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| In general, when casting do you..
I always thought although it may be more difficult casting into the wind, somehow it creates a more natural presentation.
Would this apply to rivers more than lakes or vice versa?
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Fish naturally face the current. That said, I rarely see them chasing something that snuck up behind them and zipped past them into the current. I think you're choices above have two good answers; Casting into the wind is my first choice, and crosswind is my second.
Remember, wind driven lake current isnt as strong as river current, so fish may not react to it the same in lakes as they do in rivers (facing into the current). Get a strong wind for a day or two down a lake stretching west to east and you'll definitely get a little current, just look at the weeds and you'll see them facing the direction the current is pushing.. or bring a straw and blow some bubbles and watch them move the currents direction under the surface. Then their's J.Longs toilet bowl theory on round lakes where an east or west wind could have the north and south shore currents pushing in opposite directions.. I think wind driven lake current can play a crucial role at times, there's no question. Fishing on the lee side of points and slide bars will show baitfish stacked up often times, similar to the likes of an eddy pool in a river. Predators sometimes sit in the slack water facing the current seam waiting for the right thing to move by. Good topic. |
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Posts: 8781
| If there's any sort of current, whether it's wind induced or not, I like to fish perpendicular to it. If you've ever watched fish feeding in any sort of creek, river inlet, or along a shoreline that the wind is blowing into, they always sit facing the current. Bringing a lure from behind them over their heads, or directly at them from in front of them will sometimes scare them off. Besides that, casting parallel to windblown structure like a shoreline increases your odds of putting your lure in front of several fish. If you're casting at them and they are facing you you don't have that. Presuming that they are basically all lined up facing out from shore or a weedline or whatever, it seems to me a lure going past them from in front and from one side to the other is far more likely to get eaten than one that went over their heads and swam past them headed in the direction they are facing.
I'm not sure I explained that well at all. |
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Posts: 3147
| I think lures enter into it
you can chuck a bulldawg or cigar shaped jackpot or viper in anything
try to throw a double tail deerhair bucktail into the wind |
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Posts: 536
| happy hooker - 2/28/2012 5:12 PM
I think lures enter into it
you can chuck a bulldawg or cigar shaped jackpot or viper in anything
try to throw a double tail deerhair bucktail into the wind
Yah casting bucktails into the wind sucks! I dont care what brand bucktail or what kind of reel it still sucks! |
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Posts: 2361
| All you guys that want to cast into the wind are welcome to it. I have caught a lot of fish casting downwind and retrieving . I have never gotten the impression that a fish would turn something down that came from behind him into
a current. Duh? Life is never easy enough to turn down an easy meal when feeding. THEY ARE FEEDING!
This isn't a trout fly situation trying to get a natural drift. Every backlash and snarl is going to cost you precious time and to what end? |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | ^^+1
I agree with firstsixfeet. |
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Posts: 166
Location: Alexandria, MN | firstsixfeet - 2/28/2012 6:05 PM
All you guys that want to cast into the wind are welcome to it. I have caught a lot of fish casting downwind and retrieving . I have never gotten the impression that a fish would turn something down that came from behind him into
a current. Duh? Life is never easy enough to turn down an easy meal when feeding. THEY ARE FEEDING!
This isn't a trout fly situation trying to get a natural drift. Every backlash and snarl is going to cost you precious time and to what end?
I agree with this as well. Pulling out backlashes in 4 foot waves as your boat heads toward a rock reef is neither efficient nor productive. |
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Posts: 432
Location: Eagan, MN | Agree w/ FSF. If the current is fast enough to make a muskie care, you're not going to be able to crank fast enough with the current to work your lure anyway. I've caught quite a few muskies in shallow river riffle areas fishing for smallies. You can't retrieve w/ the current in these spots, it's too fast... your crankbait just kind of tumbles along.
Put a bait in the vicinity, and let the fish figure out how to eat it. Too much bs internet theory and you start to forget what works in the real world. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | You can't cast well into 30mph winds. |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | I think that goes without saying, and like my original response to the thread pointed out, of course wind driven lake current doesn't compare well with river current.. it's like comparing apple to oranges. I think we're getting too caught up in my original reference to fish facing the current and lures sneaking up behind them - that is not the entire point for casting crossways and into the wind. Sure lighter lures and bucktails can be tough to cast into the wind, so if you choose to do so, keep 'em low or cast crosswind, but I'll leave it to you to opt for casting WITH the wind...
I'm particular about presentation, it's part of my productive approach. If I'm going to put myself through windy conditions on the water, which I've never been one to back down from, I'm still going to do what I can to improve my odds. You might think I'm blowing smoke, but tell me how easy of a time you have figure eighting facing down wind in 15-30 MPH winds as the boat is pushing over your boatside maneuvers. Let's talk about speed of the retrieve.. keep your blades spinning casting with the wind means a soar elbow and wrist - does it not? How about bulldawging with the wind? Let that bait sink down and tell me you haven't closed the distance to the lure by the time you start your retrieve.. Now try to catch up to it.. Talk about a waste of productivity on the water. Each cast with the wind means a very quick retrieve because you're literally moving towards the lure your trying to retrieve - why limit yourself to half the retrieval distance, meanwhile trying to compensate the lures action or depth in fast forward?
Not for me..
I cast into the wind and crosswind always. You then have the opportunity to dictate speed of the retrieval, the depth you want to let it sink if that pertains, and the action on the way back to the boat. Very important here is the boatside manuevers.. if you're on the downwind side of the boat, making your turns is the opposite of fun and watch how your lure looses speed on the turns and if your throwing blades, notice your blades slow down or even may stop spinning.. now you have to compensate and work twice as hard. Now face into or crosswind and watch those blades flutter on the turns at your feet.
So it's up to you, cast with the wind, but I've fished in high winds for enough days to make up an entire year and I've learned what works best for me.. just give Pewaukee a try pretty much the entire month of May, lol. |
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Posts: 2361
| Hmm, starting to understand why some people hit on some fisherman about being lucky rather than skillful....
Did some of you named Mr. Ubl ever consider that your boat doesn't have to be going downwind just because your casts ARE?
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | I sure don't like to have my boat going into the wind for control and the casts downwind following the boat. Seems a little strange running the boat over a casting spot before you fish it.
How would you fish the windblown shore casting into the wind? From shore?
What about when you are on big water like LOTW on days the wind is howling. I found out that to have any boat control you needed to fish the lee sides of islands and that meant casting into the strong wind, and not by choice.
Heck, just fish and have fun!
Edited by Almost-B-Good 3/1/2012 7:13 AM
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Posts: 255
| I think Sam is probably right. I take the easy way out. I cast with the wind and I suck at catching muskies. I really do!
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Location: SE Wisconsin | ... FSF, I see how you got those colorful stars for post qty.
Edited by Sam Ubl 3/1/2012 10:47 AM
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | How do you guys fish a small bay that has 30mph wind blowing right into it? I can only see casting with the wind. Unless you blow right into the structure, just to cast into/cross wind? idk.. i'm asking. Aren't there certain situations that only allow you to fish one way? |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Dtaijo174, I've been in both small boats in high winds and big boats with burnt TM batteries in high winds.. We've done a couple things. If you have a resource to slow down a drift, like a drift sock, bucket or an anchor, you can slow down your drift and use the wind. I've anchored and fished 15 minutes and lifted the anchor enough to blow another couple cast lengths downwind, drop it down and fish that spot over and so on and so forth. This really forces you to fish small areas efficiently. I've also let out enough anchor rope to drag through the weeds to slow down the drift. Just a couple of ideas you may have already had.. |
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Posts: 400
Location: North/Central WI | Good point, FSF. Most of the muskies caught from my boat are the result of casting with the wind. Works fine for me. |
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Posts: 661
Location: Roscoe IL | leech lake strain - 2/28/2012 5:28 PM
happy hooker - 2/28/2012 5:12 PM
I think lures enter into it
you can chuck a bulldawg or cigar shaped jackpot or viper in anything
try to throw a double tail deerhair bucktail into the wind
Yah casting bucktails into the wind sucks! I dont care what brand bucktail or what kind of reel it still sucks!
Try a Suick, they look like a barn door in a tornado and land about 5 feet in front of you..
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Posts: 8781
| ToothyCritter - 3/1/2012 12:59 PM
leech lake strain - 2/28/2012 5:28 PM
happy hooker - 2/28/2012 5:12 PM
I think lures enter into it
you can chuck a bulldawg or cigar shaped jackpot or viper in anything
try to throw a double tail deerhair bucktail into the wind
Yah casting bucktails into the wind sucks! I dont care what brand bucktail or what kind of reel it still sucks!
Try a Suick, they look like a barn door in a tornado and land about 5 feet in front of you..
Fishing for seagulls!  |
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Posts: 1455
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | soar sore sorry |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Wind driven on shore waves exit the shore as an underwater current I like to cast at about 30 to 45 degrees to the waves or shore working into the cross wind. I may not be right but I catch fish. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | I put equal value on placement, depth, relative speed, and direction. As a river fisherman I used to be perhaps set in my ways re: casting direction related to current. While I still adhere to several 'rules' I have for myself and others I take, there are several influencing situational variables that will dictate how best to present. While I prefer the simplified cast upstream or into the wind/reeling down method when fish are on the move, I also employ the 'swing' approach in lakes and rivers to present, vs retrieving the lure in the vertical downstream/sea fashion. This is accomplished by casting downstream/sea, or accross and down. Just knowing which way the current is going can be half the battle at times, and why dissecting what the water beneath the surface is doing, vs what is perceived from above is imortant and thusly fun to cash in on when things fall into place, for any species. We need to think natural presentation in more of the existing 3D reality, than simply with or against the presiding wind/current. Currents do funny things when faced with obstacles such as weedbeds, abrupt depth changes, bends, scour holes, side-channels, influent sources, man-made structures and even yesterdays wind. Being intimate with the way lures 'feel' when being influenced by current, can give further clues to the wheres and hows of the next cast.
Edited by Reef Hawg 3/1/2012 6:00 PM
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Posts: 75
| i cast at an angle down wind and fish down current. The boat drifts with the wind or current. The angle i cast opposed to the drift of the boat is relative to the power of the wind or current.
I think the action of the baits are better.
The glide of a glide bait is wider than one fished against the current.
You can see this easily by fishing accros the current.
The glide downstream is long the glide upstream short.
Which can come in use, fishing past a clumb of weeds.
Edited by northern 3/2/2012 2:07 PM
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | Reef Hawg - 3/1/2012 5:56 PM I put equal value on placement, depth, relative speed, and direction. Being intimate with the way lures 'feel' when being influenced by current, can give further clues to the wheres and hows of the next cast. Well Said RH! |
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Casting direction relative to...