Wind (!)

We all know how good it can be to get on the end of a good sou'westerley but how many of us will sit on the back of one instead, in favour of an easy, quiet day?

I have to confess to doing just that on the odd occasion when getting out and enjoying the day in comfort is more important than catching a fish but most of the time I will be on the end of it and I'm off out this afternoon into evening purely on the basis of how well it's blowing today.

Even in winter I've often found the fish to be on the end of the wind despite it feeling several degrees colder but I really will think twice on those occasions.

How does wind affect your own choice of swim?

Summer blowing into the bank you're on, Winter blowing out.

If i know it's going to be windy the old ABU 505 comes out

Normally like yourself Steve, i,ll sit with a howler in my face on the right day and water but there are exceptions.
One was the three pit complex near Newark in late summer early autumn where there was a complete reversal of form from the earlier weeks of the season.
Generally guys with the wind on their backs outfished the ones with it in their face.

It would be best to be upwind of me if I have wind

A gentle breeze in my face I can cope with but a raging gale no! I now use my ABU's at the first sign of wind but keep it at my back or side if I can. I hate wind!

mikench said:

It would be best to be upwind of me if I have wind....

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Given Binka's reputation for breaking things - best not accompany him if he decides to break the wind! mg:

I try to avoid it wherever possible - easily my least favoured of the elements!

Ditto much prefer a calm day

Used to depend on how big the water was that I was going to fish and how strong the wind would be, I can remember trying to cast dead baits into a reservoir in a facing wind, the baits were ending up on the wall behind me most of the time

These days I opt for the comfortable option although its not always possible depends on access.

A chill easterly or northerly and you won't find me on the bank but a good old blow from the west or south west is a different matter. I'm not that bothered during the summer but all my best days in the winter have often co-incided with a strong wind from the sw.

Certainly my best days on the zander have all been fishing into a headwind so strong I've had to lash the brolly to me chair to stop it taking off. Uncomfortable for sure.....but productive.

When we get a good strong wind in these parts the only thing you can do at times is to tuck under a high bank with it in your back.

The other thing is to avoid being near trees. There have been a couple of near misses for club members of late.

Trying to piece together the effects of the wind on fishing is never going to be a precise art as there are so many variables involved. However some general observations & thoughts ...

NEW warm winds are good ones to get on the end of especially on big open waters. I have seen it happen on some very large waters…the fish actually topping and moving as the wind moves. The really clued up anglers will be checking the wind forecasts in anticipation and making a moves based on that, getting into position & setting their traps before the fish even arrive.
However if the wind continues to blow in the same direction then fish can start to back off again, perhaps due to undertows being setup and the water circulating back as it hits the far bank, how long this takes will vary water to water due to all manner of things such as the size of the water, islands, and underwater obstacles, weed beds and so on.

Why fish move on these winds is anyone’s guess really…are they after food blown to the far bank for example ? Or maybe its just easier for them to drift with it ? …Personally I think it may have something to do with oxygen levels as the water is churned especially in the dog days of summer but I guess we will never really know for sure.

A cold wind may have the opposite effect and although fish can and do move on a cold wind personally in winter at least I would be happier fishing in sheltered areas out of the wind, areas that I think have a chance of perhaps being a degree warmer.

For some of the smaller species, Roach for example I think a good wind giving a “chop” on the water can also be good. I think (total guess) this may have something to do with the fish perhaps feeling more secure and safe from predation from above when there is a good ripple on the surface.

I usually prefer a wind coming from behind me or to the side of me especially if it's a bit chilly although I don't really mind facing a warm westerly summer wind as long as it's not raining with it.

I know that a wind in your face is usually supposed to be more productive than a wind at your back as it tends to blow the surface food & food suspended just below the surface to the downwind end, but I think that there's lots of things that make a wind in your face good or bad like prevailing wind temperatures, lake/pond sizes, features like islands and weedbeds etc. so it's not always black and white.

I've found that during the winter on relatively shallow lakes the water temperature can often be a degree or two warmer at the sheltered upwind end of a lake if there is woodland or uneven ground around the lake providing shelter; and even during the summer when the wind is is chilly and coming from the north northeast or east; the fish will often be in the sheltered areas which can be upwind on relatively sheltered shallowish lakes..

Also If there are dense weed beds or islands I've found that these can often be larders for food that has been blown into them during windy periods so fishing against an island or weedbed or in small bays can often be just as productive whether it's at the upwind end of the lake or not.

NB: I remember reading in Fred Bullers book on Pike; about big waters in the winter where the cold winds can tilt the thermoclines bringing the slightly warmer layers of water (and the prey fish) up towards the surface at the downwind end of deeper lakes; but I've not yet fished such desolate unsheltered places in the winter; probably because I'm just a southern softie who would rather be in front of a warm fire with a scotch in my hands than sitting freezing my rollocks off on a freezing cold day around a desolate loch

Keith

If it's going to be dry i'll happily sit facing a warm SW'ly,especially for bream,add rain and you can bu$$er off....

Yep, me to Binka, big summer wind in the face, fish in close. Winter on the back, unless it's a freak south warm wet wind. I like wet warm windy days in early winter and will fish in the face of them up to the new year. Hay but what do I know?

I absolutely HATE wind .

Not much in fishing winds me up but wind right up there , I suppose part of that is down to the fact that if i get wind blowing on the neck i am in trouble and pain for days after hence i can be seen well wrapped up on all but the very hotest and stillest of days .


PG ...

Don't mind a gentle breeze ,other than that calm day for me.

Warm summer weather and upstream wind, even quite a strong wind suites me just fine when trotting and especially when casting across river!

Into the wind if tench of bream fishing if the option is there. Not bothered about the wind if i am on a river.
But i try to have the wind off my back when pike fishing so i can use a vane.

I sometimes suffer from wind .....