Doc's Perspective on the Wind

Whoosh... There are folks who say that the wind doesn't bother their fishing, and there are even fly fishermen who boldly make the same claim. I say they're both bald-faced liars. Anyone who has ever tried to wet a hook under blustery conditions knows full well that too much wind is not a good thing when you are trying to cast a weighted jig, much less an almost weightless fly.

Oh yeah, I know that you can use a heavy, wind resistant bait like a Hopkins Shorty or some other chunk of metal designed to catch fish. And that will help some. I know too that you can opt to fish in the lee of the wind. That helps too if there's something handy nearby to get in the lee of. You can also use a drift anchor to keep the snout of your skiff into the wind and thus to keep it from swamping. No question here - this too will help.

Anglers with the long rod are faced with yet another set of problems when trying to confront windy conditions. Fly fishermen can employ so-called shooting lines and fast, hybrid, high-tech graphite rods to try to cheat the wind. That helps some. They can also opt to fish with smaller, less wind- resistant flies like Clouser Minnows and other sparsely dressed patterns. That helps a bit too. Then they can use heavier, stiff leader material like hard Mason monofilament. That helps to straighten a leader in the wind. Finally, fly fishermen have developed a technique called the "Belgian Cast" that involves hurling the line around in a circle, using centrifugal force, as it were, to keep the fly away from the fisherman while developing sufficient line speed for an accurate and powerful cast. That helps as well. In fact, all these little tidbits will help a fisherman enjoy more success when fishing in windy conditions. I use the term "success" relatively here though.

Fishermen can employ all these tricks and some that I may not know, and still they will find that windy conditions are overall the fisherman's worst enemy. If you will take note of your personal catch statistics, you will find that you catch the fewest fish when the wind is excessive. You are skunked more frequently when the wind is excessive. And you are more apt to hook yourself in the ear with a fly when the wind is high. It is little wonder that you leave the house more depressed if you have scheduled a Chandeleur fishing trip that morning only to find that the wind is howling out of the Southwest at Mach 1.

You'll be facing a miserable boat ride with the threat of a whiplash at every wave. Every soda that you dare open will explode in your face, but - not to worry, the salt spray will wash it right off. Once you open that can, you'll wonder if you should risk placing it near your mouth for fear of loosing a few teeth. And once you arrive at your appointed fishing destination, it will be almost impossible to cast. Once you manage to pry your fingers off the grab rail, you'll find that your fishing hotspot does not exactly look the way you remembered it from the last trip. The water will be thick enough to walk on, or at least it will look that way. By then, you will likely have already lost your favorite baseball cap to the wind and the top of your head will glow by the end of the day, if you're lucky enough to get back to the mainland that day. If you get anywhere near the shoreline, you'll be sand-blasted. The chop will lap over the top of your waders if you dare to get any deeper than your ankles. You'll catch few, if any, fish. And it'll take your kidneys a couple of days to get over all the excitement. Other than that, it will be a great trip.

Yep, wind is not something a fisherman wants to see too much of - not us locals nor you visitors either...