Weather conditions

[2wheeler]

Planning a trip to Erie soon and wondering what are rough guide lines for wind condition to fish safely with a 18 deep boat. I hear wind direction makes a big difference. Would a 12 mph wind be doable.

[rexles]

Winds were 12-15 knots SSE today and I have a 252 Sportcraft and turned around and tied back up at the dock. 3ft with an some 4's thrown in makes for uncomfortable rides and slow speeds means it takes an hour to get where I wanted to fish. Plus bobbing around all day makes me sore.

[DW72]

I also fish an 18 footer. I try to stay away from anything gusting to 20 mph or more. Also, anything out of the north is usually not good. I will fish in 2-3 footers but I usually take a beating and it seldem pays off. I don't trust the marine forecast much at all. I highly recommend the app iWindsurf for wind forecasting. Another good one is Windfinder. The winds and waves change significantly and quickly out there!

[2wheeler]

I also fish an 18 footer. I try to stay away from anything gusting to 20 mph or more. Also, anything out of the north is usually not good. I will fish in 2-3 footers but I usually take a beating and it seldem pays off. I don't trust the marine forecast much at all. I highly recommend the app iWindsurf for wind forecasting. Another good one is Windfinder. The winds and waves change significantly and quickly out there!

Thanks for the replies These apps. look very helpful

[airshot]

Also look at where on the lake you are fishing, many areas offer some protection from the wind, I fish from 16' aluminum boat and can safely do 2 footer forecast where I fish. The waves wont actually be that tall due to partial blickage by land mass even a couple miles out. Get a map of the shore line and you will see how it staggers in and out where some wind protection is availiable. Getting a good forecast is another issue already mentioned. Before I head out, I try to get a forecast from at least three sources, then based on wind speed and direction, I know how rough it will be in the area I will be fishing. Been on Erie for over 55 years, experience makes a big difference !!

[Swartztastic]

Several very good replies here. For me, it would make a difference how you are fishing. I prefer 5 to 15 kts because I always am a caster and a good breeze keeps the boat moving. I do prefer a lighter breeze when I’m jigging.

[sherman51]

we started fishing the western basin between the water intake and west sister just drifting with the wind and letting our boat do all the work. but I got an old 18' Cherokee aluminum boat and put my 80 HP Mariner motor on it with a 15p prop. we made a trip up just about every weekend from Memorial weekend until around the 1st week of July. we never had a day we couldn't get out. but a few times if it started getting rough we headed to the harbor. an 18' deep-V is an ideal boat for the western basin plus it's easy to trailer or use playing in the water at home. don't ever feel ashamed to head in if it starts getting rough while you are fishing. it will save you a much rougher ride back in and it may even save your life. One thing that is very important in rough water is speed. there have been many times on the central basin that we only ran between 11 and 14 MPH from 15 miles out in my 21' open bow cobia glass boat. just enough to keep the bow up so we wasn't just dipping water over the bow. we have fished 5 footers when we were already out. just go slow when it's called for.