Dealing With Spring Winds Rain, rain, go away. That's a popular children's refrain. In that same spirit, coastal anglers are likely to chant, wind, wind, go away. However, during April along the Texas coastal curve, that's a highly unlikely occurrence. The wind is going to blow this month, so you might as well get used to it. If you do attempt fishing in high spring breezes, you might do more than get used to - you might actually start liking it. In fact, more than one fisherman has been heard to utter the phrase, wind, wind, please blow today after having a few successful windy days on the bay. South Padre Island guide Capt. Eddie Curry counts himself among the windy weather aficionados. "Over the years, I've had so many good days when the wind is really howling, that now I kind of look forward to it," admitted Curry. "People think you're crazy. The wind may be blowing 30-plus. The water is rough and muddy and ugly. But, the fish bite better in April. And, it seems the harder the wind blows, the better they bite. I just tell everybody to screw their hat on, because it's gonna blow, but we're gonna catch some fish. I've found if you're questioning your sanity as you leave the dock, it's gonna be a good day. Curry claims that he's become so addicted to windy water speckled trout action that he finds himself trying to time his trips with the absolute worst wind scenarios. “It really is sort of weird, because it doesn't seem like you should catch fish in the conditions we typically have in April, but you do,” Curry continued. “In fact, my perfect day in April is to have a 20 to 25 mile and hour south wind bucking an outgoing tide. When that happens, you can find the fish bunched up against he spoil banks and usually there will be birds working over them. Again, it will be rough, but you can find a lot of trout stacked up in that rough water. And, sometimes you can find reds and specks together, which is really nice. "I also like fishing the afternoons in April, for the same reason. You know it's going to be rough in the afternoon - every afternoon - in April. But, it seems the worse the water gets the better the fishing is. If I don't find fish on the spoils, I find the ugliest, muddiest water I can on the west side of the bay and fish there." Curry says at times the open bay may be too rough for safe fishing. But, at times like that he relies on spring tides to open up productive water for him. “The other thing I like to do is wade some of the holes way back on the west side when we get our high spring tides,” said Curry. “When it happens back there, it can be really good. But, again, I just tell people to forget what they know about `good water.' This water won't look good, but it will produce fish.” In addition to getting used to working some 'bad water,' Curry says anglers need to put some thought into their windy weather arsenal. "When the wind is really blowing, you've got to find some way to make some noise," said Curry. "We use a lot of shrimp and popping corks. You want a cork you can really make some noise with. You can use live shrimp, but DOA Shrimp work just as well - especially in glow. "At times, you can do real well with a topwater, too. But, you need to throw a big one. Again, something you can make a lot of noise with. And, they'll also hit artificials. I use mostly paddletail baits in the off-color water because they give off more vibration. And, you want to use something dark or something real bright in that muddy water. "In fact, the action is sometimes so fast on windy days, you can sometimes make a speck-rig type bait out of two Norton Bull Minnows and double-up on trout. If the reds move through, you really don't want to do that because you can get in trouble with two reds on at once.” Although Curry gushes about the potential of windy days, he does caution anglers to play it safe. "There are some days that are even too rough for me," said Curry. "Our bay runs north and south. If we get a really hard south wind or have a late front that really blows out of the north, it can get too rough to safely fish. You never want to be out in a situation where you're uncomfortable. And, you want to make sure the area you fish isn't too rough, but also make sure the area between where you launch and where you fish isn't too rough."