Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Tuesday, 18 March 2025 09:53

Tips for Fishing on the Wind
by Mike Gerry

It’s a common fact that windy days generally cause issues for most fishermen. It’s uncomfortable, tough on your equipment and aggravating when the wind causes casting issues. The good news is the wind generally helps the fishing and activates the entire water column as it moves the bass near the top of the column. This is allowing you to go shallow and work the upper part of the water. By going shallow you can generally hide some from the wind and fish near the top as the bait moves shallow and the bass follow them. This also allow you to fish easier baits like jerk baits, chatter baits, swim jigs, well just about any bait that will allow you to present a bait in the top of the water column. The wind also helps eliminate the suspending fish and puts them in the upper part of the strike zone activating their natural instinct to chase and react to movement.

When you have worked the shallower water in the wind and didn’t have success then the keys tell you to go heavier in baits allowing you to find fish in deeper water by hugging the bottom and working deeper to find structure and keep you bait on the bottom. One of the oldest yet most successful baits in the wind when fishing deep is a Carolina rig as it allows you to drag your bait on the bottom and the wind generally has no effect on it. With the on-set of all the new forward facing sonar baits, and of course your forward imaging equipment like Lowrance Active Target you can target bass on the bottom with baits like Ducketts “Sway Minnow” dragging it and twitching it along the bottom where the bass are hugged up against deeper bottom structure and hiding from the turbulent windy areas.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to anchor your boat in the wind. I realize this technique dates me but when the wind is blowing you off a spot and angles become important because of the way the bass hold next to structure, anchoring can be everything. This allows you to locate off the fish enough, so you become stable and target the bass with repeated casts. Giving you the opportunity to entice a bite.

Captain Mike