rough water tips

[blanked]

any tips on running a boat in rough water to stay dry as possible

[Live.2.Fish]

GORE-TEX!!!

[cart7t]

How rough and what kind of boat?

[Long Mike]

Slow down.

[blanked]

19 1/2 foot Procraft Super Pro.  Dont know how to really describe on paper how rough.  How about sitting in the drivers seat not moving and waves are drenching me.  20 MPH wind

[cart7t]

A rough water ride and how wet you get depends on two things, the driver and the boat.  

Depends on wave height and time.  Swells long distances apart can be driven up and down.  Waves closer together can be driven across with a boat your size.   Depending on how rough it is you can really get a workout feathering the throttle and trim as you move across the water.  Practice makes perfect.  Always attempt to take larger waves by quartering them, you really don't want to wind up nosing a wave.  That's a good way to end up in the water.

I have quite a few years running on Lake of the Ozarks on busy weekends.  That is rough amplified.  The only thing worse would probably be the Great Lakes, the ocean or Gulf.  

Even if you're a good boater, some boats just take the rough stuff better than others.  Boats with a deeper V like a Champion,  Charger or Stratos tend to cut through waves better and deflect water away from the driver and passenger.  Boats like a Basscat or Ranger, to name a few, with a shallower V not only don't cut through the waves cleanly but they also send more water over the side and onto you.  

[Garnet]

A lot of what you need is in your boat setup. And thats lots of low and midrange grip.

Hi Five props are reel popular. 3 blades for suckers.

Going with the wind it's avoid the big part of the waves. Drive down in the valley at angle and stay there until the wave hieght goes down. There will be 3-7 smaller waves so you run these at a 45 degree angle faster then you will drive up a big wave you cut the angle down drive into the valley and scoot along until your next set of small waves. It can be a blast.

Going into the waves is much harder but it's the same system.

Then theres survavail and thats go slow.

We all use Ram mounts on out trolling motor heads and straps on the motor. If you like your fish finders take them off or have builtin models, lock all compartments.

Remeber avoid the big stuff.

Areas like the Detroit River were theres a million 30 ft run abouts jock strap and back brace.

Garnet

[jdw174]

I spent a good number of years running a bass boat on Lake Erie.  I don't get much rougher than that old lady

I recommend a 4-blade prop setup.  Second, if you don't have one, I much prefer a HotFoot throttle.  Trying to control boat speed with the hand throttle in really rough water ain't my cup of tea.  I prefer BOTH hands on the steering wheel

Running in "following" waves (going with the wind instead of into it) is, to me at least, tougher than running into it.  A couple of days ago, I had to make a 6 mile run back to the ramp in 20mph winds in the following waves.  Not the smoothest ride I've ever had :  If I'd have been running into them I'd have had a much better time of it.

If the waves are running close together I normally put her up and let her run.  Keep an eye out for those sneaky bigguns that crop up.  In swells it's time to slow things down a bit.

One thing I do if I'm fishing Kentucky lake is to check the Intellicast page on the internet for the wind forecast, and make my early AM run so that when I return, it's always INTO the wind.  With a direct wind from the North or south, that body of water can darn near equal anything Lake Erie can toss at you at times.

Seat time will improve your rough water handling.  Just remember....KILL SWITCH AND LIFE JACKET....ALWAYS.

[Catt]

Aint but one way Seat Time, you can't learn it of you aint never done it  

[RobDar]

19 1/2 foot Procraft Super Pro. Dont know how to really describe on paper how rough. How about sitting in the drivers seat not moving and waves are drenching me. 20 MPH wind

my father in law would tell you line up at 45 degrees to the wave direction. I guess this is what the charter captians ( father in law was a charter captian for years) shoot for when moving slow or sitting still.

It does not work in my little Tracker...but there is nearly nothing you can do in my little Tracker to stay dry.

It seems to work good in his Javelin though.

[NBR]

I run a 19'6" Astro that at least at one time had the same hull as a ProCraft. If I run slow I take a cold shower. If I get on plane and adjust my speed to conditions I run very dry. Slow means the spray flies back into the boat; correct speed means the spray falls into the lake behind you.

Time on the water will give you the practise to aviod being horribly wet.

[Glenn]

Having just spent 2 weekends in a row dealing with 25-35mph winds in open water, I can tell you this:  Going agains the wind is easier.  It's simply a matter of slowing down a little and trimming down a tad.  Let the "V" part of the hull do the work for you.  Hitting them "head on" is fine, so long as the waves are 3' and under.  If they're 4-6', then you're going to have to come off plane and get that bow up.  Again, let it do the work for you.  7' waves or more will require the angled attack previously mentioned.

Going with the wind is a little tougher.  A hot foot pedal is best for this, because you'll need to "goose" the throttle a bit on the big waves.  The bigger ones usually come in "threes".  The trick is to trim up, slow down, and "hop" the waves.  You do this by giving it a little gas as you climb up the backside of a big wave (the amount of "goosing" you give it will depend on the conditions and boat weight.  Experience will teach you.).  You'll "hop" over it, and keep the bow up at the same time.  Don't goose it, and your nose will come down, skip across the 2nd wave, come down further as you go over it, and spear the 3rd. (don't ask me how I know this!).  This works well for waves up to 5'-6'. Anything bigger and you'll need to approach at an angle.

Note - any time you approach at an angle you're apt to get wet, no matter what kind of boat you have.  That said, using the techniques above have kept me very dry in my Ranger 520.  Of course, Rangers are built for this kind of stuff in the first place, so I'm kind of cheating.  

[bassboy1]

Well, dad and I have been in 3 foot waves in a 12 foot vee.  Well, semi vee.  It is a vee bow, with a square bottom at the stern like a jon.  Seeing since we had two people, we went into the waves and the bow would slice through them and we would then rise up on top.  Actually wasn't that bad aside from the d*** wind.  When we had to go transom to the waves, we went at a bit of an angle and would wallow up and over it.  Tedious, but we were fine.  

A bit back, it was just me in it.  With that, the bow is high, and the vee is out of the water.  Mostly a jon boat.  I come around a main point, and their is a large jet ski towing another large one at just below planing speed.  Golly, they throw a HUGE wake if connected together.  About 3 1/2 feet.  Almost lost a rod.  Even though the vee was out of the water, it sliced through it a bit, and threw the bow up in the air.  I couldn't see any water over the nose.  The bow was up in the air until the wave was almost directly under me.  Then, I came down hard on the next wave.  Hit it with the flatbottom part.  Hit it hard.  Threw a lot of stuff around.  Then, I rode the rest okay, as they were smaller.  

It was most definitely easier with the weight in the bow, and the vee cutting through the wave.  In a jon style, I wouldn't try it.  I am still wondering how I managed to catch that rod.  

[Catt]

Glenn is right on except for the part about the Ranger  

[bassnleo]

I'm running a 18 foot ProCraft 180 and been caught many days on Lake Erie where it went from flat to 3-5 footers in a blink of an eye. A 10-20 mile run back in those is not fun but the advice that has been given is good and if you follow it you'll be fine in the Super Pro.

[wballard77]

First it would be helpful to know the body of water that you are talking about. Because there are different approaches to different water conditions (lake chop vs. big waves) both are nasty in there own right.

I fish a lot in the central basin of Lake Erie 2-3 foot wave heights are common, but you can get caught in 5-7 footers in the blink of an eye. I have a Tracker PT 175 TX and I'm sure your boat is more stable than mine, using the techniques described above in this forum and doing a few precautionary measures you can fish the big water with a little more confidence.

1) If you don't have an auto bilge I would consider getting one!

2) UHF radio with WX alert to keep up with changing weather conditions. And call for help if need be.

3) GPS is a great thing to have to know where you are going and how to get back with out searching.

4) 4-blade prop for your outboard 2-blade hi-thrust prop for trolling motor not necessary but helps

If you are venturing out and the wind is blowing gallons of water into your boat off the tops of white caps your trolling motor wont have the @$$ or the length to propel your boat! just something to think about

[cart7t]

Glenn is right on except for the part about the Ranger  

;D

[GLADES]

I recently competed in a TX on lake Istopoga in central FL.

I headed to the south end at first light. As the day passed the north wind increased to 25-35 MPH whipping the waves up to 3-5 ft.

The lake depth was 2 - 8 ft.

My 17 ft Procraft/merc 150  fish and ski handled 3-5 chop rather well running 45 deg to the chop on plane.

In my situation, I decided to run northeast, then run northwest - basicly tacking my way back to Hendersons cove on the NW corner of the lake.

I ran in the wave valleys for the smothest ride.

Make sure all your gear is stored and your trolling motor is strapped down.

Life vests and kill switch.

I finished in 6th place,my biggest bass was 5.02 lb

Hendersons cove is a nice camp.