Does the wind ever stop blowing anymore?

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

For the second consecutive day, I had high hopes for fishing Memorial Lake State Park for bass and panfish. I went yesterday and conditions were abysmal. I didn't even try fly fishing and stuck to trying to cast twisters and Beetle Spins in 25 mph winds on a spinning rod. It was pointless, with only one credit card sized bluegill as my only strike of the day.

Undaunted, I tried again today and can report that today was even worse. I even stooped to buying a box of wigglers from a gas station and trying worms on a bobber. I did get a strike or two on the 1 1/2-inch foam cylinder bobber as it chugged across the lake like a mini-Whopper Plopper, but no bites on the worms because the sunnies simply couldn't catch up to the drift.

I checked tomorrow's forecast and 18 to 25 mph winds from the North with gusts to 35. I'll probably try anyway, but thi wind is killer.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[wildtrout2]

Tomorrow we're supposed to get winds up to 30mph. It doesn't seem like we get very many calm days anymore.

 

[dc410]

In my travels for work today I was driving past Holman Lake in the Little Buffalo State Park in Perry County. I stopped to check things out since I was there. I found the same conditions, didn’t even get any gear out of the truck.

 

[riverwhy]

Glorious weather except for fishing. Sunshine helped my plants recover from the damp, cloudy stretch we just experienced. Luckily I was in San Diego when all that happened.

 

[Roofin' Trouter]

Sometimes the wind rests nocturnally but then the daylight comes diurnal instability leads to more wind. So many dying and dead trees in the woods,gotta keep head on a swivel. Yesterday, cooking out with a buddy heard 2 blowdown on his hill just cooking chicken.

 

[CinnamonJoe]

In Iowa, no.

Joe

 

[wgmiller]

My gut tells me a changing climate is the cause for persistent winds. A shifting jet stream that "wobbles", uneven heating of the earth's land and water, etc., all seem like logical reasons that we seem to be experiencing more windy days.

 

[DryorDie]

Wind is the death of dry fly fishing......many ruined days due to gusty winds where there was no possible way to properly present a dry fly. The Catskills are definitely not immune.

 

[poopdeck]

I was out spin fishing on Thursday until the wind chased us off the water. Was a decent day of catching but the wind beat us down. Went out yesterday and it was windy but manageable. We were chased off the water because of lousy fishing. Today it’ s forecasted for gusts up to 35 MPH. Thankfully it’s the weekend, I don’t fish the weekends so it can blow all it wants.

 

[ROVERT]

Wind is the death of dry fly fishing......many ruined days due to gusty winds where there was no possible way to properly present a dry fly. The Catskills are definitely not immune.

That's not strictly true. It sometimes makes an impossible presentation possible. It is usually the opposite, but occasionally the stars align.

 

[JG63]

“Climate is what you want, weather is what you get” - Lazarus Long

 

[DryorDie]

That's not strictly true. It sometimes makes an impossible presentation possible. It is usually the opposite, but occasionally the stars align.

That is a valid point - A good downstream wind has sometimes landed my fly in a position I could not have normally gotten it. The other 99 percent of the time - I'll take the calm LOL

 

[riverwhy]

Yeah downstream wind helps you lead with the fly helping your presentation.

 

[wildtrout2]

Yeah downstream wind helps you lead with the fly helping your presentation.

Not when I'm fishing upstream, which I always do.😉

 

[CinnamonJoe]

Wind is the death of dry fly fishing......many ruined days due to gusty winds where there was no possible way to properly present a dry fly. The Catskills are definitely not immune.

Not trying to be too much of a smart@$$, but where I live, if we got too wound up about that, we'd never fish on top. Same thing when I've trout fished west of Missouri river. I totally agree, its a factor, and it can suck big time.

One thing I 'adaptively' kinda learned, is a quick-snappy cast to 'power drop' the fly ahead of a riser into the wind. Its not pretty, but can work. S curves are kind of a joke on a windy day out here over rising trout. The wind doesn't stop them rising either, at least too much, in my experience.

Joe

 

[dudemanspecial]

My house is situated on a bit of a rise in the middle of a valley which funnels the wind right at me. I have had a brush pile in my yard waiting for a calm day since March. Today might actually be the day as it is somewhat calm here in yinzerland.