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Mad_Angler
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02/23/2018 10:44AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
I saw something on the Seagull Outfitters site. It said to "follow the wind" when fishing. I assume that means something to most fishermen. But I have never heard that expression before.

What does it mean?
 
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Mad_Angler
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02/23/2018 10:51AM  
I did find this from Bassnet on this site in 2016...

"Follow the wind...maximize best times.

Plankton drift with the wind, and stack up against windy shores. Prey follow the wind, predators follow the prey. So, up against windy shores IS the foodchain. Predators assume ambush positions(in broken rock, weeds) to feed(warm water, high metabolism). The trick is finding the right depth, and that will depend on light conditions....

Predators are most efficient during low light, sunrise(and before) sunset(and after) and cloudy, drizzly(yea!) conditions. Bright, clear skies, no wind and I will be in camp cutting wood, tidying up camp. We eat well before sunset, and get on the water when the sun is low, and fish 'til black. Buggy? yes Fishy?? YES!! Conversely, we get up more than an hour before sunrise, slurp some caffeine, and get on the water 45min. or so before sunrise. It's mid summer...10am is not gonna work, unless it's raining or really windy.

Start fishing NOW, before you go. Fresh line, learn good knots, sharpen hooks(and again when tying on), check drag. Look at the map of the lakes you want to fish. Topo maps are on this site. Find contour lines close together(sharp dropoff), humps. When you get on the water, find weedbeds. Predators will be at the edges of the weeds(and inside). We cruise the lake, make noise(well, try to be kinda quiet!), and come back later. On weedbeds, we anchor a medium cast upwind of the weeds, and cast to the edges with jigs...a slip-bobber rig works great...just find the right depth. Fish will position themselves to be looking upwind from the weeds, because schools of prey will be following the plankton.

You are looking the the combination of prey-cover for predators-light conditions so that predators are most efficient. When you hit a few, look at the map for other areas that are the same conditions. It's called "pattern fishing".

Anchor: parachute cord, mesh bag with rocks...or just tie on a football-sized rock."
 
Gadfly
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02/23/2018 11:17AM  
We always seem to do better on the wind swept side of the lake especially for walleye, but I disagree that its not worth fishing when the weather is calm. My most memorable day of open water fishing was on a day when the water was glass. We caught a countless number of 18" to 21" bass in about 3 hours on a dead calm late summer morning. We have fished this area many times since and have never come close to repeating that day.
 
QueticoMike
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02/23/2018 12:21PM  
Shorelines aren't the only place to look for fish when it is windy. Wind between two land masses, be it two islands or a landlocked point and an island, will cause a current between the two areas and attract predatory fish waiting to ambush prey as the wind pushes the bait through the area. Concentrate on points and any pockets that might stack up bait fish pushed by the wind.

Also small coves or bays with wind blowing into them all day will hold bait fish.
 
Savage Voyageur
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02/23/2018 03:13PM  
I have witnessed this many times on lakes that have protected bays. If the wind is blowing directly into the bay for a few days fish right there. It’s just like Mad Angler said, the baitfish follow the plankton, and the Walleyes follow the baitfish. I figured this out when the main Lake was rocking and rolling with waves. We fished a bay near camp that was protected and hit schools of Walleye right around the corner in calm water.
 
02/23/2018 04:16PM  
Wind can also concentrate warm surface water along windswept shorelines so early in the season its another reason to follow the wind. I find it help to now only pay attention to where the wind is blowing now but also where the wind was blowing the day before. That can help determine where the fish may have been coming from which might help you pinpoint a starting point a little quicker.
 
Dbldppr1250
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02/23/2018 06:35PM  
I learned from a master angler up near Grand Marais that the end of the lake where the wind is blowing to is a much better scenario, so I totally agree with this fishing philosophy. I have also caught many really great fish during the middle of the day, so if you like to fish up in the BWCA, you can pretty much go out any time and have some success.
 
02/25/2018 12:47PM  
Another tactic is if the wind is pounding a shoreline all day especially a point or a reef area, maybe even so hard you can’t fish it safely with a canoe, hit that spot in the evening if the wind dies down enough. The plankton and baitfish will normally still be there and you will have easier boat control. Combine that with low light...I’ve caught all 5 species stacked up together and I swear I had a sturgeon on as well...I could barley move that fish but never saw it.

T
 
Lotw
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02/26/2018 06:57AM  
I've touched on this before. You shouldn't just be fishing the wind but yesterdays wind too. If the wind is sustained over a period long enough to stack water in one end of the lake after it lets off the water will rush back to the other side creating current. Of course this is much more apparent on large (huge) lakes.
 
02/27/2018 09:54AM  
Lotw: "I've touched on this before. You shouldn't just be fishing the wind but yesterdays wind too. If the wind is sustained over a period long enough to stack water in one end of the lake after it lets off the water will rush back to the other side creating current. Of course this is much more apparent on large (huge) lakes. "


Exactly. The situation can be more dynamic and complicated then simply following the wind on the day you are fishing. If it was blowing 30mph on monday but drops to light and variable on Tuesday you'll want to pay much closer attention to Mondays conditions as they'll mean more than what the wind is doing on Tuesday.
 
Mad_Angler
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05/01/2018 01:31PM  
Maybe a little specifics will help me understand...

Consider this lake: How would you fish it with a strong 15 mph wind from the south? Assume the trip is late May, temp is steady at 70F.


 
WalleyeHunter24
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05/01/2018 01:46PM  
QueticoMike: "Shorelines aren't the only place to look for fish when it is windy. Wind between two land masses, be it two islands or a landlocked point and an island, will cause a current between the two areas and attract predatory fish waiting to ambush prey as the wind pushes the bait through the area. Concentrate on points and any pockets that might stack up bait fish pushed by the wind.


Also small coves or bays with wind blowing into them all day will hold bait fish."


Amen. Follow the food chain.
 
mastertangler
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05/01/2018 02:39PM  
Well sure fishing the windy shoreline is no secret. And its also no secret that waves and canoes don't always mix so well. Throw in trying to fish and having the boat get turned sideways when fighting a fish and I am typically not fishing the windy shoreline, hot bite or not.

I like Timatkn take.........fish the windy shoreline after things have calmed down a bit. And yes, wind that has blown hard all day will stack up a bunch of water on one side of a lake and when it calms down it can really establish a solid current flow as it flows back.
 
missmolly
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05/01/2018 02:59PM  
I'd fish to the left of the uppermost island. I like the depth and bottom structure there and the strait will accelerate the current. You could position your canoe tight to the island, anchor, and let a slip bobber bob with the current and wind or you could drift with through the strait, fishing TGO over the side. The fish might also stack in the uppermost bay with that steep drop-off giving you a range of depths to probe. It would likely be choppy there, so I'd try two anchors with the bow aimed at the north shoreline.
 
mastertangler
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05/01/2018 03:22PM  
missmolly: "I'd fish to the left of the uppermost island. I like the depth and bottom structure there and the strait will accelerate the current. You could position your canoe tight to the island, anchor, and let a slip bobber bob with the current and wind or you could drift with through the strait, fishing TGO over the side. The fish might also stack in the uppermost bay with that steep drop-off giving you a range of depths to probe. It would likely be choppy there, so I'd try two anchors with the bow aimed at the north shoreline. "


I like it.....................(it sounds good anyway ;-)
 
missmolly
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05/02/2018 08:47AM  
mastertangler: "
missmolly: "I'd fish to the left of the uppermost island. I like the depth and bottom structure there and the strait will accelerate the current. You could position your canoe tight to the island, anchor, and let a slip bobber bob with the current and wind or you could drift with through the strait, fishing TGO over the side. The fish might also stack in the uppermost bay with that steep drop-off giving you a range of depths to probe. It would likely be choppy there, so I'd try two anchors with the bow aimed at the north shoreline. "



I like it.....................(it sounds good anyway ;-) "


Yeah, who knows if it would work. My number one passion is gardening and after growing thousands of plants (No lie.), plants, like fish, are still a mystery to me. Say, MT, I was in Florida a couple weeks ago and I bought my sister a Bismarck palm. I would have bought one for myself too, but I don't think it would like Downeast Maine.
 
05/02/2018 08:33PM  


Given Mad Angler's scenerio, I'm trying these spots. I've always had luck on windswept points and channels.
 
Mad_Angler
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05/03/2018 08:50AM  
OgimaaBines: "


Given Mad Angler's scenerio, I'm trying these spots. I've always had luck on windswept points and channels. "


Thanks missmolly and ogimaa. Your'e the only ones that answered the way that I was hoping
 
SammyN
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05/03/2018 12:51PM  
Subbed
 
tarnkt
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05/03/2018 07:36PM  
Late may = shallow warm water (usually) which means fish can be found on shorelines instead of mid lake structure (usually). I would start on the flat between the island and the shoreline on the west side midlake and then move on to the two northern most bays if I didn’t have my limit already
 
mastertangler
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05/03/2018 09:58PM  
Mad_Angler: "
OgimaaBines: "



Given Mad Angler's scenerio, I'm trying these spots. I've always had luck on windswept points and channels. "



Thanks missmolly and ogimaa. Your'e the only ones that answered the way that I was hoping "


X marks the spot? That's what you want? And here I spent my time trying to get you to think for yourself.
 
Mad_Angler
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05/04/2018 09:23AM  
mastertangler: "...
X marks the spot? That's what you want? And here I spent my time trying to get you to think for yourself. "


I wanted folks to mark the X and explain why/how they picked that spot. That would help me think for myself...

I could use their logic to evaluate any lake with any wind direction...

 
missmolly
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05/04/2018 11:50AM  
Mad_Angler: "
OgimaaBines: "



Given Mad Angler's scenerio, I'm trying these spots. I've always had luck on windswept points and channels. "



Thanks missmolly and ogimaa. Your'e the only ones that answered the way that I was hoping "


You are welcome. That high bay would intrigue me, but would be a beast if the wind were howling. I was once on a lake in late June and the wind flattened my tent. I couldn't sleep with the ceiling on my face, so I snapped on my biggest spoon and heaved it into the wind. The lake trout fishing was amazing as long as the wind howled. I also had my five muskies in one hour bit o' bliss in a howling wind, fishing a strait.
 
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