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Posts: 72
| I normally fish a big lake, and muskies seem to disappear when it gets very windy. By "very windy", I mean you need to have your trolling motor on 8+ to push into the wind, and you're taking some waves over the bow on a deep V.
Anyone have any tips for finding muskies in this situation? I know for sure that they don't sit on the windy side of structure like bass or walleyes. Also, protected areas are often 10+ miles away, so I don't know if they'd go that far. |
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Posts: 1415
Location: Brighton CO. | Fish the wind and they do sit on the up wind side of structure. Fish the rocks on the windy shore too. |
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Posts: 187
| When the wind pics up and the water temps are good (70's or so) I burn bucktails as fast as I can. I've found the fish to be anything but inactive during windy periods. |
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Posts: 166
Location: Alexandria, MN | Lots of discussion regarding this topic over the years. My advice would be to fish an entire piece of structure - both the windy side and the back side. The windy side is usually best. However the calm sides of structure can hold fish, too. My theory is that if the wind blows hard enough for more than a day or so, eventually the plankton and everything else makes its way around to the eddy on the back side of islands, points, and reefs. |
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| At a seminar organized by Steve Heiting, he discussed how he likes wind, feeling to pushes fish onto structure as they follow bait fish, which feed on plankton, etc. pushed by wind. He even has a video about it. But, he said Bill Sandy, lodge owner and Hall of Fame Guide, doesn't like wind and will seek out a bay or other area out of the wind. Two guys who made their living for a long time in the musky business, two very different approaches. |
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Posts: 555
Location: WI | For me it’s a matter of boat control. I’ve got a light aluminum boat so I’ll fish the wind blown structure as long as I can fish it effectively. I’ve got a better chance fishing wind protected areas under control than I do wind blown structure that has me more focused on the boat than working the area properly. |
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Posts: 2016
| Like most questions similar to this there are a ton of variables..I have found high wind to be lake dependant (some lakes high wind really fires them up!) and they most certainly will "sit on the windy side of the structure", also time of year can make a big difference too - certainly a lake like LOTW (and big lakes in general), you can find plenty of fish out of the wind, these fish are dumb, the don't know the other side of a 40 acre island is windy.... Interesting tidbit..Lakes that get plenty of pressure always seam to be better in a big wind for me..for one thing many don't/won't fish in big wind so if you can get the same wind for 2-3 days straight I've had some crazy good days on high pressure lakes in those senarios, generally with very little competition for spots. One thing for sure I'll take very windy over dead flat calm any day! 20mph+ Wind was good to me last weekend.
Edited by IAJustin 9/7/2023 11:55 AM
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Posts: 1415
Location: Brighton CO. | A number of years ago we were on a fall trip and doing quite well (putting two, three fish in the boat everyday) the last day the wind was strong and it also was a warm wind and I had 4 fish come up and look at my Reef Hawg and Eddies and didn't hit (the day before they would have creamed my lure) also boat control suffered with drifting too fast and couple spots we had to leave due to waves coming over the side of the boat. We were in a 16 foot Starcraft. As my late friend Tony Rizzo would say "high winds in the late fall are a bummer" |
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Location: MN | Big blades, super model time. Big rubber can be good to. Fish wind blown side. If your boat can’t keep up, drift and cast. Do multiple drifts on the same spot if you have to. You could troll too but I don’t troll. Fish will usually be where wind is pushing the bait in to structure. If multiple day wind backsides of Islands and points on the edge where Eddie is hanging out can be good.
As said it depends on the water. There are spots I fish that if the wind is over 10mph it’s a waste on the good spots. |
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Posts: 20221
Location: oswego, il | I think once the wind gets really high boat control and presentation suffers. The wind becomes the primary factor in your thinking. At some point it becomes a negative. |
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where do they go in high winds?