Bass Crash Course: Catch More Bass in the Wind

When you live in Texas as I do, dealing with the wind is accepted as a part of the bass-fishing experience. While windy conditions can be one of the most challenging and frustrating elements we deal with as anglers, it’s beneficial to learn how to make the wind work in your favor.

As comfortable as the nice, calm days are to be on the water, the slick surface allows sunlight penetration deep into the water column, giving bass a clear line of sight to your lure offering. The bass are more clearly seen by their prey when the water is calm, making them less likely to roam about and seek foraging opportunities. As anglers, calm conditions often require us to reach for downsized finesse offerings to fool the finicky bass.

However, once a breeze stirs the surface of the water, fishing can change for the better in a hurry. With less light penetration into the water, bass tactics can suddenly move from small and natural-looking lures to the more aggressive reaction baits such as spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits and bladed jigs. Stronger winds can also put the bass in fairly predictable places, so we want to take advantage of those feeding windows when they arise

What follows are three ways to help you find success on your next windy outing.

1. TARGET WINDBLOWN SHORELINES AND POINTS

I often read and hear how strong winds will wash helpless baitfish onto a shallow point or shoreline. That’s simply not the case; however, wind driving waves upon a shallow bank stirs up a lot of sediment and microorganisms, which draw in the baitfish and, ultimately, the bass.

Fishing through these windblown areas can be done rapidly with the reaction lures previously mentioned, but to further refine which windblown shorelines to target, consider a seasonal approach. When the water temps are less than 60 degrees, target steeper windblown channel swing banks, either in the main body of the reservoir or in a major creek arm. These are always high-percentage locations in the winter months and early pre-spawn, and a direct wind pushing wave action on these steep shorelines makes them even more attractive.

Throughout the rest of the year, the flatter shorelines and points receiving direct wind will likely be more productive.

2. SEEK OUT SCATTERED, ISOLATED COVER

To refine the search parameters for windblown banks even further, seek out those windy shorelines with scattered, isolated cover in the form of stumps, bushes or even isolated rocks. A strong breeze can create slight currents in shallow water, and the isolated cover along these stretches of shoreline give the bass plenty of ambush points in which to feed on passing baitfish. It’s important to approach each shallow-water target from multiple casting angles, as bass will often use the shallow cover as a windbreak, similar to a trout feeding in a stream.

When a strong breeze is creating a lot of wave action on a shallow point, it's amazing how shallow the bass can be positioned, so landing a cast near the dry ground can produce strikes from bass feeding within the turbulence of the extreme shallows.

3. CONTROL YOUR BOAT

Control and positioning of the boat is critical when fishing in a strong breeze; therefore, it’s important to keep the nose of the boat pointed into the wind when possible. If you allow the boat to drift with the wind, you lose control of the speed of the drift and you’ll likely wash up onto the very areas you’re trying to target with your casts.

Naturally, directing casts into the wind means you’ll need to tighten up the cast controls on your baitcasting reel. Centrifugal braking systems allow you to toggle on all the brakes beneath the palm plate to assist in managing overruns. Similarly, you might push magnetic brakes toward their maximum tension.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that fishing in the wind doesn’t require taking unnecessary risks in running across extremely rough water or balancing on the front deck of a boat bucking high out of the water. When a strong wind turns to gale force, it’s always best to stay within the confines of a sheltered section of the lake, or simply keep the boat on the trailer for the day.