Making The Most of Wind Direction
By Russel Gabel
“The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind”. These
timeless lyrics by Peter, Paul, and Mary express more
than a philosophical view of life. For the serious fisherman, it’s the key to supercharging your time on the water.
Add a little wind to a typical fishing day, and most boats
will head for calm backwaters. What most fishermen
overlook is that a little wind on the water is like ringing the
dinner bell for most of the large gamefish that we love to
pursue. Gaining an understanding of why this is, and
where you can fish will supercharge your fishing when
the wind blows.
WHAT WIND DOES
When wind blows across the surface of a lake, it creates current. Surface water is pushed along by the
wind until it comes into contact with structure, such as a shoreline or a point. This moving water carries
food particles and small minnows, and when they contact a structure, they pile up in that spot. This
abundance of bait and baitfish is what stimulates the larger gamefish to go on the feed. Literally, wind
can be the electricity that lights up the food chain in specific areas of on a lake. This pattern seems to
work for nearly every predatory species, from smallmouth and pike, to walleye and white bass. Bottom
line; if it feeds, the wind direction will determine where it feeds.
STRUCTURE SPECIFICS
The easiest way to take advantage of wind direction is to focus on the wind-blown side of the lake. On
windy days, most fishermen look for calm water and fish those areas. That’s a mistake. There may be
fish in other areas of the lake, but wind isn’t stimulating the food chain in these places. If you want to optimize your time on the water, you want to go where the
fish are feeding actively. This means choosing shorelines and points where the wind is piling up bait and
baitfish. Mid-lake islands, rock piles, narrows, and
underwater humps can also turn on when you add
wind to the equation. The more open water that the
wind has to travel across before it comes in contact
with structure, the more bait the current can pick up
and the more dramatic the wind effect can be. Combine a basic knowledge of lake structures with an understanding of wind direction, and you become a
much more effective angler.
SPRING LAKE
This lake is one of the lakes that we spend a lot of time fishing. It has a variety of fish species including
largemouth, smallmouth, pike, walleye, white bass, crappie, and freshwater drum. The following pictures illustrate different wind directions, and the best places to fish on this lake.
WEST WIND: This is the most common wind
situation on our lake. Prevailing westerlies
signal stable weather and the fishing responds in a positive way. By focusing on the
shorelines and points hi-lighted in red, we
make the most of wind direction.
1-This is a depth sharp drop-off that follows
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the 10-food depth contour. Fish move along
1
this drop-off, feeding on the flat to the north,
and all the way around the point. When wind
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is present, we troll this drop-off, or cast to
docks that end in 8-10 feet of water.
2-This is a bay with another feeding flat and
sharp-dropping point at the top.
3-This point and drop-off may be the very best fishing spot on the entire lake when the wind is blowing
from the west. There is enough open water for the current to really develop, and when a good wind hits
this point, the fishing can be epic.
EAST WIND: Old-timers will always recite
this mantra; “Wind from the east, fish bite
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least”. An east wind typically happens here
when we’ve experienced a storm, or an unexpected weather pattern. While this can be a
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challenge for fishing, this wind still turns on
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the food change in specific areas of our lake.
1-These are main-lake shorelines and small
points, which gather baitfish and gamefish
1
2
with an east wind.
2-In this area, the wind pushes water into a
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narrow channel that flows under a bridge.
This narrow acts as a funnel, gathering large
schools of baitfish, and the larger fish gather
to take full advantage of this pattern. We fish bridge pilings and docks along both sides of this channel.
3-These areas represent creek mouths and small bays. When the wind blows into these mini-funnels,
gamefish are always present.
Here’s the wind direction and location that we fished in Canada………and here’s the result, plus 74 more!
NORTH WIND
This is another challenging wind direction to
cope with. It usually brings with it cold fronts
and cooler weather. In general, fishing will
have to slow down, but again, wind direction
still plays into having a successful day on the
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water.
1-These small wind-blown points gather
schools of baitfish and larger fish when a
north wind blows.
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2-This point and bay both accumulate baitfish
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and gamefish. The bay particularly can hold
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massive schools of baitfish blown in from
across the lake. When this happens, fishing
can still be very good, even when temperatures have recently dropped.
3-These smaller points receive a cross-wind, but the wind-blown side of these points can be great
places to find baitfish, along with large fish feeding on them.
SOUTH WIND
Next to a common west wind, a south wind
here signals warmer weather and great fishing to come. Many of the fishing spots hilighted are similar to an east wind, but the
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weather stability represented by a south wind
almost always guarantees better fishing.
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1-This point and narrows funnels fish beneath
the bridge and docks that line this channel.
1
2
2-These main points gather schools of baitfish
and large fish with a south wind.
3-When a cross-wind hits these small points,
it can activate fish to go on the feed. Focus
on the wind-blown side of the point.
4-These are narrow channels that lead into shallow back-waters. In the spring, when a south wind
pushes baitfish into these narrows, schools ofbas follow them in to feed. These are the “30 fish in two
hours” fishing trips that you never forget!
BLOWN AWAY
I stared at the fish finder in disbelief. The screen was literally cloudy from top to bottom with baitfish that
had been blown from the main lake, through a narrow area, and now had accumulated in huge numbers
in this wind-blown bay. We dropped out bottom bouncer rigs down and started a slow troll. Seconds
later, our first walleye came to boat. The next several hours were a blur. Fish were flying, nets were
scooping, and the laughter of overjoyed fishermen echoed across this remote Canadian lake. At the
end of the day, we had boated 75 walleye between 14 and 27 inches long. In comparison, the combined catches of four other boats fishing calm areas of the lake couldn’t touch our amazing fish count.
This day solidified the importance of wind directions and it’s effects on fishing. If you’re trying to find the
best spots on a given lake, I guess the answer really is blowing in the wind.
Fish the wind...catch the fish.