# Wind and the likely hood of catching fish



## JT (May 25, 2006)

Well the wind was way up in Sydney yesterday and it seems that nobody really caught anything to take home. It got me wondering about the relationship between wind and the likelyhood of catching fish. I have often heard theories on how excess wind adversley effects the likelyhood of a catch but actually know bugger all about it.

Does anyone have any thoughts on why this is so if infact it is so?

JT


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

Yes, I agree that excess wind does affect fishing performance. I try and avoid curries and baked beans the night before a fishing/yakking session as the rumble through the hull tends to scare the bejeezus out of any fish within a 2km radius...  :?

sorry, what. OH, not THAT sort of wind...? :roll: :roll: :wink:


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## PeterJ (Aug 29, 2005)

JT , interesting thoughts on this one. When i was in the stinky everyseconds day for a few years there were indeed certain areas that we would and wouldn't go when the wind was blowing.

At times i felt that when the water was stirred up there was bait and feed everywhere and made it easy for the fish to grab some tucker rather than look for my bait in the cloudy water. Fish seem to go in close to shore and shallower water under the cover of wind and the muck it stirred up.

To a point here in Melb where i would get the boat ready to go after a very strong sotherly from the western of eastern directions and fish for snapper in about 2 meters of water in 20-30 knots at times. 
Sometimes we did well and others crap. I think alot of the time the people fishing get the sads at the wind and don't properly fish due to it being uncomfortable


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Davey G said:


> Yes, I agree that excess wind does affect fishing performance. I try and avoid curries and baked beans the night before a fishing/yakking session as the rumble through the hull tends to scare the bejeezus out of any fish within a 2km radius...  :?
> 
> sorry, what. OH, not THAT sort of wind...? :roll: :roll: :wink:


 :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

(1) With wind stirring up the water, I have found it difficult for fishing, especially in new areas as I can't see anything much under the water and so don't know where the structure is. Also, a pain drifting quickly pushed by wind as don't have much time to cast etc. Obviously, an anchor would be helpful in these situations.

(2) Had some interesting fishing in a rather quiet estuary lake. I caught the most fish on the sides of the lake where the waves were crashing. It seemed as if the wind was driving floating bits of food onto the shore at these points, and bream and flathead were in quite shallow water having a feed.

(3) Another time, I found schools of baitfish congregating out of the wind swept choppy area in a quiet patch of water, round the corner of a rocky point, and every now and then they would jump everywhere. I didn't catch anything, but predators must have been among them.

So, in windy weather, I think there are places which are hot spots, but there is no easy formula.


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## Mick_Lane (Oct 1, 2006)

Many fish don't light bright conditions. Especially fish in shallow water.
Thus the reason many fish bite more freely at dawn or dusk. I'm a firm believer that if I'm about to go fishing for trout during daylight hours there must be either good cloud cover or some kind of breeze. The clouds obviously block the rays, but the wind breaks the suface with either a ripple or small waves. A broken surface will ultimately give fish cover. Glassy conditions let the fish see out of their environement to the boat, kayak, fishermen etc. Therefore they are more easily spooked and much more wary. Having said all that, I reckon the kayak is a stealth fishing vessel and makes fewer disturbances in shallow water, making fishing in calm conditions a real option. Mick.


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

I find a little bit of chop seems to help. It could be the rod tips, bouncing up and down a bit give my lures some extra action. From a pure enjoyment perspective, though, I prefer the water to be glassy, even if I dont catch much.


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

I went out a few weeks ago (stinkboat) on a particularly windy Sunday (Pittwater) and the Salmon were feeding everywhere. One of the roughest days I've ever had fishing, but one of the most productive too.


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## shayned (Jul 12, 2006)

I've been putting in some work on this for a little bit trying to get it sorted out in my own mind with the hope of predicting productive times a little better. Anyone with a better take on it please feel free to jump in and correct my line of thinking.

The basis of the theory is that fish dont watch a weather report and think oh bugger, the wind's going to be above 15knts and out of the west today, thats me then, I'm not going to look at a bait so you blokes in the tinny might as well just pack it in and go home. Like everything with fish it's about survival ie. can I get a big enough feed now so that the energy I'm likely to expend isn't more than I'll take in. So you need to question what effect the wind is having on the food source, for example, on the North Pine dam, when it was full, there was a stand of trees which during a strong enough north to south easterly around xmas their flowers would blow into the water. These flowers would be chomped by gar fish and you would find hundreds up in the shallows feeding and at the back of the drop off behind the shallows the predators would cruise picking off the occasional fish. So again what effect is the wind having on food sources.

Closely tied to this is the winds ability to move warm or cold water about, and also temperatures linked to certain directions of wind ie a northerly bringing warmer temps with it. Fish have a certain tolerance for water temp which is optimum for them to operate in. We used to see this with barra up north, one side of a creek could be just to cold to see a bite happen but change sides into the right warmth and bam it was all systems go. An old barra fisho I knew donkeys years ago used to have a weighted thermometer he could use to check water temps when he was a little unsure, he swore by it and the fish he caught seemed to agree. It also follows that if an onshore area heats up too much for the fishes comfort one of two things happen they shut down or move to water of the right temp. This also follows for the bait fish as well as predators, a change in wind direction or severity can cause temp. changes in the water which causes fish to go into energy conserving mode or for the fishery to move to a new area until conditions change. Of course if it's just a shut down for a few days and we could target the start up again the fisho on the water at that point in time would be faced with some hungry fish and one of those great days when the bite is just fantastic.

Lastly, barometric pressure and if at all possible I'd like someone else to explain the causal link to feeding and this. Basically though a prolonged period of low pressure shuts down the bite and this is normally linked to a prevailing weather system. Around sth east qld prevailing northerlies are normally linked to a period of low pressure and the rule of thumb is to skip the fishing and just spend the time cleaning up your gear when a northerly is blowing. Most blame the wind when in fact it is linked to an overall weather pattern and the wind isn't the cause of a slack bite mearly an indicator of the actual cause, the pressure.

Once you've got a handle on the winds effects and what it may indicate all you need then do is tie it into moon/ tide phases, the effect of structure, breeding/life cycles, rain and salinity changes, species habits and when the handbrake is likely to hand out a leave pass and you could almost guarantee to be on a hot session every time you go out. I mean it's not too much to think about is it. :roll: 

One day I hope to complete my Grand Unifying Theory of Fishing but I suspect what will happen is just as I yell UREEKA!!!!! the little machine that goes bing! attached to my hospital bed will instead just go meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......................
In the mean time I'll do what everyone does get out when I can, keep my eyes and ears open and keep trying to work it out.


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

arhhh Shayned.... bloody excellent. You are up there with Einstein and Newton :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers Andybear :lol:


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## shayned (Jul 12, 2006)

Thankyou Mr. Bear, hopefully those couple of paragraphs might induce someone with better info to share but that's what I've got at the moment so I'm sticking to it.

PS Shouldn't be too much longer before I have a shapely bit of plastic firmly wedged under my butt cheeks and I reckon I've got a fair idea where a couple of Jacks might be hiding in the Pine so.................


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

On the question of air pressure, one theory that I have read is that lower pressure will cause a fish's swim bladder to inflate, pressing against other organs and making it feel full. This is most significant when the pressure is falling steadily as the fish can't then find equilibrium between the pressure and the weight of air in its swim bladder.

Sounds good, but don't know if it is true. A sudden drop in air pressure should then really shut the fish down, but there are many accounts of it bringing them on the bite. In the end, if the correlation of events is consistent, a causal explanation is not needed.


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Peril said:


> . . . . In the end, if the correlation of events is consistent, a causal explanation is not needed.


That's pure poetry Peril. But what about its application? Does this mean, because with my fishing events, I consistently catch no fish, I don't need to make excuses to my wife?

Wife: "What! Ya didn't catch anything! Again! Bloody typical! What happened this time?"
Me: "My dearest love, don't you know that if the correlation of events is consistent, a causal explanation is not needed?"

Perhpas I just need to make a purchase at the fish & chip shop on the way home.


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## Russ (Feb 24, 2006)

Troppo my old pal

Dont ever feel lesser a fisherman if you are compelled to stop off at the local co-op and purchase a few 44cm Flatties and a Snapper or 2.
When it comes to no credibility, I am second to no man.
:roll: even Occy  
I will sink to lows of unimaginable depths to preserve what little shred of decency I have. 
I once bought 6 Whiting, just so I would not have to listen to my brother in law give me the sh%ts. 
The pr*ck still thinks I caught em.

 Geez I'm a loser

 fishing Russ


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## sam60 (Aug 30, 2005)

I found through limited experience that when it blows an above average windy day down this way that the fish may be there but if I try to launch the kayak by the time we have got into a rythmn we are heading towards NZ and all thoughts of fishing are gone out the window. The problem sometimes is finding a sheltered area and 2to 3 metre swells and 30 knot winds make the task a tad hard. For days like this the only solution is to fish form the shore and cast with the wind and hope.....
Sometimes a light wind will keep the fish on top where the food is easy to get and predators will not be able to see the fish. I know that bass love the drop in the barometer and just before a big storm they are agressive and chase anything that lands in the water.
I just say that sometimes fishing is like that....you get a feed some days and starve the others.


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## shayned (Jul 12, 2006)

Here's another bit of theory that I was given by another fisho, when there is a rapidly dropping pressure this would indicate to fish that a big blow/storm is on the way which might make feeding hard for a while so the fish just go nuts trying to stock up on food to give them the energy to last out the weather pattern. I've never questioned it as it seems to make sense. Say you were a drummer which feeds around a rock headland which has fair bit water movement but you've got this lovely coat of slime to protect you against being banged into rocks everything is just grand. You can swim around getting a mouthful of weed here and a mouthful there occasionally misjudging a wave surge and rubbing up against the rocks but with your coating everything is all ok. Now being a drummer you're pretty nuggetty and able to power around with your big paddle of a tail except you know that as soon as the water really starts to surge even your slime and paddle tail can't stop you taking a beating and this means no nice mouthfuls of yummy green weed while the sea stays like this. So what do you do? As soon as you think the water is going to be forced into overdrive for a while you eat as much as you can to get you through. But as soon as the waterslows down enough you hook back in 'cause you're damn hungry.
The fisho in the right place at the right time does ok out of this.


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