Son Jake, and friend made it in last night in NW Ontario for a fishing trip. After two hours of fighting wind, and caught in rocks, and cutting line,
they came in.

Maybe it will be better weather tomorrow.
Ever run bad weather on a sporting trip?

I spent 6 years in Kodiak, a lot of it outdoors. Learned this much, there is no such thing as bad weather ... only bad rain gear.

glad they got home safe.

i don't do florida during hurricane season.

Have been blown off the water many times. One time, on a portage between lakes, there were dark clouds gathering. I opined that they were moving from northwest to southeast and would not involve us. Ten minutes later we were hunkered down (at least we had rain gear on instead of packing it) on the trail and could not see each other from five feet away.

No never. Only hunt and fish when it's 71.5 degrees, calm, and clear.

All the time. It's Alaska.

got flipped over coming into packery channel jetties when there was a tropical storm in the bay of campeachie. or how ever you spell that, lost close to 10,000 in rods reels and and tackle.... but we lived by the grace of god.

This past July in Ontario I had a first time ever weather experience. Had a storm brewing to the West but the wind was blowing South to North. Told my buddy I thought it would miss us. Ten minutes later I said let's get our rain gear on. 10 minutes after that the sky to to South was getting dark and we saw a lightning bolt. I said let's head to the ramp, a 15 minute run to the East. Half ways there my buddy tapped my shoulder and pointed behind us, a wall of rain was coming. I was running thirty MPH and thought I could out run it. Next time he said look behind us there were water spouts headed toward us. Two passed to our left and one to the right. They were whirlwinds about forty to fifty feet tall and pulling water up off the white caps. Soon as they passed the rain hit and visibility went to hell. Fortunately we were ready to turn in behind the last point and the ramp was only a couple hundred yards away. Pulled out and headed back to camp. Power was out at camp for the next 20 hours due to trees down on the power lines.
Never raced water spouts before and don't care to do it again.

More often bad weather than not, Wabi.

For about the 22 year in a row we got a great rain a few days before the dove opener, too. But, I'm glad we did. We needed it.

Plenty of water in the dirt road ruts of oil fields and ranches to keep them scattered and away from coming to water holes.

Rog, I am really glad the Lord had you in the palm of His hand that day

I got blown off Leech Lake in MN one day last week. High wind takes the fun out of fishing.

My brother and I had a rough one out of Petersburg once in a skiff we rented from Scandia House. I would not want to do that one over again. But I fell in love with that area, some great Scandahoovians dere, by gol. and a replica of that world record sport-caught king.

In general, the bigger the boat, the worse weather it can handle, but many have been lost because they misguessed what their boat could handle or the severity of the weather. When in question, get off the water.

After a day of fishing on the Kenai several years ago, my buddies were going to run me back upriver and across Skilak to drop me off at the landing. They were spending the night and I had to head home. While running up river we came up to a couple of guys from Colorado who had busted the shear pin on their driftboats outboard. I took it apart and fixed it with whatever I could find to make it work. They offered to run me out as they were headed the same way.

We made it to about 1/2 mile from the mouth and I knew it was bad. The wind was screaching, it was damn near dark and all I could see was a wall of white when I looked at the lake. The prop was out of the water more than in. I told them I wasn't interested and to take me to shore. They tried to convince me it would be fine but I told them we'd all die, and if they were smart they'd listen and walk up the lake with me. They were more worried about bears in the dark then 6'-8' waves breaking down the lake. Luckily they listened to me and we hit the beach. Skilak Lake is no joke and it's not the place to be in those conditions.

Les's king?

It can be like the Bering!

Yep, lots !

Both freshwater lakes here & the ocean back in Australia !

Mother Nature is not to be trifled with.

That's for sure! I nearly got my parents and I killed on my mothers Bday (Happy Bday mom!) after we had floated the canyon. I waited all damn day for the lake to lay down and it just wouldn't quit. I followed a guide out (who was in a much larger boat) and had to run all the way to the far shore as I couldn't turn to run downwind. It took almost an 1 1/2 hours to get to the other side. Once there we could run down the shore then cross back when we got down the lake a bit. That wind was blowing right down from the glacier into the cove by Hidden Creek. Friggin scary lake sometimes!

I agree Ptarmigan, that lake is no joke. lake Louise is another one that scares me.

Yah Suuurrreee.... you bettchaa!!!

Same brother as the Petersburg caper; we had a pretty exciting week one May on Atlin Lake, in BC. Caught some nice lakers but had to really watch the freshwater wave action, lake is very long N/S and 1-3 miles wide E/W. beautiful country...

And Tusty.

A 20' 90hp river boat with jet ...in cook inlet....wind blowing from the south comming down the bay, meeting a fast tide going the other way ...like driving across a thousand setup 4' or 5' saw horse's....builges running .....weld cracks opening an closing ...only 50% of the boat bottom was wet ...

Wear that PFD, have some gear along, "just in case".

I've been blown off Lake Superior twice......I know the feeling.

In the past I fished offshore in Gulf of Mexico. We had our share of bad weather.

The worst trip was on a day that called for good weather and relatively calm seas. My partner, his 13 year old son, and me were in our 27 foot Boston Whaler powered by a pair of 225 hp Optimax’s. We were about 50 miles offshore and had been dodging thunderstorms and water spouts when a thunderstorm basically formed on top of us. My partner took his son in the cuddy and I drove the boat in to the seas as best as I could. Spent about 45 minutes in 10ft plus steep choppy seas. That was the only time I was worried about sinking in that boat. After the thunderstorm passed a workboat nearby called us on the radio to make certain we were ok. He clocked 50 mph winds. The weather cleared, seas flattened, we caught our fish and went home.


I also spent 12 hours in a 100’ workboat in 25 to 30 ft seas during hurricane Juan back in the 80’s. That is a longer story and was a flat out miserable experience.

Was supposed to do a walleye charter on Lake Erie tomorrow but the captain has cancelled - high winds.

Not too high, for some lakes, but too high for Lake Erie. Fished with him before. He’s a good captain, I trust his judgement.

We’re rebooked for Sept. 15.

seas are "suppose to be 2ft" sun and monday... planning on going out.

That's what happened to the British on Lake Erie!!

Uh - who sent the storm?

testing....testing....testing.

Blown off the water tonight in the U.P. of Michigan. Found some fish behind an island out of the wind then the wind changed direction and game over. Prop of the bow mount trolling motor was out of the water as much as it was in. I am still rockin and rollin and I've been off the water for 2 and a half hours.

This past June my wife and I were floating the Kootenai River in NW Montana. Fly fishing. Towards the end of day two's float a large thunderstorm hit. Was supposed to go north of us. It didn't. Poured rain, nearby lightening strikes, etc. We hustled it down to our take out then sat in the truck for 20 minutes waiting the storm to pass. Looking back it was a great piece of the three day trip.

makes it interesting , and something to remember.

I've run 15' waves in a 16 footer, ...no fun. The big lake here, Great Slave, can produce 35 footers if the wind is from the south, and the water level on the north side will rise 5 feet!!

Not since this morning, but I'll have to admit, it was the lightning cracking that sealed the deal. I don't do lightning if I can help it, but storms build so quickly this time of year the only way to avoid it is not go.

We (myself and two friends) had a terribly close call on Rangely Lake in ME a few years ago. We do an annual early spring troll just after ice-out. Decades of it under our belts, and it’s always windy as [bleep], nature of the beast up there. ‘Salmon Chop’ is what you want anyway, not glass. 16 ft Lund tiller. Typically plenty of boat for a smallish lake such as that. Not so. We knew big winds were coming, but figured we could could deal and fish around them to whatever extent. At least get an honest AM fish in before the winds went to 40 gusts In the afternoon. Well, they went to 40 plus gusts around 9:30 or 10 that morning, well ahead of schedule, and we were dead-[bleep] in a cove facing the teeth of it to run run home. Awful. I’ve been in a 35 foot Grady coming out of Nantucket in some seriously stacked waves that [bleep] us up and made me a little nervous, but i’ve Never been afraid for my life as at anytime on that day at rangely.tje waves were 4 ft I would say. We just didn’t have enough boat. It was a blessing we made it back dry.

A buddy of mine and his family used to own a camp on Moosehead, until the paper company yanked their lease (or priced them out of it). We used to do a lot of spring trolling out there. I can remember more than one sketchy crossing from Farm Island back over to the camp taking water over the bow. I do miss spring trolling for LL salmon!

I was out with a guide on Saginaw Bay last year with my two girls. Girls got sick. Guide turned green. I was fine but we turned back after the guide asked me if I was sure I felt ok for the 17th time, girls had had enough too.

This.

20 years in Marine Corps my a lot about gear in field.

I’d prefer to get blown on the lake.

Back about 2007 we were hunting moose at Wintering Lake in Geraldton, Ontario, a fairly remote area 40 miles off the highway on logging roads. We hunting about 45 min back on the lake. This wasn’t a straight run, but through all kinds of channels, shallows, deadheads, etc. We had them all marked on our GPS.

Shot a moose at dusk. What with gutting, loading etc. We weren’t headed back until midnight. Normally we would do that trip in the dark just fine.

That night, a storm blew in. It was BLACK. We had freezing rain blowing SIDEWAYS as we went back. Kissed the ground when we landed.

We refer to it as ‘blown off the water’.

Having spent most of my life on the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, much of it fishing and hunting in small boats 9 months of the year, yes, I’ve been blown about some. I’ve also been very cold more than a few times.