For those who have gotten proficient poling and casting in our salty coastal winds - where do you draw the line? What wind speed is:
A. Perfect
B. Too much, unless you’re feeling up to working for it.
C. Unmanageable, don’t bother.
I’ve found, over the 15 mph marker is where my novice skills are getting stretched. I can cast in 15mph to a degree. I think the new TFO Axiom II-X has helped me in that category. But my partner and I cant pole a boat in that wind, we just have to set up controlled drifts and use the pole as guidance.
Ive been on a guided trip where our guide could pole straight into a 15-20mph wind, but I can’t replicate that.
I can pole in pretty much any wind. I will try to find a lee shore more for the purpose of seeing fish without a lot of chop. Our casts are mostly short no matter what, so that doesn’t slow us down either. Do I like >15 mph wind? No.
For me, perfect wind for most fish on the flats, 5-8 mph. Still reasonable up to 12-15 mph. Starts getting challenging above that, at around 20-25 mph. 25-30 mph have to really work for it, fish are hard to see, only short casts, and better to find the leeward side of a mangrove island etc.
Depends on the situation. I have tarpon and bonefished in some very inclement weather and it was worth sticking it out in 20-30mph winds. If I’m fun fishing locally 10mph is normally where I draw the line on the forecast because it’ll probably be 15 realistically. Floodtide redfish or sneaky winter/early spring snook stuff if it’s not unsafe and I’ve got sun for the snook I’ll send it.
I like to sight fish and i dislike biting bugs so anything in the 7-10 range is good. I mean for optimal fly conditions it would be glass but then i have to wear long sleeves and hood and bug spray n sht. >15 constant is where i call it quits n either break out the spinning rod and one knocker or swim. Ya im a baby
Got some practice over the holiday weekend wading in 20+. Whitecaps breaking over the sand bar. Was doable for short casts but everything had to be on point. Would have been worse on a boat!
For me 5-10 is perfect, 15 is where i start to think about spinning, 20+ only if I’m really wanting to practice or don’t have an alternative…
Ironically in my kayak days, I’d draw the hard line at 30mph. But I could typically launch in different areas and tuck up In tighter spots to hide from it, and I wasn’t fly fishing much on those days.
With the skiff, my issue is, I’m generally solo, so managing the boat and fly rod in anything over 15mph just takes the fun out of it. So I tend to draw the line in that 15-20mph area. A lot of other factors come into play though, like what I’m targeting, wind direction, season ect.. some days I just FK it and go, and I’ve also had days where I pull up to the ramp ready to launch and say hell naw.
I don’t have a set wind that is too much. It’s more of at this time is the wind annoying me enough to where it’s not enjoyable casting flies. If that’s the case I’ll fish somewhere out of the wind rather than get aggravated in it.
Most days in NC are in the 10-20mph range, so it’s best to learn to deal with the wind if you want to fly fish around here. Once it gets 20+ mph, my fly fishing gets very location-specific. For 20+, I really want that wind at my back or at least blowing across my body toward my casting shoulder. Or in an area that’s protected from the wind. If it’s a wide open flat casting into a 20+ wind, I have to really want it to break out the fly rod!
