Using Boat Control to Cope with Wind
by Spence Petros
The biggest single mechanical factor that separates expert fishermen from the masses is boat control.
Good fishermen generally control their boat in the quickest and most efficient manner possible. Most anglers, on the other hand, are all over the edges, one minute being in 5 feet of water the next in 50 feet. Even if they stay on an edge, they usually blow the small fish-holding irregularities through poor boat control.
This is especially true on windy days.
I strongly recommend using an outboard motor with a tiller handle. In spite of what you hear, and whatever arguments can be made in favor of high-powered electric motors and boats with steering wheels, there is no way these boats can give you the versatility and precision boat control obtainable with a 14- to 16-foot boat equipped with a tiller-handle-operated outboard and a good electric motor.
Anglers who fish for various species using different methods of boat control--such as pulling (moving the boat forward with an electric motor), backtrolling (backing a boat into the wind with a tiller-operated outboard or stern-mounted electric), forward trolling or control drifting (best done with an electric motor with a stern)--know the benefits of a tiller-operated boat.
One boat control method, and subsequent lure or live bait presentation, is used when checking out a weedline with strong winds blowing parallel to this edge.
If you were to get upwind of the edge and plan a controlled drift down this breakline, you'd better be an expert with this system. The wind would be moving you fast and you'll catch up to your downwind casts before you can retrieve them halfway to the boat.
Forward trolling would be an excellent way to fish a windswept weedline, but it won't allow you to check out the inside turns or corners along this edge, unless they are large and you are a skilled troller. You'd still have to cast to check them out and casting perpendicular to any edge on a windy day is tough.
Crosswinds will create a bow in your line as well as reducing feel considerably and hampering your ability to watch the line with any presentation other than crankbaits.
One method I often use to cope with a windswept weed edge combines casting and backtrolling. Pitch your offering into the weeds and drag it out to the moving boat while backtrolling parallel to the weed edge. How far into the weeds you cast depends on the type of weeds you are fishing, their density, and the type of lure or live bait you're using.
Suppose the weeds are crisp, leafy, easy-to-fish cabbage weeds. Because of the wind you want a presentation that the fish will hold onto as long as possible to help you detect a strike. If we are using lures, a plastic worm, lizard, or pork bait are preferred, fished behind a plain-jig head. If bass or walleyes are your main quarry, or if you need a presentation to go deep with the least amount of weight, a stand up Pow-RR Head jig would be used. If you want a lure to swim off the bottom through the weeds, or needed a slower drop speed on a falling presentation, flatter swimming-head jigs such as Grassl's Swim Head are best. The sizes would generally be 3/8-ounce on the Power-RR Head and 1/2-ounce on the Swim Head Jig.
If you use live bait, dress these same jigs with three- to five-inch chubs, suckers, or other hard-head minnows that stay on the hook well. If you can get them, waterdogs (aquatic state of a salamander) are super for r this type of fishing.
With this fishing I use spinning tackle. For bass and walleyes, I prefer 10- to 12-pound-test line on an open-face reel coupled with a gutsy rod with good feel. For big pike and muskies, I choose 14-to 17-pound-test mono on a heavy-duty freshwater spinning reel in the 15- to 18-ounce range and a six-foot heavy-action rod like Shakespeare's Ugly Stik SP1100.
Cast at a downwind angle, not perpendicular to the edge. This cuts down on the bow in your line. Keep your rod tip just inches from the surface and pointed somewhat back toward your lure.
All forms of boat control are made easier on windy days if all boat occupants remain seated, and the fishing is much safer. Standing anglers act like a sail and make controlling the boat difficult.
After a cast is made into the weeds, slowly backtroll against the wind. The tiller handle on your outboard is used to control the boat while slowly dragging the lure or live bait steadily through the weeds and out to the weed edge. After the presentation comes out of the vegetation a few feet, reel it in, kick the motor into neutral, drift back and cast again, repeating the procedure while moving the lure via boat movement. Letting the line drape over your index finger as it comes off the reel will give you extra sensitivity.
With this boat control method be aware of where strikes come from, because it can help you eliminate sections of dead water. Are your strikes coming only on the weed edge? Then do more backtrolling on the edge than casting. Are the strikes occurring only when you penetrate the weeds? If so, get tighter to the edge. Are most hits coming as the jig falls? Then go to a lighter or flatter one that sinks slower.
This is just one of several effective boat control methods you can use to cope with wind. Wind is an angler's biggest enemy, but by exercising some caution and executing some boat control you can learn to cope with it.
