Winds affect on fish under ice

Kind of new to ice fishing,does wind affect fish under the ice.
Is it better to fish on the windy side of the lake or the calm side?

Best to fish where it is quiet.

Wouldn’t the wind push on the ice and cause it to stir the water and activate the bait fish

From what I can gather from these threads the primary thing for Walleyes is structure, after structure people talk about noise. I really don’t know what if any effect wind has on ice fishing.

On open water, the wind blown shorelines see increased activity for a number of reasons.

1. Waves will significantly scatter the sunlight providing some cover.

2. Waves stir up the water.

3. Warmer water is pushed onto the down wind side of a lake.

4. Baitfish are pushed to the down wind side of the lake and become disoriented.

Under the ice, none of this happens. My conclusion is that there is no benefit to wind.

Although wind is a sign of changing barometric pressure. Can be good or bad.

Wind is a result of differences in atmospheric pressure, which definitely has an effect.

The wind itself may not be the cause, but it may be an indicator of what’s coming/leaving.

biggill wrote:

On open water, the wind blown shorelines see increased activity for a number of reasons.

1. Waves will significantly scatter the sunlight providing some cover.

2. Waves stir up the water.

3. Warmer water is pushed onto the down wind side of a lake.

4. Baitfish are pushed to the down wind side of the lake and become disoriented.

Under the ice, none of this happens. My conclusion is that there is no benefit to wind.

Although wind is a sign of changing barometric pressure. Can be good or bad.

Very well said.

SW Eyes wrote:

Wind is a result of differences in atmospheric pressure, which definitely has an effect.

The wind itself may not be the cause, but it may be an indicator of what’s coming/leaving.

You are correct, but that’s not the only cause for wind. Ever heard of a sea or land breeze? Uneven heating of surface of the earth can also create substantial winds too.