Wind is Your Friend
by Keith Lozott, Contributing Writer
Should you catch a breezy day in May it can be difficult to get out and fish the flats. If you’re like me and need to fish to maintain your sanity, then you’ll have numerous spots to fish protected from the constant wind. North winds in the Indian River can be hard to deal with as the wind blows straight down the river making it rough in a flats skiff. South winds are just the same but in opposite direction obviously. When its 10-15 mph out of the north or south it can be fishable on the flats, so don’t be discouraged. Head north or south of the flat that you want to fish and allow the wind to blow you back towards your intended honey hole. Sometimes you can keep the trolling motor off and drift the flats keeping you as quiet as possible. However, drifting with the wind makes it more difficult to control the direction of the boat.
If I’m fishing close to the mangroves, I like fishing into the wind with my trolling motor guiding me slowly forward and under total control of the boat. With the wind blowing from bow to stern it allows the boat to track very straight. I like this approach as redfish, trout and snook that are cruising in your direction become easy targets to intercept with your favorite artificial lures. Another opportunity that you may want to employ is drop a shallow-water anchor (Power-Pole) once you find some fish that are staged up and pick them off one by one from a stationary position. With the anchor located on the stern of the boat it will allow the anglers to fish from the pointy end (bow) of the boat which is always nice and less cramped. You will also be able to make extremely long casts launching lures down wind into the strike zone. Fighting a nice redfish or gator trout at the end of a cast is a memory that will last forever. I’ll never forget “The Year of the Trout” as we rightfully named it catching trout after trout, after trout, after trout at the end of long casts. “The Year of the Trout” was in 2012 two years after the freezes in 2010. For some reason in the upper Indian River the trout were bunched up for a year or so and were all over the river providing amazing fishing opportunities that have yet to be matched in my lifetime. Here is a nice trout that was caught recently.
The bottom line is the wind can be your friend if you use it to your advantage. You may get a little wet on the boat ride out but once you start fishing mother-nature will dry you off with her blow dryer. Find some protected spots on a windy day and get out and fish, you won’t regret it!
Keith Lozott
The Fishing and Real Estate Guy!