waves

[BassnChris]

When fisherman speak of 2 ft or 3ft waves and navigating them..........are they referring to wave height or the distance between the waves?

[jbsoonerfan]

More than likely height, and they are more than likely are calling 1 ft waves 3 ft waves. Think about how far your deck is above the water, a 3 ft wave is twice as tall. Texoma and Eufaula are the only lakes I have been on where I would say there were 2 ft waves and that is more than enough foe me.

[Bluebasser86]

Height, and just like a lost bass, most guys are going to way overestimate the size of a wave. A 3' tall wave is a huge wave on most freshwater lakes.

[Deephaven]

Waves are measured peak from flat.  Ie, @ 3' wave goes up 3 and down 3 making the peak to peak 6'.  Fisherman however never estimate them right.  

 

[Jigfishn10]

8 hours ago, Deephaven said:

Waves are measured peak from flat.  Ie, @ 3' wave goes up 3 and down 3 making the peak to peak 6'.  Fisherman however never estimate them right.  

 

Exactly how I learned it.  From trough to peak wave.

Talk of swells is more often the topic of conversation.

[A-Jay]

 

10 hours ago, BassnChris said:

When fisherman speak of 2 ft or 3ft waves and navigating them..........are they referring to wave height or the distance between the waves?

 

https://secoora.org/education-outreach/waves/glossary/

 

A-Jay

[BassnChris]

Thanks everyone.....I should have said 'swell' as that is what I was referring to.

I always thought that it was height and from bottom of trough to top of swell....and that fishermen were exaggerating to a good degree.

 

I saw the image that AJay posted above a few weeks ago and between then and now.....something triggered my pea brain to 'wonder' ....so I thought I would ask.

 

Thanks again

[gim]

My last year in college I took Limnology and wrote about a 40 page paper on waves.  Its fascinating when you look it more closely because there's so many variables.  From rogue waves to ripples to tsunamis to Great Lakes waves, they're all different.  The depth of the water body makes a big difference too.  A big shallow lake generates waves using more of the water column than a deep one so the wave length in between crests can vary greatly.

[Bankc]

Speaking from experience, waves are twice as big when I'm sitting in my kayak versus standing on the bank.  

[A-Jay]

As a general rule ~

When wave height increases and wave length decreases, depending on the vessel,

navigation becomes very challenging.  Shallow water complicates it. 

If & when conditions exceed the limitations of the craft & or the operator

the pucker factor increases exponentially.

Personally, I prefer to avoid this whole deal but if & when faced with it,

I go slow.

A-Jay

[Jigfishn10]

3 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

As a general rule ~

When wave height increases and wave length decreases, depending on the vessel,

navigation becomes very challenging.  Shallow water complicates it. 

If & when conditions exceed the limitations of the craft & or the operator

the pucker factor increases exponentially.

Personally, I prefer to avoid this whole deal but if & when faced with it,

I go slow.

A-Jay

Yep, usually happens late summer trying to get in a dinghy to get out to the mooring...can't tell you how many times I either got washed up on the beach or tossed out of the dinghy...?...the latter is an indicator that it'll be prudent to do a little surf fishing...?

[J Francho]

55 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

 

https://secoora.org/education-outreach/waves/glossary/

 

A-Jay

Thanks for sparing me a search for this

 

When dealing with waves, you have to take into account the hull design, length of the boat, and many aspects of the waves you're likely to encounter.  My 17' tin can tiller with a 50 hp on tha back could handle much worse conditions than my 22' bass boat.  When I fished tournaments, and knew there would be 6' rollers on Erie or Ontario, I'd take my 18' aluminum Xpress, not the 22' Bullet.  Sounds backwards, but each hull reacts differently.  Now, you heard me right, 6' waves.  Those waves might have a length of 25' or more.  Those are no big deal, if you know how to ride them.  Going in the same direction is often the most difficult.  Paralleling them isn't really an option.  A hot foot throttle makes it a little easier using bursts of power to keep the bow elevated so you don't spear waves.  It also allows you to keep both hands on the wheel.  A tiller offers the same benefits, combining the steering and throttle.  I've been caught in some pretty dicey weather, but overall I think big, long rollers lull you into feeling safe, but they take even more skill.

 

This day weather kicked up out of nowhere.  We were less than 10 miles from the launch, in the big lake.  Coming back to the launch, the wind was to our backs, and we were flying over the little chop.  It only took around 30 mins for that to escalate into nasty 5-6' white caps.  We were trailered by then though.

 

 

 

 

22 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Shallow water complicates it. 

It can really expedite things, for sure!  On Lake Ontario, you start to see white foam on the crests of chop, and you probably have around hour before things escalate.  On Erie or Oneida you have around 15 mins.

[gim]

10 minutes ago, J Francho said:

My 17' tin can tiller with a 50 hp on tha back could handle much worse conditions than my 22' bass boat

 

That's interesting.  I would have never thought that to be the case.  I have a 17'8" aluminum mod V bass boat and I will admit that its not great in chop.  It turns into a bouncy ride pretty quick.  But then again I know the limitations and I'm not out there in it anymore.

[J Francho]

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

That's interesting.  I would have never thought that to be the case.  I have a 17'8" aluminum mod V bass boat and I will admit that its not great in chop.

This was a deep-V by Sea Nymph.  That boat was a beast.

 

I love all the crooked horizons this series of photos.  That's my dad and his "fancy scale" to weigh all his 2-pounders.

[12poundbass]

So what is a swell? 
 

Big lakes and oceans are pretty mind boggling to me and everything they can do. I get wind and big waves, but for instance watching Deadliest Catch I’ve heard them more than a few times talk about the tide and the wind direction creating gigantic waves, or the current (maybe the same as the tide?) the wind working against each other to create terrible conditions. Then throw in current in a giant lake or ocean and I’m left scratching my head wondering how this happens. When I think of current I think of rivers, creaks, and streams. 
 

I guess I’m glad I just have my tiny lakes around me that don’t produce much for waves. The boat traffic creates bigger waves than any nasty storm does. 

[J Francho]

You'd be surprised how bad it can get when current and wind work against each other.  I think the worst conditions involving this I ever experienced was in the canal that connects Lakes Marion and Moultrie on Santee Cooper.  Absolutely brutal, and that is a pretty narrow strip of water.

[TOXIC]

All I know is this....when on St Clair one year we were motoring DOWN the face of the waves and when in the trough the water was 2 feet over our heads and then we had to motor UP the backside of the next wave.  I have no idea exactly what the wave height was but I was sure glad I was with someone born and raised running that lake.  

[Choporoz]

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

So what is a swell? 

Swells are strategic and waves are tactical.  Swells involve much greater volume and area of water, typically; and take a long time to get disrupted by wind and weather.  Waves are more localized, pop up and disappear quickly and more directly affected by surface wind (and wakes and current to an extent)    I've been at sea in 15-20 foot swells, without much in the way of discernable waves.  Big swells with confused waves can be a nightmare to safely navigate in any boat

[moguy1973]

I've been in a 521 Ranger in 3' waves (trough to crest) in a long shallow lake with headwinds coming down lake towards us.  Wasn't a fun time and we stuffed the nose 3-4 times and wasn't much we could do about it other than time the throttle to stay up on top of the crests.

[XF15-Loader]

On 2/5/2021 at 10:24 AM, J Francho said:

It can really expedite things, for sure!  On Lake Ontario, you start to see white foam on the crests of chop, and you probably have around hour before things escalate.  On Erie or Oneida you have around 15 mins.

 I've been on Erie in 3-5's, trying to beat a storm, in and the pucker factor was pretty intense.  I couldn't imagine a 6' roller...no way...LOL.

[Captain Phil]

Living in Miami most of my life, I've done my share of offshore fishing.   Wave and weather conditions are something you learn to pay attention to.  The worst conditions I have ever fished in salt water was in Venezuela with the average wave being 6-8 feet with an occasional 14 foot swell thrown in.  The boat that we were fishing in was 60 foot, but it was still frightening. I fished the Miami bill fish tournament in 10 foot seas in a 25 foot boat. The worst fresh water conditions I ever saw was in Lake Erie.  We came around the island in a 20 foot Ranger bass boat and speared a wall of water that filled the cockpit and nearly sank the boat.

 

When fishing and running in waves, how you handle the boat is important.  This may seem obvious, but some bass anglers only have two speeds... dead stop and full throttle.  Every boat has an optimal speed and trim where the boat can handle rough conditions without pounding or drenching the passengers.  On the Harris Chain, people have been killed in bass boats when the boat flipped or capsized in rough weather. Some years ago, we lost the State B.A.S.S. Federation President that way.  He had a wife and kids.  Don't let that happen to you.

 

 

[detroit1]

I know a guy that broke his 20' triton's transome and out board in (normally) 8' of water because of a wave on St. Clair.