By Alan Bulmer for ActiveAnglingNZ.com
[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ew Zealand is a long narrow country and no point is more than 120 kilometres from the sea. This peculiar geography, coupled with differential heating and cooling of land and water during the day, means that irrespective of where you are wind is likely to feature at some point during the day. If you do not have the ability to present flies or lures accurately in windy conditions then this will dramatically reduce your chances of success.
Aside from learning to cast in the wind, which I’ll cover separately, there are some simple things that you can do to negate the effect of the wind namely:-
- Determine for each of your fishing spots which are the best wind directions (i.e. the directions that do not cause issues with casting). This will generally be when the wind is blowing from directly behind or onto your non casting shoulder. I’ve found spots that are protected from most wind directions and I tend to target the most sheltered spots when I venture out.
- Fish at first light or at dusk when the wind strength is generally at its weakest.
- Find spots where there is deep water close to shore and occasionally target these spots when the wind is blowing directly into them. The waves created by the wind action stir up the bottom in the shallows and predators will often come in close to shore to feed on the edge of the murky water. While you still have to cast into the wind the casting distance needed to reach where the fish are feeding is often very short.
Check out a video on dealing with the wind…
