Does wind effect catfish fishing at all?

Wind can have an effect on catfishing, but not necessarily.  Lots of anglers notice that when there’s a little wind on the lake or stream, they seem to catch more fish.  You might have also heard your grandaddy or somebody say that an east wind brings more fish, or vice versa. 

Here’s the deal, though.  When wind blows across a body of water, it stirs up all the little tiny things that live in it, including the things at the bottom that catfish like to eat.  So, if you’ve had some wind, all the plankton, crayfish, mussels and other small fish will be concentrated in one area, and that’s where the cats will be.

If the wind has been blowing from east to west, you should fish on the west bank.  Makes sense, right?  The wind has been blowing all the little critters to the west side of the pond or stream, so that’s where the cats will be.  Probably the best condition is when it’s been windy for a few days.  That means more stuff will be over there.

In my experience, I always catch big catfish on nasty weather days.  It’s tough to cast your fly with the wind blowing all over the place, but well worth it in the end.  If you are fishing on a windy day, pick a spot where the wind is in your face.  That means the wind will be blowing the critters toward you, and the spot where you are casting will be full of feeding catfish.

But, how much wind really effects catfish is debatable.  That probably depends on the exact conditions of the place you are casting, and could vary quite a bit.

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