"Fishable" Wind Speed / Direction Port Clinton Area

[West Basin]

Rocket,

Lake Erie actually runs more Southwest to Northeast, it's length. The Western Basin, however, is pretty much West to East lengthwise.

The worst waves as far as height in the Western Basin are from the northeast and east, because there are over a hundred+ miles of "fetch" or length of water for the wind to push up waves. However, since the Islands and Catawba Point block those waves, there is always some "lee" or calmer water around that area on the west side. West winds have about 30 miles of fetch, North and south winds from 30-40 miles.

As far as the Lake settling down wave wise, I've seen it go from 5 footers in the morning to nearly flat in the evening, when the wind dies off quickly. On the other hand, a slowly diminishing wind can keep high waves going for much longer. On the east side of the Islands, you will get residual "roller" waves even a good time after a big east / northeast wind, since it takes more time for the wave energy to dissipate in that long fetch of deeper water.

Another factor now that we've in non-fishing boat folks season is boat wake. The average size of boats on Erie has risen in the last 10 years. Those bigger boats cause big wakes. Combine a big wake with waves and you can come across a 4-5 foot wave in 2-3 foot wind waves.

Best thing as usual is find a good actuate wind forecast such as Iwindsurf, watch it, and make plans accordingly. You can also use the various Lake shore webcams to actually see what the waves look like at various places.