Westerly Winds?

[coffey]

Is there any truth to the rumour that fish shut down if there is any amount of west in the breeze?

[Terry H]

no

[dhess]

Personally I haven't found it to be true, but a lot of people swear by it.

Some people say:

NW = not worth it

SW = sometimes worth it

NE = Nice eating

SE = slay everything

I pretty much only fish offshore so it may be different, could be coincidence but I have definitely had a few cracker sessions in light SE winds. Had plenty of good sessions in light NW's just none that were super memorable.

A few people have said to me that barometric pressures play a bigger role and in our area you typically get NW winds if there is a low around.

[noname]

diary.not exact, but pretty bloody close.

[dhess]

Hi Noname,

If you had to put it down to a percentage what would you say? 90% westerlies fish crap?

In my experience fishing the shallow reefs off Moreton being there a few hours after/before sunrise/sunset has been the biggest factor. Come to think of it though there are days when fish seem to bite well long after when they usually shutdown. (About 7am in summer and 9am in winter.) I wonder if those days had no westerly in the wind.

I might start keeping a diary, its something I have always wanted to do but have been always too disorganised or lazy.

If the forecast holds, friday is looking like a spectacular day to prove/disprove the westerlies don't fish well theory.

[noname]

i myself prefer not to go anywhere if it's got a westerly involved, places like shallow tempest, conjivoy and the likes fish ok with these winds, as you said before and after the sun shows up. but for where i fish it's just to rough with a westerly, most times as it's wind against swell, i prefer a sthly/ se direction as most offshore fisho's realise and a barometer of 1015 or higher. which also means a high pressure system is not to far away or passed over, i have noticed if i go out on a particular day, noted down in the diary, and go another day on a similar forecast predicted, but blown out, i can refer back to my diary, and sure enough, the places fished with very similar forcasts in real life are so very close, but a few days or weeks apart, as you don't go on the same day of each year to the same spots. look you can get a diary up and going, but you only get out of it what you put in, but a very good guide once established, mine is about 15 years in the making, and yeah sometimes it does get on my nerves, even if i go with friends, it is noted down for my eyes along with the friends i went out with, to fall back on, but for no one esle. but definately worth doing. when i get motivated to do more fishing i will be going with a few guys from this site and they can post pic's and stories, so see how we go i guess, time will tell. and anyone is more than welcome to tag along in their boats, i'm not a believer in [sECRET SPOTS} but rather understand the species you are targetting, know their habbits etc, and learning how to fish particular spots, as not all spots are the same. it's 1 thing to say i'm going to try and catch some fish, and come in with some fish, but another to believe you are going to catch pearlies for an example and come back in with pearlies only type of thing! just hard for me to explain in writing. well hope some of this helped in some small way. now go get em

[Dinodadog]

westerly winds ok for fresh water bassin

[Feral]

As long as its below 15 knots I dont care what direction its blowing from!

[wallyfly]

re westerly winds

feral the only wind you know about is what comes out of your rear endB)

[Feral]

Doesn't quite make 15 knots though!

[dhess]

It does if you eat the correct food.

[big al]

all the oldtimers say dont go fishing if the wind has north in it :cheer:

[dunney]

if the wind is under 10kn then the wind doesnt make a difference to fishing no matter what way it blows IMO.you canget fishin in any wind

anything more than 15kn i dont bother going so cant help you.

northerlies are shat for the bay cos it slops up really bad and sooner or later the tide will turn and run against the slop making it so so sloppy.

however after a period of strong northerlies you will occasionally find better fishing down the souther end of the bay...after it calms down

[coffey]

thanks for the advice