DIY jigging wind direction indicator

If you want to stay stationary over the bottom when jigging, you need to pedal into the wind and/or current.  But it’s often difficult to tell what direction the wind is coming from, and the wind often shifts.  As a result, you may get pushed away from the spot you are fishing over because you don’t know what direction the wind is coming from.

Here is a simple wind direction indicator which I made from a telescoping pick-up magnet which is available for about five bucks at hardware stores, a piece of PVC tubing and a PVC end cap, a strip of light orange nylon left over from a safety flag I made, a duo-lock snap, some duct tape, and a small stainless steel washer.  I drilled a hole in the PVC end cap for the shaft of the pick-up magnet, wrapped the base of the pick-up magnet with duct tape so it fits firmly inside the PVC tubing, and attached the duo-lock snap to the strip of nylon with braided fishing line and tape.  Then I wrapped a strip of duct tape around the end of the telescoping rod for the magnet, cut a slot in the washer so I could slip it onto the telescoping rod above the duct tape to minimize the friction on the duo-lock snap, and then clipped the snap onto the telescoping rod.  It’s a fifteen minute project once you have the parts.  And it works well and helps me jig more effectively.  It shows me exactly the direction the wind is coming from, and registers even very light breezes.  If it gets in the way, I can just push it down and telescope it.

A few construction details:  Drill a hole through the PVC end cap which is the diameter of the shaft of the telescoping pick-up magnet, stick the shaft through the hole, and then wrap duct tape around the bottom of the shaft until it fits snugly inside the PVC tube.  Put a flat-head wood screw through the PVC tube to keep the shaft of the pickup magnet from sliding down in the PVC tube when you telescope down the shaft. Wrap some duct tape around the outside of the PVC tube until it fits snugly inside the mast base.

Nifty. Thanks for sharing.


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Since I made my jigging wind direction indicator in 2016, it has proved to be a very useful tool which I mount on my kayak every time I go fishing. But I discovered that the telescoping mast made from a magnetic pickup tool, which is fine in freshwater, gets corroded by salt water.  So I have made another version of the wind direction indicator for use in salt water which uses a fiberglass marking wand as its mast. You can buy these wands at hardware stores.

I just use the line angle and tension on the upstroke to tell if I'm drifting relative to the water or there is shearing at different depths, but whatever works.

Certainly the angle of your line in the water is another useful piece of information which you can use to keep yourself stationary over the bottom.  But I find that the advantage of knowing the exact direction the wind is coming from, as shown by a wind direction indicator, is that you can take action to prevent yourself from being moved with respect to the bottom, rather than responding after the wind has pushed you around.  For example, if the wind is coming from the north, you can point your bow directly into the wind and pedal as needed to hold yourself in position over the bottom.  And if the wind shifts and starts coming from the northwest, and threatens to blow your bow over to the right, you can steer left and pedal lightly to point your bow northwest, directly into the wind.

I think this would work fine in a lake, but if you're in current of any sort learning to know how to compensate for line angle is more important. What if the wind is opposite of the current? Or on the start of an exchange when the water column shears with the bottom moving before and faster than the top? Both common scenarios for saltwater fishing and learning how to read line scope and compensate for it will directly affect how many fish you catch. This is why I pretty much only jig on a kayak, the manueverability when doing this has a large advantage over nearly all boats.