Bass Boat Handling in Rough Water

Ok... In light chop and boat wakes the Cougar does ok. I do need to take a
little more effort to make sur I cut waves and wakes at about 45 degrees to
do it right. I have found that if I trim down a little bit (not a lot) and
let off on the hot foot as I hit slight wakes and then stmp on it as the
boat is about halfway acrosse a boat wake I get a pretty good ride.

I read an old Bassin' Magazine article about rough water handling, and
basically they said reduce trim, but only a little as if you nose down to
much you could spear into the water coming off a wave and into the next one.
They seemed to think the best way to handle rough water was to quarter waves
at planing speed, but not at WOT. Makes sense. Their advice was to (I get
confused here) power into a wave and reduce power coming off the wave.

If I missed anything please set me straight. I've never run really bad
stuff in a bass boat. I've done it in a big v-hull SeaRay before, but that
is a rough water boat suitable for offshore running as well.

Now, the accelerate decelate thing seems like it will take a little
practice, but it sorta makes sense. The same with taking waves at an good
angle.

Now, obviously the wind will not cooperate so I imagine to get across a big
lake like MEad in windy weather with waves you will have to tack back and
forth to get where you are going. How do you change directions safely to
accomplish this? i.e. Taking the waves at 45 deg then changing to take
htem at the opposing 45 degree angle.

Also, is there any major differences between taking oncoming waves vs
trailing waves?

I imagine I will be traveling substantially faster than the period of the
waves is cycling.

What kind of average speeds do you think I should be running?

I know last year at the ABA classic on Lake Mead my partner and I were
running a 17'5" (I think) Ranger (my partner's boat) and we took a
beating/soaking coming back across the main lake in the afternoon. The
waves were running about 3-5 feet. We took it at much slower speeds than I
figured was right, but I really had never thougth about taking rough water
in a bass boat before.

What got my attention was what looked like 20' plus Pro Craft bouncing
across the waves tops and doing what I guess as about 50 MPH. He was going
up and down, but he was moving fast and not taking any water and spray at
all over the boat. At first I figured it was just a difference in the size
of the boat, but after asking on a few different forums and reading a few
magazine articles I can guess it was atleast partly in boat handling
knowledge and skills as well.

So, for those of you guys who know how to safely run in rough water with a
bass boat. Please take a moment and try to analyze what you do to make this
happen. Then take a moment to let the rest of us know.

I'll be on Mead a couple times this year. It's like Powell in that it gets
rougher everyday in the afternoon and if there is any windyit can get really
rough.

Hey Roland!!! You out there? You fish Powell with your buddy Mr Yamamoto
all the time. How do you handle those wind blown waves and chop? LOL.

--
Bob La Londe
http://www.YumaBassMan.com

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Ok... In light chop and boat wakes the Cougar does ok. I do need to take
a
little more effort to make sur I cut waves and wakes at about 45 degrees
to
do it right. I have found that if I trim down a little bit (not a lot)
and
let off on the hot foot as I hit slight wakes and then stmp on it as the
boat is about halfway acrosse a boat wake I get a pretty good ride.

I read an old Bassin' Magazine article about rough water handling, and
basically they said reduce trim, but only a little as if you nose down to
much you could spear into the water coming off a wave and into the next
one.
They seemed to think the best way to handle rough water was to quarter
waves
at planing speed, but not at WOT. Makes sense. Their advice was to (I
get
confused here) power into a wave and reduce power coming off the wave.

This is how I approach it Bob, power up, and ease off or level off as I
crest a wave. Don't know why, I've never really read how to handle a bass
boat in rough water. I also try to cross waves perpendicular to their crest,
when possible.

I think how one approaches rough water in a "realatively" flat a boat as
bass boats are, totally depend on the size and frequency (spacing) of the
swells. If they were low and close enough, I'd try to power through them,
skipping my boat's contact patch/pad off the "upslope" of each one (learned
this from my PWC days). If they are tall and too far spaced to "jump/skim"
then I figure out if the "ease across them at roughly 45º" approach will
work or if I am going to power up them at 90º one at a time. It all comes
back to wave height, boat length, and wave spacing as to how I approach any
particular rough spots. Luckily, I now have a neat little 17.5' bass boat,
and swells aren't too terribly high on the flat lakes I use it on.


If I missed anything please set me straight. I've never run really bad
stuff in a bass boat. I've done it in a big v-hull SeaRay before, but
that
is a rough water boat suitable for offshore running as well.

Now, the accelerate decelate thing seems like it will take a little
practice, but it sorta makes sense. The same with taking waves at an good
angle.

Now, obviously the wind will not cooperate so I imagine to get across a
big
lake like MEad in windy weather with waves you will have to tack back and
forth to get where you are going. How do you change directions safely to
accomplish this? i.e. Taking the waves at 45 deg then changing to take
htem at the opposing 45 degree angle.

Also, is there any major differences between taking oncoming waves vs
trailing waves?


Trailing waves is a good question. I've never decided on the best way to
approach them personally. Usually I just find a good compromise between
skipping over them, and powering up on this crest, and then that crest,
depending on the wave/swell speed and direction also figuring in the wind
speed and direction. If there isn't a lot of boat traffic, I just tend to
ride along them at a leisurely speed that I can regain control in a hurry
with should a I come upon a trailing wave trying to carry me a direction
opposite that I want to go. IMO, getting "out" of trailing waves if they're
tall enough is the biggest challenge. I've seen guys try to turn "against"
running trailing waves and almost get broadside flipped as a result.

I imagine I will be traveling substantially faster than the period of the
waves is cycling.

What kind of average speeds do you think I should be running?

I know last year at the ABA classic on Lake Mead my partner and I were
running a 17'5" (I think) Ranger (my partner's boat) and we took a
beating/soaking coming back across the main lake in the afternoon. The
waves were running about 3-5 feet. We took it at much slower speeds than
I
figured was right, but I really had never thougth about taking rough water
in a bass boat before.

What got my attention was what looked like 20' plus Pro Craft bouncing
across the waves tops and doing what I guess as about 50 MPH. He was
going
up and down, but he was moving fast and not taking any water and spray at
all over the boat. At first I figured it was just a difference in the
size
of the boat, but after asking on a few different forums and reading a few
magazine articles I can guess it was atleast partly in boat handling
knowledge and skills as well.

So, for those of you guys who know how to safely run in rough water with a
bass boat. Please take a moment and try to analyze what you do to make
this
happen. Then take a moment to let the rest of us know.

I'll be on Mead a couple times this year. It's like Powell in that it
gets
rougher everyday in the afternoon and if there is any windyit can get
really
rough.

Hey Roland!!! You out there? You fish Powell with your buddy Mr Yamamoto
all the time. How do you handle those wind blown waves and chop? LOL.

--
Bob La Londe
http://www.YumaBassMan.com