Last November I was here to cover the Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Magellan Outdoors. It didn’t take much wind to churn the lower end of Lake Conroe into a frothy mess.I know that because I was the photographer on the water all week. What I learned was how the seawall factor makes matters worse. It’s a reverb affect. Waves reverse after crashing into the seawalls and churn up the water.
Today the forecast calls for a south wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts to 30 mph. Saturday the wind should blow from the west at 10 mph. On Sunday it picks back up to 20 mph.
Dealing with the wind is a given this weekend for the competitors. Kevin VanDam compared the experience to “riding in a washing machine.”
What he’s discovered is another window of opportunity created by the wind. That is putting the trolling motor down and focusing on the shad spawn. VanDam said there are about a dozen other places where he’d like to be right now. But taking advantage of the shad bite isn’t a bad compromise.
The trend I discovered while interviewing the anglers at Media Day was the anglers are factoring the wind into their game plans. Overall, that means sight fishing will be difficult.
Alton Jones Sr. is among the anglers who considered the wind during their practice days.
“In practice I fished some areas based on where the wind was forecast to blow during the tournament, not during practice, just to get a feel about how the lure presentations will be best on a given area.”