Is the wind your friend?

[dennishoddy]

Over the years wind from the North or east seems to shut the crappie bite down for me anyway.
What's your experience?

[doggone]

Well...Wind from the East fishing the least,wind from the West fishing the best. Old saying right?

I have found in the near fifty years i have spent fishing....it ain't always so.

A couple different things can be going on at the same time. The wind does not tell the whole story. The actual pressure.And how it's changing,time of year,conditions that are happening subsurface.


There is something to it....but the only way you will know for sure is to go. Some of the best days I have ever had for crappie were during stormy weather when squall lines of rain where pushing through and wind was shifting from North to East. North wind means high pressure and I have found crappie one of the species that seems to generally like it.

But it's not always the same,like I said...other things factor into it. I have left to go fishing thinking I was not going to catch anything and caught a boat load and went other times I thought I was going to catch a boat load and couldn't hardly catch anything.

Generally I am gonna catch more fish when the wind is blowing from somewhere. The calm days are nice....but many times they signal a low pressure system that's hangin on and that will shut em down.

Many times conditions will shut down how you were catching em...and you got to change something up. No hard and fast rules. But that chronic lingering low pressure condition that happens at times is the worst of all conditions I think.

[Crappie Reaper]

East wind is not a problem. High winds = pain and danger. No wind is the best.

[van the man]

If you wait for the wind to quit blowing to go fishing in Oklahoma, you'll never get to go fishing in Oklahoma. I can't speak specifically for crappie fishing, as I am no expert, but I have fished and boated here for over 40 years.
Some wind helps, ex, slow trolling or running bottom bouncers. Get a wind sock (or 2). I think it helps with still fishing and shallow water also because surface disturbance reduces their above surface visibility.
High winds range from just being a hassle ( launching, loading a boat; rapid depletion of trolling motor batteries; casting, holding over a spot) to real danger on the water. Smaller lakes are easier, if theres not a lot of timber. Fiberglass boats are better than aluminum or pontoons, as far as getting blown around.
Generally, I go to the ponds if it's over, say 20 mph or so, depending on where. I've had some dynamite days bass fishing ponds in extreme winds, all seasons. Especially bright, clear middays when dead calm winds would probably shut a bite down. I think it stimulates activity, maybe invertebrate activity, then up the food chain. Or maybe oxygenation, esp. in summertime. Winds will also raise water temperature quickly, which I am expecting (hoping?) will happen this week.
We've probably all been out there when we shouldn't have been at one time or another. If it frightened you, you have exceeded your risk level, and should know where to draw the line. If it's your boat and you're with a buddy, you are liable for both of you. Bag it if you think you should, no matter what he says. If you are in the back of the boat, tell him to take you back to the dock if he wants to kill himself.
Dying doing something you love might be the way to check out, but I wanna fish somemore.

[TimY]

I've been fishing Kaw lake and some lakes in Arkansas for more years than I want to say. Without a doubt, wind - weather systems have a big effect on shallow water crappie during the spawn. As far as wintertime fishing, it doesn't seem to have the effect on the deeper water fish. I have caught as many in a north or east wind as I have fishing with south wind in deep water. I pay a lot more attention to the weather when fishing shallow in the spring. Without a doubt, wind is a big inconvenience for fisherman. I think what's affecting the fish now is a 10 degree rise in water temp the last few days. The fish moved up in the water column and somewhat scattered and you tend to fish below them and with crappie that's not gonna work.

[crappiepappa]

If you've been a witness to me running a trolling motor, the wind is my enemy!

[Fishers]

Only if you own a wind farm...

[cricket george]

OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW

[Starfish]

If I'm not catching fish and it's windy...I have an excuse. If I'm not catching on a calm day...I have an excuse. A win win deal.

[dennishoddy]

Went out this afternoon to the honey hole that didn't produce much with a north wind on Sunday, and did well today in the same spot. Gotta be something with the wind.