When The Wind Makes you Quit.

[josephcsylvia 0]

The nice thing about Florida you can pretty much always find a island or canal to duck out of the wind.

[Ol'DirtyCaster 0]

I prefer wind over bugs. I buy T12 in bulk, and braided mono running lines on 1200yd spools. If there's no wind it kills my motivation to fish certain areas. Naturally I'm not trying to spot fish in turbid water, or wade out into head high surf, you have to pick your battles.

[Philly 0]

My mom used to get a place down in North Wildwood, NJ in late September. I took her down and then would take a couple of days off at the end of the week to do some fishing and pick her up. One week a tropical storm came up the coast and I was getting bored so I drove down to a small jetty, more of what they call a groin that poked out into the inlet, just to watch the waves break over it from my car. Wind was blowing somewhere between 30-40 mph, the rain was horizontal. I'm sitting there and I noticed finger mullet jumping on to the low rip-rap wall that surrounded the parking area. Figured they weren't jumping for joy and decided what the hell, got out opened the back of my Pathfinder, put on my waders and my heavy duty rain gear, tied a mullet pattern on my 8 wgt. Stepped out into the wind and rain with my back to it. Trying to figure out how I was going to cast the fly. The mullet kept jumping out of the water. I stripped out about 30 feet of line and flipped it up into the wind. The wind caught the line and fly and laid it out right against the rip-rap. Made a couple of strips and a hooked a nice size schoolie striper. Hooked four of them before the mullet and the stripers moved on. Estimated they were in the mid-twenty inch range. Wasn't able to land them because of the rough water when I got them to where I could see them, I let the line go slack and they unhooked themselves. The only other time the wind is an issue is when I'm up in Canada but there are enough islands and small coves that we can duck into and get mostly out of the wind.

[GC59 0]

Find an estuary with a walkable strip of land parallel to open ocean or sound. Fish the body of water that has the wind at your back. If the wind is too strong for you.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Wind and bad weather are a staple of life on the water if you're a guide.... This past week I did three nights on the water with fly anglers from Norway (they were a treat....). My last night was this past weekend with a 9pm start and a 3Am finish (at least that was the plan....). The weather for all three nights was very good - light wind to no wind, clear skies. I was part of a four boat charter (our anglers were on a stopover on their way down to South America I believe). That last night was the one that got me... At around 2Am with us only a half mile from the boat ramp where we'd be dropping off our anglers on Miami Beach for taxi cabs -the weather turned very bad in a hurry. Winds went from nothing up to 30-40 mph with a wall of heavy driving rain. Although I could barely see anything I was able to get my two anglers to the dock with all of us looking like drowned pups. I last saw them walking across the parking lot to a place where they could grab a taxi (and I have no idea where the rest of their party ended up). Running solo I then made my way north about six miles to the ramp where my trailer was, still in driving rain and high winds (and finally came home sitting on towels just before 4am...).

 

Although there's always places and situations where you can still fish in bad weather - over all, safety still has to be at the top of your list. As I get older (anyone know someone getting younger?) I find myself reflecting on some of the risks I took years ago... You still have to operate safely and if I'd known how quickly the weather would turn bad that night we wouldn't have been anywhere near the water.... Lots to be said about making sure your skiff is 100% and all your safety gear is up to date since you never know when you're really going to be needing it...

 

Those three nights we were tarpon fishing with 9wts under bridges and around docklights... to add insult to injury the other boats were fishing live shrimp and jumping fish while we had only one bite in three nights on fly.... Another small item that most guides won't be talking about in their fishing reports....

[Ol'DirtyCaster 0]

 

Last Mon/Tue/Wednesday I had a friend down from Montreal. It was raining hard and blowing harder, but we geared up and headed down to the jetty with 9wts and T12 shooting heads. Fishing was great, we lost count. Some goofball with a plug rod moved in on Sabrina's drift for a few minutes, but he didn't dress for the weather. That guy got soaked, and it wasn't warm out. We had a fantastic time all 3 nights, and had the place all to ourselves. Sometimes if you wait for mother nature to cooperate, you miss out on some cool opportunities.

[Li'lDave 0]

Someone said once that it is important to make the wind your friend.

 

if conditions are good enough for me to be on the water, then they're good enough for me to fly fish.

[elderbarry 0]

Lots of places over here on the Treasure Coast where you don't need a noisemaker, just drive over to the Island, park, and go wading on the Flats!

[WoodRiverTroutBum 0]

I don't. If the wind is legitimately too strong to cast in to, I go to a spot that the wind is at my back or from the side.

[Philly 0]

It's tougher to do that when you're fishing on a jetty or sea wall. Easier in a boat where you can move to get out of the wind. I'm not a big fan of fishing with the wind at my back. Accidents will happen. I'd been fishing for several hours with the wind at my back, but I was starting to get tired and my casts were getting sloppy. I'd bounced the fly off my hat a couple of times. Then I caught a big one.

 

 

This is why I de-barb my hooks.

[josephcsylvia 0]

It's tougher to do that when you're fishing on a jetty or sea wall. Easier in a boat where you can move to get out of the wind. I'm not a big fan of fishing with the wind at my back. Accidents will happen. I'd been fishing for several hours with the wind at my back, but I was starting to get tired and my casts were getting sloppy. I'd bounced the fly off my hat a couple of times. Then I caught a big one.

 

Jerry's Earing Take 2.jpg

 

This is why I de-barb my hooks.

You made out good, I charge $30 for that piercing at my shop lol