Wind is the force that stirs the ocean. It is a necessary step in the preparation of the oceanic soup that nourishes the food chain. We see this primal step play out each springtime.
Boaters and fishers roundly curse high winds because it limits our activities. But we appreciate what it does for us in the long term.
You see, prolonged high winds is hard on fishing, and yet very important for great fishing.
Huh? Which is it? Well, in the short-term wind is bad, but in the long term it is beneficial.
Let’s revisit my comment about wind being the force that stirs the ocean, creating a life-enabling food chain soup.
If you skim a spoon across the top of a pan of soup in the kitchen, the deeper ingredients are lifted up behind the spoon. In the ocean, the combination of uplift and deep waves brings up the meat, and good stuff from the bottom.
Wind serves as a huge spoon that creates “oceanic upwelling,” bringing up nutrient-rich deeper water, chock full of the minute building blocks of the food chain.
Suddenly, there is much more food for fish to eat up in the shallows where we fish. That is why wind is good for fishing in the long term.
In the short term however, surface water temperatures drop because the upwelling deeper water is colder.
Our local game fish, such as calico bass, seem to develop a case of lockjaw. Halibut become sullen. Pelagic fish just swim south until they find water temperatures more to their liking. We may not see them again for a few weeks.
Fortunately, our groundfish populations — including rockfish, ling cod, sheephead, ocean whitefish and others — are more temperature resilient and will happily stay and eat anyway. So fishing can still be good right after the wind.
Fishing will get even better in a few weeks after massive schools of sardines, anchovies and other forage fish move into the now-rich feeding area, and are followed by hungry pelagic predator fish that we like to fish for, and either release or take home for a fresh fish dinner.
We’ll also see great pods of dolphin feeding on the concentrations of bait.
It is relatively rare that we have storm-force winds. That’s just a step down from hurricane winds. Small-craft advisory winds are commonplace throughout the Santa Barbara Channel, and we also see relatively frequent gale-force winds.
These are what keeps recreational boaters and commercial boaters alike snug in the harbor. Storm-force winds put boaters on high alert and send us scurrying to the harbor to check and recheck dock lines.
Be thankful for the winds, but wait for safe seas before going out boating.