The Cayuga Fisher

Jigging for Lake Trout:  Technique:  Dealing with Wind

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Dealing With Wind:

The wind influences your day on the water in several ways.  A stiff breeze will blow you along at a good clip, and this makes it next to impossible to keep your jig on the bottom, where it belongs.  The choppy lake surface can also make it hard to detect some lighter strikes, and those that occur on the drop.  A little drift is good, though, as you will cover a swath of water, effectively trolling along at a very slow rate as you bang your jig on the bottom, kicking up mud, flailing like a dying sawbelly, and in general causing a disturbance the lakers love!  There are several ways of dealing with the elements that will get you an effective drift yet keep your lure in the zone- right on the bottom.  The ultimate goal is a perfectly vertical presentation. In practice, being vertical enough that you can feel your jig on the bottom is your working goal.

Trolling Motors are nearly a necessity.  Or an awfully long anchor cable, preferrably one with a winch!  (just kidding... but in shallower water anchoring may be the answer if precise boat control is impossible but necessary.)  Better yet, a trolling motor with a foot pedal, as you have both hands to fish with.  These do come at a significant price increase over hand-models but if you can afford the outlay it's totally worth it.  I have one that requires my hand on it at all times, adjusting the boat position.  This means most of the time I'm fishing with one hand, which is possible but not ideal.  Left a foot, into the wind ten feet, slip sideways a little- when I'm jigging the motor is on a very high percentage of the time.  A good, strong trolling motor that can move your boat around in 15-20 mph winds is going to help your jigging experience immensely.  If you don't have access to one, there are ways to slow your drift and still be successful, but it is very helpful.

This subject covers a lot of ground and I'm not tackling it here-  hopefully if you have a trolling motor you know how to use it.  If so, to summarize, you want, no, need, to be as vertical as possible.  There are exceptions to this but they are few and far between.  If you aren't vertical, your lure is NOT on the bottom and in the zone.  You may catch a few fish here and there, but you also lose a lot of sensitivity when the line moves off of the vertical.  If you start drifting sideways, your line moves too- but your jig wants to stay where it is.  As you slide off to the side, a bow develops in your line that adds a lot of water resistance, which in turn adds perceived weight to your rod tip, and your sensitivity and ability to detect strikes is drastically reduced.

One trick I've learned to free up both hands is as follows.  Drop the jig overboard.  Starting with this step greatly increases your chances of catching lakers.  Actually, your chances increase a thousandfold if you remember to tie the jig to the line first!  Keep track of it on the way down- either on the fishfinder or simply by counting down to your last depth.  While the jig is dropping, stay directly on top of it, and as it approaches the lake bottom, give yourself a little forward (into the wind) boost on the trolling motor for a few seconds.  Turn off the motor, and start jigging- depending on the wind you can maintain contact with the bottom for 5-30 seconds.  If you lose it, jog forward again, in front of your jig location, and repeat this process.  By a combination of jigging and jogging you can stay in one spot or slowly drift as conditions dictate.

Drift Bags are ditto a necessity- or at least very strongly recommended.  Don't have one? Use a 5 gallon bucket- punch or cut some holes in the bottom, tie a rope to the handle and throw it over.  Holes in the bottom allow a slow current to pass through and it provides more resistance than a whole bucket, I use a drift-bucket all the time, even when I'm using the trolling motor intensively.  Often two, if I want to drift broadside to the wind, by attaching one each at the bow and stern.  You'll save your trolling motor battery and drift closer to water speed, not wind speed.

Heavier Jigs are a simple way to combat the wind.  They fall faster and get to the bottom in much less time.  I'll go up to two ounces in deep water and high winds.  I haven't founds a two ounce jighead, but the spoons (Hopkins Shorty for example) are great producers under these conditions.  A one ounce head in 50 fow isn't out of the question.  This also give you the option of dragging your jig across bottom, which can result in violent strikes!

I've had success in high wind by dropping the lure, drifting until it hits bottom, dragging until it lifts off of the bottom, dropping it again, and repeating... this can run a lot of line off of your reel in a hurry in a stiff breeze.  Still, it can be effective.  Your final "reel in" then pulls your jig at a low angle back to the boat.  This is a good technique to try if you find the wind is blowing you quickly down the lake, but there are also times the Lake Trout will prefer this presentation.  If you're marking a lot of fish but are unable to raise them far off bottom, this is a good option- it provides swimming movement to the lure without immediately lifting it out of the strike zone.

Casting Ahead of your boat is another way to keep up with the wind.  Instead of dropping the jig directly into the water, cast in the direction you are drifting.  With a little practice you can time it so the jig hits lake bottom just as you drift over it.  This depends, of course, on drift speed, water depth, and falling rate of your jig.  Chances are, it's a lot further than you think!  When I first tried this I lobbed the jig 20 feet ahead of the boat- by the time the jig hit bottom it was 20 feet behind the boat and I had to reel in and start over.  This can be a good searching pattern, too- cast, drift, jig until you lose bottom, reel, repeat.

If all else fails, a straight drop to the bottom and retrieve will produce some lakers.  These techniques may work in adverse conditions, or if you don't have a trolling motor, but keep in mind the "vertical ideal" as it really makes a huge difference in landing lake trout.

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