Wind & Current - What's the Go?

[brunsbreambo]

Often when I read reports I hear the words wind and current, and to be honest these are two elements that I don't really incorporate into choosing where I fish. For example: "there was not enough current so I didn't fish the bank" or "there was a good wind which made the fish bite"! That all confuses me a bit; how can a stronger current make the fish bite and what is it with bank fishing and wind? Is it best to have the wind blowing against a bank and you casting with the wind or the wind blowing off the bank and you casting against it? I hope my question isn't too vague thoughI really don't know much about these concepts, please clear my mind! PS I am talking in relation to fishing up to the shore or against rockwalls.
Oli

[topwater]

Originally Posted by brunsbreambo

Often when I read reports I hear the words wind and current, and to be honest these are two elements that I don't really incorporate into choosing where I fish. For example: "there was not enough current so I didn't fish the bank" or "there was a good wind which made the fish bite"! That all confuses me a bit; how can a stronger current make the fish bite and what is it with bank fishing and wind? Is it best to have the wind blowing against a bank and you casting with the wind or the wind blowing off the bank and you casting against it? I hope my question isn't too vague thoughI really don't know much about these concepts, please clear my mind! PS I am talking in relation to fishing up to the shore or against rockwalls.
Oli

through donkeys years of fishing with my old man off the rocks etc, he has allways stuck to his theories (and is usually right)

I try to fish no matter the weather, but he usually proves me wrong when it comes to winds e.g.
S,SE,E kick butt and N,NW,W winds leave u with no fish...

+his old italian/ spanish mates told him "the more the moon can hold, the more the fish u will take home" meaning when the moon is shaped like a bowl (waning/waxing cresent shape approx 3-15% ) you will do very well...



through my own experience ive found fishing with the wind in your back never fares well for me with bream.
Usually when its really windy in your face and its hard to cast into the wind I find there will be scuzz blown up on the bank, little critters and fish there too, and bream waiting in relatively close for a feed...



everyone said no run no fun with bream but i usually catch them when Ive found them...
the element of finding them im adjusting too is following the water up and down the estuary as they dont like it too fresh or too salty

[Green Hornet]

Fish will tend to congregate in certain areas when the current is running.
Once you suss out the areas you fish this will make them easier to find.
They will often school up in eddys, obviously to get out of the main current or in other areas where the current will bring food to them.
Remember eddys can form on the upcurrent side of structure as well as behind it.
Especially when fishing flats, a bit of wind is your best mate.
Not only does it make the fish a bit harder to see by over head predators like sea eagles and fishos but I think the noise of the white capping chop also muffles any noise you are making, so naturally the fish aren't as shy.
I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons, but these are just a couple of more obvious ones.

[forsterfisho]

Originally Posted by brunsbreambo

Often when I read reports I hear the words wind and current, and to be honest these are two elements that I don't really incorporate into choosing where I fish. For example: "there was not enough current so I didn't fish the bank" or "there was a good wind which made the fish bite"! That all confuses me a bit; how can a stronger current make the fish bite and what is it with bank fishing and wind? Is it best to have the wind blowing against a bank and you casting with the wind or the wind blowing off the bank and you casting against it? I hope my question isn't too vague thoughI really don't know much about these concepts, please clear my mind! PS I am talking in relation to fishing up to the shore or against rockwalls.
Oli

Wind: When fishing flats I like a little bit of breeze, around 10-15knts as it allows you to cover a lot of ground with little or no use of the electric motor (Or worse, the outboard!), use the wind to your advantage by trying to drift with the breeze allowing you some extra casting distance to give your lure more time in the water. Sometimes you will need to retrieve your lure faster, taking into account the speed the boat is moving. I was fishing a comp last year in 40+knot plus winds and was surprised at how fast we were retrieving our lures to keep up with the boats drift.
If your drift is too fast, I use a drogue or drift chute tied off to the boat and left to float out the back. These handy devices simply fill up with water create drag and slow your boat. Tie these to the transom for a front on drift, or tie it off to a gunwhale for a side on drift.
When fishing river edges/banks I prefer the wind to be blowing onto the bank i'm fishing. This has a couple of advantages as I can hold back further from the bank with the electric and make long casts with the breeze, spooking less fish. With the breeze, often its going to create some small waves breaking on the bank or atleast pushing bait/weed tight into the bank which attracts bigger species such as bream/flathead/whiting to get in very close looking for a feed.

Current: I prefer some sorta current to be pushing through when im fishing places such as rockwalls, some oyster leases and bridges as when I'm drifting along long rockwalls and oyster leases the flow will allow me to cover the entire rockwall or racks without making much noise via my electric motor.
Fish will also position themselves somewhat out of the current to conserve energy but generally close enough to the flow so that they can dart out and catch dinner, which is a massive positive to lure fisho's, as fish don't have the time in a high energy area (rockwalls especially) to sit there and look over your lure to make sure they want to eat it. Fish will either have to hit it quickly or miss dinner all together, this is what some call a reaction bite. Its the same theory with bridge pylons, drop a lightly weighted plastic past a pylon and if there are fish in residence, they will often come out from the back of the pylon, grab your presentation and head back in again.
Locally for me, our flats have very little current flow so it really makes zero difference to your day's fishing. The key to flats fishing is very well presented lures and light line - finesse fishing.

I find there are more limits to the current that I will fish, as opposed to the wind that I will fish in. If the current flow gets too strong, you will drift to fast (or spend loads of battery power holding into it), you will end up using massive amounts of lead to get to the bottom (well massive weights for breamin..) but the results can be worth the hassle.
Wind doesn't bother me really, if its 20-30-40knts of wind I pick my places to fish so I can take the conditions into account as there is little hope of trying to land a hardbody tight into a snag or oyster lease when the wind is gusting and the boat is drifting all over the place, times like these I head to the flats or target river edges...or fish deep with blades and vibes.

Hope this helps.

[joelozzy]

Awesome Thankyou Mr Forster

[woronora]

Forster. Nice and clear. Appreciate you sharing.

[pipnosis]

Current delivers food to fish who wait. Flathead just look up all day at stuff floating past and jump if it looks like dinner. During strong current, bream and jew will sit in rest zones and dash out when food comes past. So I use the current to put my lure near the fish in as natural way as possible. Always pull a lure with the current or across it, not against it.

Current and wind distract the fishes senses, which means they have less chance of getting wise to your tricks. When there is no wind or current and the waters clear the fish are able to focus more on your presentation and generally see whats up (hooks, line etc) and wont bite. So wind and current give the angler advantage.

[silvertreva]

I have been told: When the wind is in the east, the fish bite least

[joelozzy]

When the wind is in the east, the fish are on a feast.

[forsterfisho]

Originally Posted by silvertreva

I have been told: When the wind is in the east, the fish bite least

If that were true, you'd never catch a fish locally after about 11am in summer.

I've heard all kinds of catch phrases, I just go fishing when I have the time and make the most of the weather conditions.

I cracked a pattern when the river locally was in flood and looked like cappucino, instead of fishing deep which seems to be the prefered method in fresh conditions, I ended up using shallow cranka crank's casted tight into mangrove roots. It seemed the fish were sitting out of the big & fresh currents and were using the mangrove roots for protection and a food trap.

so saying that, just go fishing and enjoy it. Work out a pattern that works for you!

[Madeye]

Originally Posted by silvertreva

I have been told: When the wind is in the east, the fish bite least

Have to remember that our east is there west, When the wind comes off the ocean the fish seem to bite better

[topwater]

Originally Posted by Madeye

Have to remember that our east is there west, When the wind comes off the ocean the fish seem to bite better

haha yeah what madeye said