Wind ???? Need some advice

[Capt Eric]

Expect the unexpected. Last spring, we fished a day that was calling for W wind <10mph, slowly building all day. Forecast by to hit 25mph from the N about 6pm. We set up near Toussaint around 8am, and about the time we had all the lines out, the wind kicked out of the N at 30+ and never let up. Within 30 minutes, we were pulling lines, and I'd already heard a few calls to the Coast Guard. Took me 1 hr 10 minutes to motor over to Rattlesnake, quartering into 6'-8's with the occasional surprise. About every fourth wave I rolled over, I was spinning props out of the water. You don't wanna know what kind of water it takes to get my props out of the water, and my boat loves big water! Thank God we (the general fishing population) didn't lose anyone that day. Forecasters kinda missed that one by a few hours!

I'm sure some of you remember that day.....I'd have to go back to check the exact date...

[CAPTBRIAN]

Friday April 28th

[cycleguy]

I appreciate all the feedback...

I was there two years ago on my own and out several miles in some good rollers trolling w the current when a wave came over the side from nowhere... luckily I was already nervous and sort of ready for something dumb. Being by myself just makes it worse. A lot going on in rough water with lines and boat control and being solo. Wish I knew what the wind was that day as I would stay in if conditions were like that again.

Speed, yea, on the way back in I was going like 3-5 mph and surfing and crashing terribly hard. Sucked. I'm not worried about getting wet, my boat is sort of good at that.... the feedback helps on guessing from a long ways away if I stay home or not - and it is a big deal to make a trip like this.

I love fishing and dream of doing it here before things open up at home - being safe is priority #1. If I could only grab three days of nice 5-10 mph warm SW winds

[fisherman 2]

my advice for what it's worth is to wait until sometime in april...fish will be in closer and biting better...around that time fish will only be out a couple miles from besse to crane creek...seems this spring is going to be a lion...weather should straighten out by april.

[itsbob]

We only use the iwindsurf forecast to plan on our fishing dates.I would recommend you not planning to fish early next week.Weather too unstable with upcoming forecast and lake is muddied up.The fishing in the spring needs several days of stable calm weather for fishing to be good.I would watch windsurf in April for that window to plan your trip.The fishable days in your 17ft boat depend on as much on velocity as wind direction and where you plan to fish.Ideal wind direction is SE-SW if fishing on south shore area.Worst is N-E.I would make velocity in low teens your cutoff.But can go little higher or lower depending on direction.NOAA forecast is useless.Don't even look at it anymore.

[Luvs2Fish]

Last spring I went out of Wolf Creek with a 15 mph South wind thinking I could fish the clearer water that was about 3.5 miles out. I got out there and tried to fish, but was being blown faster than I wanted to troll. That combined with 3-4' rollers convinced me to head back towards shore. I think that wind was all of 15 mph and felt closer to 20 mph. My 18' Lund Mr. Pike was happy to be back in calmer water. My wife wasn't impressed with the day. We fished the calmer muddy water for a few hours since we made the 2 hr drive. Not even a hit. The more clear Modis images about 5 days ago looked really muddy yet, I suspect less than 1' of visibility. Has anyone had any success with, say less than 2' of visibility?

[itsbob]

Yes,you can catch in 1ft of visibility.A lot of guys say if they can just see cavitation plate on their Outboard motor they can catch.We went 2 for 3 in South passage last year with 1ft visibility.Pooh bear had at least 20 that day.