Fellow I know, and who I know to be a good crappie fisherman, says that crappie don’t bite when the wind blows from the east. Well…I didn’t believe that, but the last two trips to local lakes, I fished in an East wind. I tried minnows, jigs, small spinner baits and anything else I could think of. Fished in deep water and shallow water. All the places I usually find crappie, and I caught no crappie. Is there really something to wind direction? Water temp was 54 degrees. And I have Livescope. I could see them approach and ignore my bait. They would not bite.

I've caught crappie with an east wind several times. Wind direction does affect fish some times. Seldom have an east wind except when there is a weather change. The weather change may have more to do with the crappie not biting than the direction.

I believe there's a pressure drop associated with an east wind.

I’ve always heard that myself about a east wind but here is my take on it. If you got a day to go fishing and the weather is right go get em a bad day on the water is better than a good day at work. With that said if you are not wanting to burn that high priced fuel because it’s high right now and you are looking at several options on days you can go I wouid take the south wind day any day over tgat east wind. Good luck and hey let’s go get em because it’s about to crank up this next week looking at the weather.

Ok, that explains it. The days I fished with the east wind were the brief quiet days between weather changes. They were low wind days that were between the strong south winds and the howling north winds. Weather change days. I was avoiding fishing in high winds and high waves.

I’m a bit smarter now, but that’s not getting me any crappie.

Some of my best days last summer were during East dominant winds. So much so that when I saw East winds on the forecast I'd take off work early to get out there.

Wind from the east, fishing is least.
Wind from the west, fishing is best.
Wind from the south, blows the hook in the fish's mouth.

Can't remember the one for the north.

My dad always said "Wind from the North, fish come forth"

That's it.

There are too many variables in fishing to name one thing as to why fish don't bite. Sometimes the fish are just full or dormant. I find this all the time, when I drop and they don't bite after so long, I go to the next place. Odds are there are biting fish somewhere and you have to go find them. Just have to keep adjusting till you start catching.

Exactly. About to get nerdy here so be advised. Lots of variables, lots of fisherman not familiar with good research methodologies/scientific method, lots of people conflating causation and correlation. Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.

If you went out today and the wind was blowing west but you didn't catch anything, might say fish don't bite when the wind blows west. Western wind causes inactive fish. But in reality last night was a full moon which means better visibility for nocturnal predators so they are more able to gorge and fish are just not as interested in eating during the following daylight hours.

Point is when I hear wisdom like this I take it with a huge grain of salt. I just go fishing and try to enjoy the time out on the water.

wind from the east, fish bite the least

wind from the west, fish bite the best

ole buddy told me that and he was a natural born fisherman

Well…could be that I’m just not a great fisherman, whichever way the wind is blowing. But I do enjoy it.

90% of the fish are in 10% of the water.