I just did an article about the advantage of wind I felt it was important enough to address it again after my fishing trip yesterday.
You will catch more fish.
I was snakeheading yesterday with a northerly breeze more than I wanted, but I knew this was the way to catch more fish. Fishing into the wind has advantages that may be a fisherman hasn’t considered.
One, you will never be fishing in disturbed water. The breeze will push you back from this water while readjusting the hook, retying a lure, looking for some piece of gear, making the next cast, or even pushing you back fighting a fish. In every case, you will not move into unfished water.
When making a repeated cast you are working on new water as well as moving over water from the previous cast. This is working the water well, covering old water that might have given a fish time to set up to ambush whatever disturbed its territory.
Yes, you will have to work a bit harder moving back into position for the next cast, but the success you will achieve is well worth the effort.
Secondly, your hook sets will be much more positive. The breeze is helping to pull the line tight, eliminating slack for a better set.
As an example of a better set, I was fishing on one of my favorite snakehead grounds following the edge of a hydrilla field. The breeze was at my back. I lost four snakeheads in a row. I don’t lose four fish in a row, I checked my hook, and it was sharp, this got me thinking about why I’m not getting a good hook set. Then the light switch came on and this has never been forgotten.
The snakehead was following my lure while my kayak was being blown toward the fish. Between the two movements, it was creating slack on the normal hookset. It would have required much more movement of the rod and hands to deliver enough force to set the hook properly.
I pulled away from the grass bed and paddled down the bottom of the bed and turned around and started working my way into the wind. I hooked four snakeheads and boated everyone. This is all I needed to reinforce my theory; it has never been forgotten.
Thirdly, prey is pushed by the wind. Think in terms of a stream or river, food is being brought to the fish that are looking into the current.
This same thing happens on open water, prey like minnows is being pushed along with the wind toward the predators that also are looking up current for their next meal.
An example, I was fishing a lily pad field that I had fished for years. There is a lot of bass in this field because of channels and depression in this field.
The breeze was at my back, and I fished all the way to the shoreline without a strike. I stopped to regroup and was shocked I caught no fish. I had to paddle out from this field and decided to fish my way out. I caught six bass on the way out. The bass was looking into the wind and my bait was coming from the direction the bait would have been coming from.
Take the time and effort to work into the wind. I feel so strongly that this is a good technique that should always be used. It doesn’t matter if you are fishing for bass, pickerel, or snakeheads. Your success rate will tell you it is the right thing to do.
I sometimes even will change where I had planned to go, just to be able to fish with the wind in my face. If you ever see me on a bass pond paddling past good fishing water, just look at which way the wind is blowing because I’m heading to the end to fish with the wind in my face.
For your information, I hooked seven snakeheads yesterday and boated five, the two I lost were hooked going downwind.
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joebruceflyfishing 