Wind in the east, fish bite....

[CrappieJohn]

When we look at the four seasons within the fishing year, we tend to see spring, summer, fall, winter or open water and ice. Where and how we fish during each of these seasons tends to be driven by air temperature. What we use is another factor. There are other little glitches that will come along to throw a chink in the smooth running fishing machine though that merit attention too.

During the two periods with the most predictable weather, summer and winter, we have to contend with frontal systems. It is amid these two seasons that we see the greatest disparity between highs and lows. It is this radical difference that delivers us those bone rattling thunderstorms or the icy chill that crawls thru every iota of your carcass. Recovery from fronts now is more pronounced too, so fishing rebounds much quicker as well. How about the other two seasons though?

I always look at spring and fall as tough periods to adjust to. We have frontal systems that get caught in a cadence and seem to come about every day. They tend not to have the great highs and lows as found during summer and winter, but it is this every day frequency that messes with the fish and almost always we are blessed to have each of these front accompanied by none other than....that good old east wind.

All of us have heard the old sayings, the parables, the old wives' tales, the farmers' predictions....the list goes on and on about this fabled wind direction. I would venture a guess, too, that most of us have listened to or abided by at least one of those quips at one time or another.I'd be willing to be that everyone of us has stayed home on way more occasions than we'd ever want to admit to because the wind was coming from that fateful direction. Huh, Huh? Ring a bell? My hand is up.

The "Big Three" considerations for me regarding wind and fishing are these and in this order: safety, boat control questions and direction. I am not going out if the wind is going to pound me to death or create dangerous water. If the wind is blowing hard enough to make boat control more work than I want to do, I am off the water. This leaves direction and if the first two issues permit me to fish, I don't think twice about where the wind is coming from.

The fish are underwater and cannot feel what the wind is doing....or so we'd like to think. Wind, however, can influence how you want to fish a particular piece water. The most common ideology is that wind hitting a shoreline makes it the shoreline to fish. Granted, the wave action stirs up things and can create a mudline where feeding fish will stage. Bugs and other foods get washed along the surface to the windward shore. This is the hotspot, right? Not always. The hotspot might be found where the shoreline is much tamer for the lack of waves, but where you may have to put your nose into the wind.

Water does not compress. So where does all that water go that gets pushed by the wind into one shoreline? Uh huh, it goes down and follows the bottom right back to from where it just got blown from. If you are having trouble with this in your mind, take a spring from a ballpoint pen and lay it on a map of a lake. Lay the spring so it runs north and south length-wise. Now, imagine the wind coming from the east side of that map.The shorelines impacted by the resultant waves will be on the west side. But if you follow the direction of the coils in that spring, where do they end up after they have gone as far west as possible? Thats right, on the east side of the lake.

The under-tow that delivers the water back to the east shore will have an impact on the fishing on that shore. Often times it is the larger fish that one will find there picking up food being swept up from the bottom while lazing in relative comfort and a much tamer water.

When I approach the east shore to fish during windy weather coming from that direction, I will seek out deeper, sharper breaks or points jutting into deep water and concentrate first on the deep side (remember that east winds are often accompanied by cold fronts so the cold/deep correlation pertains yet). If there is a natural current in the water I look to fish from the upstream side of points first. No current? Fish either side of the point.

When I fish the East Coast (as I refer to this particular fishing), I like to present the baits in a slow fashion. Often times they are fished beneath a float so that they can be inched along a long length of breakline or specific structure parallel to the shoreline. If there is natural current, I fish with it and not into it. My favorite of favorite baits for this is the Culprit Paddletail plastic on a 1/32 head. I am looking for subtle action with a minimum of need for me to impart that action. These baits deliver this wonderfully. They also possess the profile I find just about perfect for this sort of approach. Regardless of what plastic I use, the color will almost universally be dark. In that Culprit Paddletail, the junebug/chartresue tail is a standout color for me. Black/chartresue tail, blueshad/chartreuse tail and brown/crawdad are other excellent choices. If a slower drop rate is needed, I will hang on a Stub Grub in purple/chartreuse tail or black/chartreuse tail. If the slow fall and a smaller, less excitable tail action and profile is needed, the CrappieRat in those colors will get the nod. 99% of the time I will start with the Culprit bait though. I have a few new products to try this year when the opportunity arises too, but most all of these will fit in when down sizing becomes an issue.

I seldom find many numbers of shallow fish on this shore. What I have found though, is numbers of tightly packed fish in specific spots. Shoreline pockets with deep enough water have been hot as have been inside corners relating to points. Wood and submerged wood have be unreal at times and have often yielded three or four limits of caught/released fish from one tangle. And more often than not, these fish tend to run larger than those on the windward side of the puddle.

Indeed, wind will influence our fishing. More than likely though, it influence OUR behavorior more than it does the fishs'. By understanding how wind influences the mechanics of a body of water, we can actually expand our fishing venues and quite often turn sour days into fruitful ones. Remember now that we are talking open water here, so those of you lacing up your track spikes for a sprint across the ice to the east side of wherever, give it a rest.

So the next time your die-hard fishin bud says it's too windy and from the east....nod your head, say "uh-huh" and go by yourself. You just might decide that this wind in the east stuff is exactly that....stuff._

[Dan Thiem]

Yet another great article Tom! When is that book coming?

[winona walleye]

someone should be working for f&s

[Matt Johnson]

Awesome read Tom! Good work!