carp on the wind

why is it that on some waters carp will move or follow the wind and on others they dont i have fished both types of water and also waters where the fish will only move on a new wind i have never been able to work out why this is has anyone got any ideas

Not really sure but i suppose different lakes react to the wind in different ways and as its the particular water layers that the carp are following then this would seem to be a reasonable answer. The movement of the thermo clynes under the surface are driven by the action of the wind against the topography of the lake bed and all lakes are different.

Bill Cox said:

its the particular water layers that the carp are following

Click to expand...

...are the fish following the food carried by it...?

When a wind blows towards one bank the surface water and so much below it is blown in the same direction. When it hits the bank it turns over and flows in the other direction.

This takes time.

So with a 'new' wind the fish usually face the direction of the wind.

On an 'old' wind they face the direction of the undertow (which is the opposite direction to the wind).

When we regularly fished the Cheshire meres for big bream we almost always fished with a new wind in our faces, and then, if the wind blew in that same direction for more than a few days we would fish with the wind behind us.

Bream and carp are fish that are most affected by wind/undertow direction so it's important to get it right, especially on big waters where the effect of wind and undertow is at its greatest.

Another thing to think about is the influx of water against an undertow. Water coming into a lake will be rich in oxygen and food particals. If there is a strong wind blowing from the same direction as the inflow then the undertow will eventually work its way back to a point where its in direct contact with the inflow coming the other way this will create a holding area for fish and is often a very productive area to fish. On a smaller scale this will happen in mini buffering between climes moving up and over obstacles under the water another reason why some areas for no "apparrent" reason produce above average takes. In the case of the wind blowing against the inflow then the undertow will eventually go the same way as the inflow and this will result in a different holding area all together.

Wind (a proper BIG wind) will have a definate effect on the larger lakes (10 acres plus) but hardly any on the smaller lakes, ponds. Bear in mind also that on heavily weeded lakes the weed will act as a buffer thus stopping drift and undertow.

For some reason on some lakes the fish do the opposite of what the text book tells us, Horseshoe for example where they hang behind the wind.

I've often found that 2 or 3 days into a good wind (summer SW) about 40-60 yards back from the end of the wind is where the fish end up.

plus pressure from anglers can totally override the natural instinct.

another thing carp will not ignore bugs etc getting blown into lake/river from trees