How wind factors in to the decision making process and how to develop your game plan around it
By Andrew Marr
Every day on the water brings the same question from the first day of the season till the last, “I wonder what the wind is going to do today?”
Each morning of my guide season starts out the same, get up, get showered and changed, head down to the grub shack to get my coffee, go sit on the bench, pull out my phone and check 3 weather sites to try to figure out what the wind is going to do. Once I’ve put my phone away I then ask most of the other guides, if they don’t ask me first, “I wonder what the wind is going to do today?”
Working as a fly fishing guide every day, the wind or the lack of it is just something you simply have to deal with. No matter the season or time of day the wind always plays a role in where I can or can’t travel, how and what spots to fish, where the fish are located and what kind of mood they are in. It’s easy to say “just fish the wind blown side to find the pike”! and it is actually amazing how many times over the years that basic approach to picking locations has paid off for my clients. It almost seems too easy some days, fish where the wind is hitting structure and you’ll just flat out catch fish, of any species. Although not a totally fool proof system or notion, over the long term it has proven a consistent pattern to help locate pike during most any season. Unfortunately it is just not always that simple and we need to consider all our options for dealing with the wind. There a few ways to approach different wind conditions that we often face while on the water, often we must reassess our plans at different times of the day as the wind strengthens or weakens or changes direction. Planning your day around what the wind is doing can lead to a few questions and decisions you need to consider. Here are the 5 main questions I most often ask myself throughout a day of guiding as it relates to wind.
1. Should I fish areas the wind is blowing into?
2. Should I fish the areas where the wind isn’t blowing into?
3. If there is no wind what should I do?
4. Can I maintain boat control while fishing an area and and still have a client fish effectively and comfortably based on the current wind direction?
5. How safely can I travel across larger open water areas and can I return safely later in the day?
Each question comes with its own set of factors to consider in the decision making process that helps us formulate a game plan for each day. Lets take a look at each of these questions in more detail and discuss some of the additional factors related with them.
1. Should I fish areas the wind is blowing into?
The short and most frequent answer to this question in my own guiding experience is a resounding YES! Wind and wave action often pushes and funnels baitfish food sources into predictable areas. This scenario moves the baitfish right along with their food sources and active pike often aren’t far behind their food sources. In the summer and fall months using this approach is extremally simple yet very effective, find a windblown point, weedbed, flat or rocky shoreline and you often catch fish. Fish don’t generally position themselves in wind blown areas to digest and relax, they go to those areas to do one thing, EAT! The additional wind and wave action is often said to “break up your bait” in regards to how well they see it. They can’t necessarily see that your fly is missing a feather on the left side, or is missing an eye on the front right or that you tied it with out adding a little red under its chin to imitate gills. Under these wind induced wavy conditions fish will see a silhouette of their prey and are often convinced enough to strike without hesitation. They may just follow at times but often aren’t as picky, remember these fish have picked a location because their food source is there and they are hungry.
Wind blown areas are also a great time to put the wind behind you, tie on a larger fly and up the pace of your retrieve for extra attention and coverage. Allowing the wind to help you get that extra oomph on these larger flies can save your arms and shoulders and still get those nice long cast to help cover water quickly. The more ramped up the pike seem to be the bigger and faster the fly choice and retrieve can be.
Wind blown areas vary in size depending on you how break down an overall body of water and even further break down individual spots into sections. If you have a strong west wind it doesn’t mean you only fish the east side, rather you should try to fish on west facing areas even if they are located on the west side. Maybe there is a small bay or projection or offshore weed bed on the overall lee side but there is still wind hitting a small section within that larger area.
These smaller spots can certainly be worth checking out but can be easily overlooked. Many times I’ve fished a bay where the wind is funneling and pushing into a smaller specific corner and low and behold that’s where all the active pike in that bay are located, and I mean it when I say ALL the pike in a bay can be in ONE spot. Other times there are huge areas getting a push of water that spreads the fish out, could be several bays all beside one another on the wind blown side. The situations where your faced with big wind blown areas should bring specifics into focus. Where within the greater area as a whole are the weed beds, points or reefs getting wind and wave action. Using your map and sonar and the idea to fish wind blown areas will get you to these larger general areas but once there you still need try breaking them down even further. If fish have been using weeds recently try to focus on those, still not finding the pike, lets go targets points and so on and so forth. Chances are if you take a diligent systematic approach and break down the specifics of a larger wind blown area you will eventually find the active pike.
Now lets say you’ve looked at your map, picked out all the spots you think the active pike are likely to be holding based on the wind direction pushing into them but upon arrival and working these areas you come up empty handed! Well now what do you do? This leads into the next question,
2. Should I fish the areas where the wind isn’t blowing into?
There is a key component I purposely left out in answering the first question. Wind blown areas are generally only going to be productive if the water being pushed and blown in is the right temperature! So as we left it in the last scenario, you did your homework, you looked at the wind direction, circled the weed beds and points and reefs being affected on your map, you went, you fished, you came up empty. So what gives? Well if the wind is pushing in cold water and the temperature has plummeted or is lower than other more protected areas then we have our answer!
I recall one guide trip where I fished a series of north facing bays not far from the main basin of the lake I was on. The wind had been minimal for a few days, the sun had been out and the spring water temps in the bays had been steadily rising into the mid sixties. In other words ideal conditions and the pike were in predictable locations. When we found the right water temps (62 f often being considered the prime number for pike) we found the fish every time. Fishing was great and clients were happy with the many big pike coming across the gunnels of my guide boat. Fast forward a few days and the wind had picked up a bit out of the north, the sun had gone away and I found myself back in the same general area that had produced so well just a few days earlier. The biggest difference was that instead of these bays soaking up the sun with out a ripple of wind, the wind was now pushing cold water from the main basin into them and instead of the water being a balmy mid sixty they had fallen dramatically into the low 50’s and even 40’s. I still did a few quick laps and poked my nose into a couple spots that had been loaded up with pike on the last visit a couple days prior. The same bays were completely empty, and when I say empty I mean EMPTY, the pike were simply gone, vanished, vamoosed. The wind had killed any chance of finding fish in those same spots after the rapid temperature change. As a guide this was one of those times where myself asking “well now what do I do?’
Well it just so happened that all the bays were located in a group of big islands and as I said we had found the pike in the north bays a few days earlier. Well wouldn’t ya just know it but all those island also had south facing bays as well, bays that hadn’t been nearly as affected as their north facing counterparts. Want to guess where all the pike had gone? Yup, those south facing bays were still a bit on the cold side but were all at least 10 degrees warmer and tucked out of the wind, the rocks had kept a bit of their increased temps from days of sun and me and my clients were once again off to the races. The game plan for the rest of the day was self evident, get away from that wind, duck and cover, find shelter and find the warmer water temps. Soon after me and my clients were once again grinning from ear to ear, spot hopping and plucking pike left right and center, so long as we stayed out of the wind!
Spring time pike are as easy at its gets, find the right water temps and the pike will be there, in quantity. Often the best spots are tucked away where the cold water of the main basin can’t easily mix or has a warm water source pouring in. It is a time of year I often find myself trying to hide from the wind compared to the summer months where I often want to be wherever the wind is blowing. Remember the opposite can be true in summer when water temps rise having the cooler water pushed into an area can bring the temps down from the 70’s to the lows 60’s where you want it. The answer to the first two questions can be based on time of year and water temps but the wind is a major determining factor in where you should be choosing to target pike!
3. If there is no wind what should I do?
I would pretty much always prefer to have some wind over no wind. Thinking back on days or trips where there was little to no wind brings up a bag of mixed memories. I have had some tough trips both personally and while guiding under these conditions. Pulling into bays full of big pike basking under sunny sweltering conditions, not a hint of wind in the air. I’ve been left thinking how much it seemed like floating in an aquarium and having a staring contest with the pike. I guide on a lake with many little pocket sand bays, nicknamed aquariums. Go and look at pike stacked like cordwood just barley under the waters surface, floating, sun bathing, digesting, relaxing but not actively eating, definitely not. Maybe the odd one will commit but most just turn their nose up or bolt at even the guides most surefire guaranteed never fails magic pike fly. These days can be agony, just casting at pike after pike who laugh at our feeble attempts, frustrating stuff at times. I’m reminded of a famous quote in some Canadian lodge guide circles which went to the effect of “Well the fishing was slow in the morning, but it really tapered off in the afternoon”, about sums it up on some of those flat calm sunny days…
I did say I have mixed memories and I suppose what is best described as mixed emotions about flat calm days though. So if having had my fair share of less than stellar days as earlier described there must be something to offset those days right? Well you better believe it, some of my best guide trips with a fly angler have come under these same conditions, what the professionals call a “full mop”. Imagine the same aquariums from earlier but insted of holding staring contests with the pike they all bite! It may not be often but when it happens its pure magic.
The secret ticket is usually going shallow, sand is often the location for me but sometimes it can be a weed bed or rocky bay, wherever it is you just have to find the pike and go from there. Flat calm with sun and its off to the races in my boat, my clients and I will cruise clear water shorelines with the sun at our backs as much as possible, most often never casting till we spot a pike or find a bigger group hanging out. Its not that the pike are turned on and really feeding but are more I suppose peckish, as a way to describe it. These pike are there to digest and if your a day or more removed from a major front passing through that turned the fish on sometimes you just time it right with their digestion. This isn’t usually the time for great big flies, thats not rule them out entirely but a slow to slower pace, pinpoint casting and small to mid size flies with lots of hang time are what has worked best in my experience.
If there is one thing I try to keep my guests from doing is casting on top of or behind a sunning, digesting pike. Lead them with the cast, not by much, get a fly in front or just beyond their nose, and let the pike make the first, often slow move. Be careful as a cast behind them and the chance is most often gone with the pike in the opposite direction. Pike don’t like feeling vibrations from behind their head and over their body generally speaking and it can often spook them.
This is finesse territory, small unintrusive flies that hang or pulse with a nearly imperceptible sink rate, pike snack’s not meals. I don’t know how many 40″+ pike I’ve handled on these windless days that have a big fish tail sticking out their gullet? It would be a big number and most of them on have been caught on a black bunny leech or baitfish fly connected to my guests line. I think its just timing, these pike are digesting, getting warm, a big sucker or perch or whitefish in their belly when all of a sudden there is a little leech lees than a foot from their snout, wiggling in place. It is akin to finishing an all you can eat buffet and your bursting at the seams, plates deep with the meat sweats in full effect. If someone put a triple decker cheeseburger with extra bacon or in front of you there isn’t chance you’d even consider attempting to eat! But what about a fortune cookie? An after dinner chocolate mint? Maybe there is a little more room after all? There are times when the cheeseburger gets drilled, the big flies, the half chickens or whole bucktail kind of flies but more often than not its the fortune cookie, the after thought, the bunny leech or tiny baitfish fly that gets the job done, even with the absolute biggest of pike!
Another strategy to consider on flat calm days and or when there has been a wind shift overnight is the old adage to “fish yesterdays wind”. Indeed this is another great way to start out your day when searching for pike locations. If the wind has been strong and sustained for a day or better yet multiple days the pike will often gather in the wind blown areas at certain times of year as was outlined. The pike wont necessarily immediately scatter from an area once the wind stops. Often when faced a calm day following many days of a strong wind I will simply plan may day around fishing the areas where it had been blowing into. It is a simple but very effective formula for finding the fish. They just end up hanging around for a little while until they disperse or the wind picks up again and corrals them to a different area. “Yesterdays wind” should never be overlooked if your struggling to find the pike on a calm day.
An additional tip following a day or days of VERY HIGH winds in lake a setting is to remember that wind can stack water at one end section of a body of water, this is called the Seiches effect. I have witnessed this phenomena only a few times but it can be very dramatic! I recall one huge storm that passed over us while out fishing and forced my guests and I to land to take shelter out in the remote wilderness. My guests and I hunkered down for a couple hours in the trees testing out our raingears seams. When the worst of the wind and rain had passed we emerged out of the woods to find the boat was now almost entirely on dry land despite the fact that before the storm it was very much left entirely in the water. That was the first shock, the second was looking out at the water in front of us, a small channel separating two larger sections of the lake and the water was now ripping through, the current was visibly moving hundreds of yards out into the open water. This channel always has some natural current and water movement to it but never visible beyond the submerged weeds usually all leaning one way independent of wind direction. This time though it was a torrent of water going through this gap and the water had dropped by at least a foot. Shortly after we headed back to the lodge at the south end of the lake, the direction the storm had come from while it was moving north, and the water was a solid foot and a half down from only a few hours earlier. The strength of the wind had stacked the water to the north end of the lake and it would take the next 3 days or so for it to level back out. Its worth being aware of this phenomenon as during the leveling out period that follows current can appear in areas that don’t normally have much if any. These areas and moments though short lived can be fish magnets in spots that don’t usually get attention! This is where your maps pays for itself, look for neckdowns or points that may be affected and go fish them, chances are that you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Pike can stack up in these temporary and newly created current spots as the water in the lake slowly levels back out.
Any body of water with current areas also help narrow the search on flat calm days. Pike will position themselves in windblown areas when the water temps are right. Active pike will do the same in current areas. When ever I’m faced with no wind but am on a body of water with current areas, those spots will be right up there as priority places to check out along with the sunny sand flats. Active fish like current, they may be above or below or off to the side in the wash out areas and even right in the heaviest of the current but they are always areas worth exploring.
The flat calm days in spring when the water temp is on the rise can be some of the best sight fishing for pike of the season. Once the temps of summer kick in these days are a little tougher in general but sometimes you find a pod of pike that have a little room left for one more morsel. The more flat calm days in a row there are the less I like the odds and it usually becomes a bit of a waiting game for the next big weather front to roll through and shake things up again. An alternative is to focus your efforts around sun rise and set and any major or minor to just focus your efforts or fish yesterdays wind or current areas Just pay attention to water temps and if the weather changes or the fish change their mood try to adapt with them. As said flat calm days are a mix of experiences, some bad, some ok, some absolutely epic! If anything motivities me on these days it’s the good memories and experiences. I’m going to have flat clam day strike outs again in my future but I know there are a few more “full mop” bunny leech spectaculars waiting too. All I or anyone can do when its flat calm is just go fishing, put on the polarized glasses and watch the temps and the shorelines for shadows, make a solid effort and hope for the best, mixed emotions and all.
4. Can I maintain boat control while fishing an area and and still have a client fish effectively and comfortably based on the current wind direction?
One of the most extreme cases that comes to mind trying to fish a wind blown spot involved two guests and myself on a flyout from the main lodge to one of our remote locations. The winds started howling not long after we arrived and the plane had long headed back to the lodge. I made the decision to try to hide from the most exposed windblown areas and to try to tuck into some spots with a bit more protection from the elements. I picked a long narrow channel with a pocket bay the wind was blowing into where my clients and I had great success on past trips. The wind was at least blowing across the channel rather than “right down the pipe” Even though the shoreline behind us on the far side of the channel was perhaps only 500 yards away it was enough still enough distance to create waves in that short span. It was all I could do to keep the boat in reverse just to try to keep us in place and allow my guests to cast, still we drifted forward. I tried putting out the small anchor and kept the boat in reverse and still the wind was strong enough to push the boat further and further into the bay. When a client caught a pike and I had to let go of the tiller handle to perform a release even with the anchor out we would be getting blown even further faster, it was near impossible to maintain the level of boat control required to fish the spot effectively. It was time for plan B, to get completely out of the wind and try to find some back eddies!
As much as I love fishing wind blown areas sometimes it simply isn’t safe or even feasible. Some of my guests aren’t super stable in a boat and for their own safety and stability on windy days so we need to find calmer conditions. This doesn’t mean we cant still experience great fishing it just means we need to tweak the approach. When you have strong winds buffeting across a big point, island or shoal these areas will often have a back eddie effect that gets created on the calm side. Much like a big rock or projection in the middle of a river the down steam side will have an eddie where the water curls around and slows like a collection area. River fishermen have long known how great these spots are but lake anglers can easily overlook these areas. As good as wind blown areas are these out of the wind collection areas can also be fish magnets at times. I know several fellow guides who key in on these spots across a wide array of species and locations. A guests who isn’t comfortable bobbing up and down and spends more time trying to maintain balance than fishing or is cold and wet from waves hitting against the hull just isn’t going to have an enjoyable day unless they are the real hardcore type. Circumstances such as these are when these little back current areas pay off.
What can be happening is that as the wind is pushing down along a shoreline towards a point is that as the point of land tapers off the wind will push the water and it will curl in behind the tip of land. Again baitfish food sources can end up in the wash out or back eddy that is being created and active pike and many other species know how to find these little concentrations of food. These events and their location on any given day are dictated by wind direction and the geographical make of of the islands, shoreline and underwater structures. It may be on a particular body of water that a west wind will create the eddies behind one particular group of spots while an east, north or south wind will create an entirely different set of spots respectively. So depending on wind direction you will need to put time and effort into figuring out whcih spots are affected and create the conditions as described. Even a slight variance in wind direction can change where this effect is happening but it is worth seeking these spots out and keeping a log detailing the direction and specific spot for future reference.
Maybe we catch more fish in the wind at times because that’s where we are spending our time but the success rate on the lee side should be motivation to check these spots out. Not all fish get the memo that they are supposed to be on the wind blown tip or shorline, maybe they are happy sticking to the little weed patch just behind the point out of the heavy wind that is swirling bait into it. The push of water can supply the oxygen and food source and the big fish don’t have to work too hard for their meal. These spots are a great alternative or plan B.
5. How safely can I travel across larger open water areas and can I return safely later in the day?
I work for a lodge located in the vast wilds of norther Saskatchewan, Canada on a lake that is over 650 thousand square acres, what many would refer to as big water! The lodge was founded in the mid sixties and I’m fortunate to work along side guides with 30+ years on that body of water. Often, when I was still a very green guide I would spend my evenings listening to the stories from these great guides. Inevitably all of them have stories of giant waves and miles of water between them and camp. One such story involves one of the longest serving guides, the kind of guy with a legendary spot or two named after him, discovered decades ago. The story involved him, a 16′ boat, a 25hp engine, 2 guests and some giant waves. On this day he found himself stuck out in the middle of the lake towards the end of a vast and giant bay. On a calm day the distance he needed to travel might take 25 minutes, but not on the day from this story. The day had started off well enough with calm conditions, plenty of pike and a nice shore lunch for his guests, then the wind started. What started as a gust grew into a breeze and burst into a howl, it was clearly time to head for home. Miles of vast open water lay in front of him save for one tiny island protruding above the swells with a lone tree to mark its location. Over the course of the next four hours he held the boat steady in the lee of the lone island as he and his guests watched huge waves rolling by on either side. As he described it, he spent those four hours “contemplating his future as a fishing guide and life in general” as he wasn’t sure what the future had in store for him at this particular point in time. Lucky for him after what seemed like an eternity the wind lay down and he avoided spending the night on the lone tree island.
Decades later he still guides on the same lake, at the same lodge for part of the season but works as a teacher during the rest of the year. I suppose in those hours stuck behind one tree island he decided that although guiding is hard it wasn’t worth quitting altogether, after all the first half of the day was fun! I often wondered how to a man each of the “old-timers” (sorry fellas) had some similar story of just doing what they could to survive and make it back during unforeseen wind and weather event? One them eventually said, “well the only forecast we could get was from a radio station from the next province over and several hundred miles to the south, that only came through in clear conditions”. Hearing that made it is clear why they all shared similar stories and experiences. I started out this article describing my morning during guiding season and the conversations on the bench with coffee in one hand and a phone in the other providing access to the world wide web in the. A plethora of weather services at my fingertips! Even still I’ve had a few chances over my guide career to contemplate my own future while either hiding from or pounding through waves.
We are fortunate to live in the age we do with all the technological advancements available to us. I have a fish finder that allows me to pull into a bay I’ve never laid eyes on, side scan it for weeds rocks or fish in all directions, waypoint and mark all the edges of it, tell my gusts how far away the weeds are and that there is a fish 80 feet to our right, simply incredible. We can check real time weather reports and have alerts sent right to our phones or even check the weather at marker buoys in the middle of a body of water on the other side of the world. Mother nature can still get the better of us despite our best efforts, gadgets and gizmos. This is where preparation pays off in spades!
Its vital to have a plan when on the water in case nature decides to throw a wrench into your plans. At the lodge every boat writes down their destination for the day, have set times of expected return, radio communication, emergency satellite devices and action plans in place in event of unforeseen circumstances. These are straight forward plans put in place to ensure everyone makes it home safe at the end of the day. Sadly every year there are stories across the fishing community of anglers who pushed their safety limits, didn’t have plans in place, got caught unawares and paid the ultimate price. No fish outweighs angler safety, period. With weather forecasts at our fingertips at all times, except for the most remote locations nowadays, its hard to get caught off guard by wind and weather. If you plan to travel long distances its good to have alternate routs for the return trip home depending on wind direction. I often will change my travel routes home when winds and weather change often opting for the longer but calmer route. Spending hours hiding behind islands unsure of wear you will spend the night may not entirely be a thing of the past but its far harder to end up in those situations nowadays. Having a plan in place, letting someone know where you are going and when you will be back, ensuring communication devices are fully charged, wearing life jackets while under power along with kill cords are just basic steps we should all take to make sure we make it home to tell fish stories.
In conclusion fishing and wind are simply inseparable! Wind will affect pike in different ways at different times of year. Sometimes the wind will help you and your fishing and other times and will have a negative affect. Hopefully this article will help you plan your day and how and where you spend your time targeting these wonderful creatures. Wind has a way of throwing a kink in the works at times, but being prepared with ideas on how to counter act it with success is possible by following the advice given here. We won’t always get it a hundred percent right a hundred percent of the time but we can get close. Wind will more often than not help you find pike on any given day if you plan accordingly!
