Wind Tactics

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Hey Guys,



Just what do you change when the wind starts to whip? Rob---I know you have to deal with it a lot. I try not to fight mother nature as much as possible, heavier lures, lighter line and sheltered coves to name a few. Here in Virginia we get our fair share and as Nell would say "Chickopeee ina weeeind"



TOXIC

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Like Bob said Toxic, a lot of times on Champlain the wind is our friend! LOL It bites for running but usually is great for fishing. When the wind blows, look for the wind blown side of a point or drop off, or bay. Not a protected one, one that's getting the crap knocked right into it. That will be pushing all the baitfish in there as well. Throw a jerkbait that closely matches the prevalent forage in that lake. It can vary within a lake too. Ask Buzz, I have spots that a perch colored jerkbait work best, and only a few miles away, they ignore the perch and will slam a alewive or TN shad. If you're on a point or drop, try carolina riggin too. As for casting, sidearm it, and keep it low to the water, or just use spinning reels until you're comfortable casting into the wind. The other pattern I really like as Bob said is to drift. It is especially effective on prespawn smallies. Find some nice flats with "transition" areas, rock to weed, pebbles to boulders, etc. Then just let the wind have it's way with you as you long line drag a tube or grub and probe every little nook and cranny in the bottom. It really coaxes the big ones into biting, isn't that right Marke. When drifting, there is NO back of the boat. In fact the guy in the back usually has a distinct advantage. Good luck, let me know how you do. Keep in mind to, that high winds usually mean a cahnge in weather is coming. Approachng fronts can turn fish on right up to the point when it actually changes.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Bob,



I try that but when your line starts looking like the St. Louis Arch (Scott can relate), you've got problems----mainly feeling the hit. If they're hitting soft I miss a lot. That's why I start pulling out the spools of lighter line. Less wind resistence. I like to use Power-Pro but in the wind, it's useless. Keeping the wind at your back and cove fishing just don't cut it sometimes. I like to think I can adapt and fish through just about any type of weather--EXCEPT lightning---had a strike about 20 feet away on the water once, all that macho stuff went right out the window. It scared the beejesus out of me (actually made my hair stand up too!!).



TOXIC

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Toxic, come up next May, and I'll show you how to battle that wind "bow" problem. I'm kind of a hybrid, bass fisherman/sailor! LOL Comes with the lake.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Rob,



I'll be there but I've seen your lake in the wind and it's not pretty. After 5 minutes in the back of the boat I could have sworn I heard a buzzer and Donnie Gay sayin "that boys got a future in rodeo"!!



TOXIC

 

[Tom Mann]

Hey! No spurs IN THE BOAT!

T

 

[Rob LaMoy]

When the PBR was here, coincidentally at the same time as the FLW I ribbed one of the riders saying "hey, you skirts only have to hang on for 8 seconds and to one bull" "we hang on for up to an hour, on over 200 ponies!" NOTE to board, NEVER ever under any circumstances referr to a professional bull rider as a "skirt"! LOL Be prepared to duck immediately following.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Toxic, you have to ride with me. Now I'm no Mini, but as Mac said, those of us that drive in it everyday, have a way to "smooth" out the ride. Of course a few pain meds does help! If it's real bad, we just trailer around to the nearest launch rather than run it, and then just fish from there. Ever caught 60 smallies before 3:00 pm, averaging 3 + lbs, when nobody else dares be out? Who said bass fishing isn't a contact sport?

 

[Ken Neeley]

When I read the title of this post, and saw the author, I was almost too scared to open it and read it!!!

 

[Tom Mann]

I know what you mean Ken. I figured that "Breaking" was going to be part of the wind tactics! I figured it was going to relate to moving other fishermen off of your favorite spot.

Imagine my surprise to see a serious post!

T

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Ken,



It didn't say COMBUSTABLE Wind Tactics (if'n you had used my method, you wouldn't have ended up in the hospital!!). And Rob, the bull riders are the smallest and TOUGHEST little strips of gristle you will ever run into (I did some rodeo'n in my youth). Now call a steer wrestler a skirt and all the duckin in the world wouldn't save ya. They know how to run ya down even when you're duckin and boy do they have some size to em'. They make Hoss Cartwright look like a skirt.



TOXIC

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Grew up on a canadian farm. I know all too well about rasslin steers, and ear taggin heffers! That's why I got away from the farm. I have a great unlce that was a steer wrestler. 5'8", 145lbs soakin wet, and his face looks like an old piece of shoe leather that a horse stepped on. He drinks like a fish, and always has a marlboro with the filter torn off, hangin from his lip. Saw him get mad one time at an angus breeder stud, and just hauled off and punched it square in the head. Didn't do much to the bull except surprise him, but that was like hitting a concrete wall, and my uncle didn't flinch either. Never would back talk that man! He used to pick bar fights just to pass the time my dad said. What a breed those boys used to be. Any wonder they won their wars, and without smart bombs! His brother, my other unlce, Alec, was a logger, same size guy, used to throw 80 lb blocks of wood around with a pulp hook like they were nothing. Farmer and ranchers are durn tuff see!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Yep,



My grandparents and other relatives all had farms and I spent most of my summers there (small towns in Iowa). I was a terror. Ever teeter-totter on a 50 foot grain auger. You better pray the other guy doesn't jump off when you are in the "up" position. Spent the better part of a morning shootin a bull in the testes with my bb-gun (man do they jump), then forgot about it and he caught me walking across the pasture. I spent 6 hours trapped in a loading chute in the middle of the pasture before my Uncle came home.



TOXIC

 

[Rob LaMoy]

My grandfather had a little bantam rooster that he used to show at the fair. In the barn it was loose and had full reign. It usually just perched up on the top of the cows rear waiting. Everytime you'd bend down to pick up something or milk a cow that little $*&@er would dive bomb your head spurs first. One day, I finally had it, and belted him across the barn with my manure shovel. He never messed with me again, and my grandfather wanted to know if I had seen anything happen to his bantam as it was all of the sudden "shy"! LOL Ever had a horse nip you and take a piece of skin off the back of your thigh? YEEEEEEOOOOWWWWW! Ahhh memories of the farm. Don't miss it a bit! LOL