TackleTour

Just curious, because I've never been to a lot of the BIG lakes around the country, how would you guys rank these fisheries as far as how rough the water gets...and feel free to add some to the list if I missed any, or take some out...

1) Erie
2) Amistad/Falcon
3) Clear Lake
4) Champlain
5) Toledo/Rayburn


I have been to Toledo and Rayburn and those can get pretty rough if some wind kicks up, but I was just wondering how they compare to a lake like Amistad, or even Erie. I'm sure Erie is by far the concensus #1 roughest lake in the country...but just wondering how it compares to some of these others. I know that when the Elite tourney was at Erie, I've never seen that many guys get seasick or that many boats get wrecked at any other tournament..



Justin

I've been on a few of those listed that were nasty. Lake Erie and Lake Michigan bring back memories of getting getting seasick in big-rolling waves. However, my worst for kidney hammering, boat slamming, 'you know what' puckering waves were:

1: Lake of the Woods; steady 40mph winds from the west blew all the water to the east side of the lake, resulting in 8' random waves
2: Winnipeg River south of Minaki, Ontario (Big Stretch); heavy current heading NW, with 50 mph winds from the NW caused 8 to 6' tall walls of water to appear on that section of the river... (We've had this happen several times over the past 25 years or so.)
3: Rainy Lake (Canada); out of no where we got hit by a 70mph blast of wind from the west, while heading west in open water.... We had to keep going, since there was no way to duck into a cove(just too much water to cross)... It was a long 2 hour boat ride!

Chuck

Any of the great lakes can get incredibly rough. It is estimated that the waves on Lake Superior the night the Edmund Fitzgerald sank were 80-100 feet tall I'll stick to small water thanks.

1) Lake Ontario: Owned and sailed a 22 ft. sailboat out of Oakville on Lake Ontario. Had my parents out for their first "leisure" sail. Out of nowhere a gust came and I found out what a knockdown was. Wound up climbing the mast to release the jammed jib. Motored back. Parents never went sailing again. Sold sailboat.

2) Georgian Bay: can be unnavigable for days at a time. Especially on the "out" side of the 30,000 islands. I stopped going there. You need a 28 footer to feel comfortable, at least IMO.

I've personally seen how bad Lake Michigan can get and it's definitely up there.

The Great Lakes should be ranked #1 for fresh water. The weather can turn on you very quickly. You can never keep your guard down. If your 10+ miles out it could take you hours to get back to port - depending on the direction of the wind and the size of your boat.

I've been out on Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan in some stupid-crazy weather, while salmon fishing and/or coming home from another port. It's not fun trying to surf your boat between two pier heads - especially when it's your dad's boat. You only get one chance to get it right. I have a great respect for the Great Lakes.

Est. size waves I've been on: 10' to 14' swells to 8' to 10' whitecaps.
Boat lengths: 16' to 32'

Not like the Great Lakes, but Kentucky Lake can give you more than you want to handle

I've been on Amistad, Rayburn, T-Bend and Falcon in bad weather. The funny thing is, only Amistad is close Tawakoni in bad wind. I don't know what it is about that lake with the way it's laid out, but Tawakoni in east Texas is just crazy dangerous. You get some 5-6ft rollers going pretty easy and the part that make it bad is you'll get blown into some timber pretty easily. You'll be on top of a roller, look down between waves and see big stumps sticking up 6in out of the water. That will put your stomach in your throat REAL quick.
Amistad is big and you get some enormous waves, but you never get that doom and gloom feeling you get on Falcon in the wind. Falcon, with all the big open flats and the long runs you make a lot of times because of the lack of ramps, you'll get the feeling of "Well, I had a good run." I've been on Falcon in February in an 18ft Ranger, with 40mph gusts and the only thing we could do to stay on top was idle on top of one wave until we got to a launch, get a ride from someone that happened to be there, trailer back and get out that way.
I'd be afraid to go anywhere on the great lakes and not be in a 22fter at least.

Was out on Michigan yesterday (Sat) in 2 to 3 foot waves. The run out to troll was very harsh (17ft v hull with a 115 merc) After we got set up and started the troll that is when my stomach let loose. I was torn up for the rest of the day. Comming back in was worse. We got air born 5 or 6 times with the main motor out of the water. It was pure hell.........

Joe

tj,

I'm with you...I've been caught out on Kentucky Lake when I thought I wasn't going to make it back in on more than one occasion!

Of course, as you said, it's definately not the great lakes.

-D

JayInGrapevine wrote:I've been on Amistad, Rayburn, T-Bend and Falcon in bad weather. The funny thing is, only Amistad is close Tawakoni in bad wind. I don't know what it is about that lake with the way it's laid out, but Tawakoni in east Texas is just crazy dangerous. You get some 5-6ft rollers going pretty easy and the part that make it bad is you'll get blown into some timber pretty easily. You'll be on top of a roller, look down between waves and see big stumps sticking up 6in out of the water. That will put your stomach in your throat REAL quick.
Amistad is big and you get some enormous waves, but you never get that doom and gloom feeling you get on Falcon in the wind. Falcon, with all the big open flats and the long runs you make a lot of times because of the lack of ramps, you'll get the feeling of "Well, I had a good run." I've been on Falcon in February in an 18ft Ranger, with 40mph gusts and the only thing we could do to stay on top was idle on top of one wave until we got to a launch, get a ride from someone that happened to be there, trailer back and get out that way.
I'd be afraid to go anywhere on the great lakes and not be in a 22fter at least.

What Jay said, been there too meself, I hate those Tamaulipas lakes when the wind kicks in, Guerrero, La República Española, Ramiro caballero, Xicotencatl ....... don´t get pretty , soon you discover that all those horses you have pushing your boat are good for nothing, put them to work and your boat gets impaled on the submerged trees or tree stumps, it´s an absolute insanity hitting the gas.

I live in Ohio so I get to Erie some each summer. I also drag my boat to Big Sam every March.

Hands down, Erie (or any great lake) will whip up larger waves, but in most cases they are rollers. I can deal with the occasional 4-5 footer if it's a roller.

I was on Rayburn end of March 2006 when the waves almost took me out. I have a 18 ft astro, not made for rough water. They were choppers & about 3-4 ft. We were down below the black forest going back up under the bridge to a ramp facing the main lake. I jhad to stop multiple times in coves just to let the pumps get the water out.

Texans are great!!! There were a hand full of locals wading out in the lake helping everyone get their boats in. One guy told me the only time he had ever seen it worse was when a hurricane was setting on top of the lake.

Like someone else said, its not the great lakes, but KY lake can flat get wicked. It can do it on a regular basis too. One of the worst days I've seen tho was here on the Ohio river. We had 3 or 4 days straight of 30-40 mph winds straight out of the south, day and night, and when we took off out of the marina the boat that was in front of me was a 19' Triton and it completely went out of sight it speared a wave so hard. I almost done the same before I realized it. That day there were a bunch of guys that lost trolling motors, busted their hulls, lost their electronics, the cowlings off their motors, you name it and they lost or tore it up. I had drawn out with a guy that fished lake michigan all his life and had him in the boat with me, he even said that was the absolute worst stuff he'd ever been in even counting Lake Michigan. He said up there the waves get a lot bigger, but you can get on them or between them and go. That stuff that day you just couldn't do anything with it. There were several times I was flat scared.