All goes with the learning curve.

Spey casting is the next one for me to have a go at as I'm going salmon fishing next Saturday.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

Spey casting is something I have never done, mainly because I never needed to do it.

 

[Shrek]

I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[AL.]

I have had a " chuck " with a double hander before, only for fun though. And although i know nothing about salmon fishing, casting with a double handed rod is easier than you think! In fact some people much prefer it. My next venture on the fly is to catch wild river brownies! that should be a steep learning curve lol.Anyway Good luck mate and i hope you manage to catch a silver tourist.

 

[NT]

Adrian -going back to buzzers & intermediate lines. I use a cheap Anglian water slime line that goes out well and have down well fishing buzzers, diawl bachs etc... I got one of the 1st slime lines ever only to wrap it round a propeller on my first use! For sub surface work I do use a wetcel intermediate (kelly green coloured). This is a really slow intermediate saddly worn and floats. I also am getting to like sink tips for buzzer fishing (the new ones cast ok Ron). Fishing buzzers static or very slow on a floater will result in a right angle between leader & flyline. On a sinktip this will be more curved - hence much better bite detection.
Anyway, back to your situation I would use the wetcel intermediate with 2 or 3 buzzers as I know this works very effectively. Buzzers have difficulty hatching in wind and will hang & wait for calmer conditions, so fishing them this will work even though you might be sinking faster than retrieving.

Learn to roll cast well first as spey casts are a version of this.
Neil.

 

[Frothey]

it also depends on your idea of a long leader, but i've found when you've got a good chop on the water you dont need such long leaders as the line is lost in the surface clutter anyway, which makes casting easier.
i've got a really old "floating" WF line that i havent treated for (literally!) years that tends to sit just below the surface film - real neutral density - that i use for most of my nymphing.

 

[Fishing Gimp]

Adrian, spey-casting is quite easy once you have got the hang of the action required and try to keep both feet on the ground as there is a tendency to lean too far to get distance at first until the realisation hits you that distance is best achieved by being relaxed and not allowing your shoulders to tense up. I use the spey cast for trout all the time as the river i fish is wild and un-manicured so a back cast tends to catch trees and not much else. good luck and letus all know how you get on with this style of casting as not every -body does!