If you fish anywhere in the country one of the things you're going to have to deal with
regardless the body of water you're on is wind. There's a fish! I've learned over the
years that I don't run away from the wind because as I'm about to show you it doesn't
run the fish off. What you have to do sometimes if the wind gets up like today we've got a
25 mph wind on Kentucky Lake. I was coming out here and I was going to throw a worm because
that is what I was catching them on yesterday. But with a 25 mph wind it can be hard to feel
the bottom so you've got to adjust your presentation. But a bigger key for me is having a good piece
of equipment that can handle the wind. I run a three-bank Minn Kota trolling motor. I've
got the new 112 Fortrex. You need it to be smooth and the head not be squirrelly because
you're going to spend a good part of the day actually standing on the trolling motor. I'll
set my speed of my trolling motor to kind of match the wind. I want it to just barely
creep me forward a little bit in the wind. So that way I can kind of stand on it, hold
my position, and keep fishing the spot. I found some of these spots when it wasn't
windy. Finding fish in the wind can be a little difficult when you're looking for new spots,
but if you've already got a good spot and you know they're there, they're not going
to leave just because it got windy. Especially when you're talking about offshore fishing
away from the bank.
The key part of it is sometimes you've got to turn and face in the general direction
of the wind to keep your boat in control and to keep from blowing off the spot. Which means
you can be throwing at kind of an angle at the back of your boat.
A big key when you're fishing wind can be these more horizontal presentations: A crankbait,
a spinnerbait, a Carolina rig with a big heavy weight to maintain contact with the bottom,
a football jig with a big heavy weight. I'm going stay away from a Texas rigged worm with
a little bitty weight, or jerking a spoon around, or something like that which the wind
is going to really wreak havoc on not only feeling that bait, but just casting it.
But then conversely sometimes fish won't be as active in the shallow waters when it's
flat calm, sunny, and clear. A hard wind on a place like a point or a little cut the wind
blowing in there can blow the bait in there and really get the fish where they're not
as spooky. They'll get up there and fed and stay in that 1 or 2 foot of water. Whereas
when it was clear and calm they wouldn't get up there.
The big point I would make is don't necessarily run away from the wind if you've got the equipment
that can handle it. A good strong trolling motor, good strong batteries, and that you
keep a good charge on. That's a big thing that people don't realize with trolling motors.
I'm going to be standing in the wind all day today and it's going to drain my battery down
to nothing. You do this for 8 hours and as soon as I get home I plug up my batteries
and start charging them. Batteries are real sensitive to being left without a charge.
So if you run it down dead one day. Then you let it sit there for four days without a charge
on it, that battery won't hold its charge as long anymore. That's a key component to
being able to handle and fish in the wind is keeping your batteries strong all the time.
Obviously you have an advantage with a three bank trolling motor. I've got this 112 set
on 50 right now and I'm fishing in a 25 mph wind. There's One!
Good one, that's a nice fish! But that's what I mean you can look out there and see how
bad it's white capping in here. I pulled over here to a point in the wind that's taking the wind right in
the face here, and look at that. That's a great bass on the 6XD. Like I say I'm throwing
a big crankbait, which is something I can feel the whole time in the wind. I can maintain
contact with the bottom and where I'm fishing. That's a good fish. We'll let her go.
If I don't get bites with something like a crankbait, a spinnerbait, something I can
maintain bottom contact with a steady retrieve and I need to throw and jig or a worm in the
wind. I'm going to turn my boat usually facing head into the wind because it's easier to
control your boat if the bow of your boat is actually facing into the wind. Then I'm
going to throw straight back with the wind. What that does is now I can feel my bait.
My line doesn't have a big sideways like if I try to fish perpendicular to the wind you're
going to have this big huge bow in your line and you're going to have to try to feel your
bait with a big bow in your line. So when you get a bite even if you can feel the bite
which most times you can't because that big bow. If you can feel the bite, now you've
got to reel up all that slack and figure out when you're at the fish before you set the
hook. It just makes fishing a lot more cumbersome with these bottom-bouncing baits in the wind.
Like I'm fishing now I've got my boat faced into the wind coming in here, my line is kind
of straight back even with the boat, and I've got my rod sideways but my line is straight
back wind. It kind of eliminates that bow for me.
There's One! Good fish too. That's a big one! It's coming up, it's going to jump out there.
Nice one! So I was able to feel that bite because I had good contact with my bait because
I didn't have to fight a bow in the wind. That's a good fish. He's really pulling hard.
Just take our time here.
Here he comes. He swallowed that plastic on there! That's a good fish right there, a 2
and 3/4-pound bass. I'm throwing just a 3/4-ounce Biffle Head and I had a Strike King Menace
Grub on there. With that heavy head I can maintain bottom contact as long as I control
the bow in my line. That's a good fish. A nice schooling size fish and we will let her
go. Bye buddy.