Wind

[Red Childress]

I am hoping for a weekend of fishing without dealing with the wind very soon. We have had 2 foot rollers/whitecaps coming upriver for 5 out of the past 6 weekends The words I have uttered while fishing thru these wind storms have never been documented...If this trend keeps up, I will be giving Webster's Dictionary a call for a few new entries.

[ttabaleulb]

I am right there with you Red. The Flyrod has not seen much use over the last month because of some of those winds. Boat positioning has been near impossible for me in that little 14' Jon. I have had to pick my lines that I want to fish and let the wind blast me along. Needless to say, I am sure that I am missing a lot of good areas because of it.

Do any of you guys use those wind socks (or whatever they are called) to slow a drift? I have considered trying one, but just have idea that it might create some problems with fish getting caught in them while trying to get them to the boat.

[Red Childress]

They work great.....my partner and I have used them on Chautauqua/Kinzua several times.

A boat that size could probably be controlled with the smaller diameter sock....if a fish gets close to the sock rope, just muscle it away. You should be fine.

[RiverRunt]

The good thing is I set a few records for casting distance. Only problem is, they were all directly upstream.

Saw a helluva nice trout roll on a caddisfly on the Allegheny.

[Rich W]

Jay,
I use a drift sock alot, sometimes even 2, pending on the situation. I've never got a fish caught up in it. I do have a float on the harness to the sock and have let it loose so the fish has no chance of getting tangled in it. You just retrieve the sock after your done releasing the fish. For the most part I leave it attached or pull it up once the fish is in the net. Depending on the wind and current' I'll attach the sock at different points on the boat to help control the drift.
Cabela's make a nice one and right now its on sale.
Rich W

[ttabaleulb]

Guys,

Thanks for the info/advice. I'll take a look at the one Cabela's has tonight. Since one of my goals for '09 is to fish more weather changes/wind, I think anything that might help could be a great benefit.

[Red Childress]

I have even used a 5-gallon bucket tied very short back when I had a 14-foot jon. You would be surprised how much that bucket helped slow me down. Point the bow into the wind with the trolling motor running and throw the bucket off the front as well.......worked great for vertical jigging walleye and bass.

[ttabaleulb]

Thanks again for the tips guys. I ordered one from Cabela's last night. I also ordered a Fishing Hotspots map of Raystown. I am only about 30minutes from there and figure I'll do some poking around there for Musky and maybe Striper. Stripers are about #3 on my list of fish that I want to catch with a FLyrod just behind Musky and Peacock Bass.