Wind & orientation

A boat at rest weathervanes bow-into-wind — lowest windage, most stable. On SpotLock, the motor thrusts up-wind to hold; anchored, the rode runs up-wind off the bow. Everything else hangs off that axis. Generally cast into or quartering the wind (the amber wedge) and work the bait back with it.

API wind (Open-Meteo / NWS) is a 3–13 km grid estimate— it doesn't see your lake as water. Expect direction off ±20–40° and speed off ±30–50%, biased low over open water and high in tree-sheltered pockets. It nails the trend, not the exact vector. Gusts are local — a 12 mph forecast can gust to 18–20.

Your phone has no anemometer— "wind meter" apps just replay a forecast or guess from the mic. To know the wind where you're standing, get a Bluetooth handheld vane meter — the WeatherFlow / Tempest WeatherMeter (~$35) is the right call for a bass boat. Point it into the wind, read it, override the forecast.

Heading is the weak link. The phone compass is unreliable near a metal boat and electronics. GPS course-over-ground works only while moving — useless at SpotLock. A cheap marine compassis the dependable, always-on answer when you're holding still.

Fish stack on the windblown side. Set up on the downwind shoulder so the wind pushes you off the spot, not onto it. SpotLock just outside casting range, fan-cast the arc, then Jog ~5 ft down the contour and repeat. Anchoring instead? Bow into the wind, up-wind of the target, 5:1 scope minimum so it holds.