what wind speed is too strong to beachcast?

[codless]

I really hope that you will bear with me and forgive me for what probably seems like a really stupid question but i really could do with an answer. So at the risk ok appearing somewhat silly I will ask anyway? What in the opinion of experienced Fylde anglers constitutes a too strong wind MPH as stated on the BBC weather website, to beach fish? the reason I ask this is I live an hour away from the coast and the wind can be very calm (non existant) here and I drive down the motorway to find the wind too strong for fishing so I have started to look at the weather forecast and I still can't judge it from there! I went a couple of weeks ago and it was forecast as 19mph westerleys the surf was great and the fishing although a blank was good fun, then last week the forecast was for 15mph westerleys and when I got to the beach it was blowing far too hard to even attempt fishing? As a boy I was brought up in Blackpool and I knew by looking out the window whether fishing was feasable or not and never knew the speed in mph of the wind it wasn't really that much of a factor because as I am sure a lot of you will remember when it was rough you just fished the other side of the jetty. That was when the Jetty was down another two flights of steps and of course there was a lot more bigger fish to be had,those were the days lol
I am considering fishing Tuesday night/Wednesday morning from Rossal hospital and the BBC forecast is for 14-17mph westerleys so my question is really is it just a case of go and try it or is the forecast accurate enough to book days off with and if so is a 20mph wind too strong to fish into if so what is the fastest/strongest winds that the local boys would reccomend I travel/book time off for?
Thanks in advance for all your help Billy

[sharpey]

You will get some good replies on here mate which I too will find interesting... I don't usually use a multi other than on low water sessions, but I used it at Arnside a couple of weeks back in a howling " I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your tripod over" type gale and it was a nightmare..!! Loads of overruns....
Will watch this thread with interest .....

[Blanko]

Its different everywhere Billy, the wind has a similar effect on the rod tip and in the rod rest but sea wise it varies hugely. In Morecambe bay a 25mph will be a pain in the 'arris for keeping the rod in the 'pod when it gusts up a bit but sea state wise it's fishable with a bit of adaptation.

On the other hand in more open sea it can wreak havoc, the run on the Fylde will be heavier and itll be proper lumpy, this can make for hard work if weed and logs are floating about in it - and they usually are!!! In those conditions some argue you put the rod high in the tripod to keep the line out of the wave crashing,but then the rod's elevated and more of a target for the wind. Turning the pod round so the wind's blowing the rod down into the tripod helps but its always more vulnerable so high up.

I'd say from what you said a 14-20 mph on the hospital stretch will be damn near perfect,OK on a 10m itll be banging the prom a bit more on 20mph + but below that shouldn't be too bad. Westerly is spot on I'm the same as you , I have some large ancient trees up the road from us, I've lived in 3 houses locally and been able to see them from all of them!!! I won't move further away or I won't know when I can go fishing I can tell instantly from a 10 second look whether I'm staying local or venturing further afield.

Of course then there's the BBC weather reliability.Last weekend we were planning a Plaice bash and needed it pretty flat. It gave out 17mph and creeping up which might have been iffy but on getting there it was barely a breeze,by the end it still wasn't where it claimed itd be so we were glad we'd gone .

As far as Rossall goes there's always the option of a 5 minute nip 'round the corner' to Sea Cadets or Dronsfield rd if its a tad blowy at the hospital. Its less exposed round there and often fishable when its getting silly round the point and off toward the school.

But overall if you're booking days off to fish you'd be better avoiding flat calms as youll know,anything 10-12mph up to 20 is fishable from my own experience above which on big tides it gets tricky.

I'm not local to there though so not the oracle,I have about an hour to travel there too so I prefer not to waste my time if its going to be wild. If I see over 20mph Ill usually leave it as when I've gone on those forecasts it's invariably been bloody windier and really hard work.

Probably someone like Hughie would be as good as anybody to Q on it,hopefully he'll see this thread , he has heaps of experience of the hospital to the point and will tell you more accurately .

Should be a few Coddos soon, though LW seems to have been producing more.

[Rushy]

I'm with Ian (Blanko) on this one, if the winds are forecast for 20mph westerly or above I generally give the Fylde a miss and wait for the first opportunity when they drop.
Having said that, I have gone in the past and like you, the forecast has been way off and it's been too wild to fish on the front (rossall point to five bar gate). So like Ian has suggested, the back up plan is usually to go round the corner and fish either the cadet base stretch of beach or Dronsfield rd area, dependent on wind direction. I've fished Dronny rd in some really wild conditions, but with the wind coming from the SW in particular, it's coming over your shoulder and from off the land, so it can be do-able and rescue an otherwise wasted trip. I've had my shore caught cod pb from dronny rd @ 5lb doing just this.
Another point to consider is that quite often the wind is considerably less than the forecast over low water. I've fished many a low water session at night on the Fylde on the last of the ebb, over low and the start of the flood and it's been pretty good conditions to fish, certainly better than the forecast had suggested. Often the wind builds hand in hand with the tide, and usually by the time the water is halfway up the beach to the shingle it's strengthened and is in full swing. This is when I go round the corner and fish the flood in the more sheltered venues.

[codless]

Thank you for your prompt and helpful replies. I will fish from around 3am to an hour after high Tue/Wed and if it gets too rough I will try the sheltered bit further down. Once again thank you and tight lines
Regards Billy