Fishing the Delta, or not, on windy days

I went out on the Napa River today just below the Brazos Drawbridge. According to the weather at the Napa Airport the wind was blowing in the 17 mph range. The water is protected enough to keep the conditions pretty good for the wind speed. It was a hard paddle going into the wind, but there wasn't much chop and I wasn't even getting wet. I paddled around a bit close to shore and then gave up. Being close to shore left me too easily washed ashore if I stopped paddling for long, which was not fun. I have big plans for fishing the area because it is close to my work. Now I am wondering if the afternoon winds might greatly reduce my opportunities to fish after work. I read some people want the wind to be at 10 mph or less when on the ocean. What is your limit when fishing the Delta. Today the water wasn't too rough, just too difficult to fish in, especially since I still needed to prep my gear a bit. What is your limit when fishing the better protected, but more confined areas in the Delta?

Could you not use an anchor? The winds have been kicking up here the last few weeks but as you know they are not always blowing. You could
also launch at Skaggs instead of cuttings or Kennedy as you will be more protected from wind. I do not think
They pull many sturgeon out of there but I know they get some stripers in the incoming tides, just be prepared to fight the currents a bit.

2nd vote for an anchor. I use a drag chain - about 5' of chain with 3/8" link, on 50' of rope. Yes, it's heavy, but it won't hang up & will stop the kayak in almost any conditions. I never fish the delta without it, no matter what the wind forecast. Works very well in strong current too.

I'd recommend rigging an anchor trolley. I have 2 large carabiners, one on each side of the boat, with a piece of rope going from one to the other thru smaller carabiners hooked at the bow & stern of the boat. That way I can set the anchor point anywhere on the boat. Dan Blanton, a fly fishing guide in the delta, showed me this rig on his power boat (using a larger chain) & I adopted it.

I simply tie a few small loop knots in the anchor rope to set the depth. The usual anchor rules apply: more rope out = better holding power. If you want drift, which I often do, you just don't set it that deep.

Now fly fishing in that wind - that's another story! But that's doable too with a good 9 wt...
Bill

I plan to use an anchor, but I need to install a quick release setup. The reason for launching at the end of Green Island Rd is it is so close to my work, which makes it free to launch and virtually free for gas and almost zero driving time, which gives me more time on the water for an after work quickie. What wind speed keeps you off the water in those areas?

I don't know the area you're talking about well enough to know. I typically fish the central delta. I live in SF, and it's about a 1 hr drive. Usually I can launch & fish no matter what - it's just a matter of launching somewhere with some shelter. Like if the wind is strong out of the NW (typical), then I look for a launch with a lot of levee walls running NE/SW.

To be fair, really windy conditions are usually bad for fishing, but I'm out there anyway so I almost always go for it.

the ocean is a different story all together

I had not considered using an anchor as a temporary stop to change lures or whatever. It gives me a new perspective. So you use the length of chain as your all around anchor? Interesting.

When I was a fly-fishing guide in WA, I also used chain for an anchor. I was using a 14' raft and close to 30 lbs of chain to hold the boat in pretty heavy flows. To keep the chain in a compact bundle that wasn't too long, I cut the chain into 3 equal lengths and used a giant carabiner pinned through the center link of section so that the ends were free and there was no loops to snag on the bottom.

On the saltwater I'm a big advocate of drift chutes to control and slow my drift for fishing.