How much wind is too much wind?

[Hnaf]

So I'm just trying to get a better feel for planning trips out on my toon. What I don't have figured out well enough is how fast the wind, as a general rule, needs to be going to be too fast for a tube/toon trip. So I'll put this question out for anyone willing to share their opinion. When you look at your favorite forecast info as you plan trips what is your cut off point that would make you choose a different day to go?
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[pontoonman]

Depends on how well you know your water, the direction, temperature, boat size, and your power source- fins, oars, or motor. Can you call someone located at your destination to find out what conditions are? How bumpy does the ride get at 10 mph? Are there protected areas where you don't have to fight to hold position? Which shorelines will be calmer for use in getting to your target area?

Hope this helps.

Pon

[quote Hnaf]So I'm just trying to get a better feel for planning trips out on my toon. What I don't have figured out well enough is how fast the wind, as a general rule, needs to be going to be too fast for a tube/toon trip. So I'll put this question out for anyone willing to share their opinion. When you look at your favorite forecast info as you plan trips what is your cut off point that would make you choose a different day to go?[/quote]
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[Bassamatic]

The wind on the lake I fish usually starts picking up around 10:00, give or take an hour. I have only experienced wind strong enough to force me off the water once in two years of tubing (and I use an H3 which sets pretty high and is affected by the wind real easily). That one day I had to fight to stay in one place and after 2 hours of that, I was very tired and called it a day.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I use the forecasts for the weather channel...hour by hour...the day before my trip to make last minute decisions for the water I am targeting.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On some lakes I look for wind from the south, with no more than 5 mph forecasts. Others fish better with the wind from different directions and with a little more wind tolerable because of natural barriers along the shoreline I plan to fish. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have found that whenever the forecast is for 3 mph or less it is the same as dead flat calm. I have also found that the actual conditions might be winds from exactly the opposite direction and several times the forecast velocity.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In truth, I seldom experience conditions even close to those forecast by any of the local sources. I just make my own best guess based on prevailing conditions and past experience. I am usually right more often than the forecasters...because I usually predict just the opposite of what they do.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]For float tubing, winds in excess of five mph become difficult to manage and fish. If you require a degree of finesse and touch in your fishing method you will be unable to maintain proper contact with light jigs on light line if you are fighting to keep your tube in position. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It seems to be a Murphy's Law kind of thing that whenever I plan to fish a distance away from where I launch that I have to kick against the wind all the way to my intended fishing spot. Then the wind dies down until I get ready to return. About the time I start thinking about returning to my vehicle the wind will come up from that direction so I have to kick even harder all the way back.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Mama Nature is evil and vengeful. You just can't win some days. [/#0000ff]
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[flygoddess]

The spring time, I find myself praying for windless or less wind days.
I am pretty determined however. If I want to fish, I will try some pretty bad conditions.

I think the depth of the water has allot to do with it.
Some lakes are very shallow, and when the wind moves in, they can get ugly really quick.
Then the deeper waters can get some big waves, but it takes a little longer to stir up the water.

For me....2' & larger white caps will turn me to rivers for the day.
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[ydoc]

[quote TubeDude] [#0000ff] ...some lakes I look for wind from the south, with no more than 5 mph forecasts. Others fish better with the wind from different directions and with a little more wind tolerable because of natural barriers along the shoreline I plan to fish. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]For float tubing, winds in excess of five mph become difficult to manage and fish. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you require a degree of finesse and touch in your fishing method you will be unable to maintain proper contact with light jigs on light line if you are fighting to keep your tube in position. [/#0000ff]
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[quote flygoddess] I am pretty determined however. If I want to fish, I will try some pretty bad conditions. [/quote]

Well, if any of you know anything about the Midwest (and most of the plains-states), it's almost ALWAYS windy! [crazy]

I hate the wind... and if we had more lakes around here, I'd have probably taken up SAILING vs. fishing!! [] Around here, anything less than 15 mph is "calm". I even TRIED to float-tube once last year when the wind was 25 mph with gusts to 35... yeah, right! [pirate] Well, I said I tried... only because I thought that a near-by hill might have sheltered me from the blasts. NOT! The waves weren't a problem, but I was like a cork on the ocean!

My point is - and as flygoddess so aptly put - I'm determined to fish WHEN I can, wind/rain be damned. Between the job, family, and weather, I'd never get to go unless I set my mind to it.

Go when you can, use common sense for the waters you'll be on AND the likelihood of getting out at a later date/time when the conditions may be more suitable for you AND your area.

Above all, be safe...
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[Hnaf]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I think I'm somewhat in the naive yet determined mode. This got me on a couple trips to the Knolls last year where I got a free ride south along the shoreline but getting back was hard work. I thought about it afterwards and was counting myself lucky the wind was not pushing me east into the lake as the potential issues for being sent out away from shore kind of sunk in. So it left me wondering a lot about what is a safe MPH to fish in knowing that each lake, and even areas of a lake, would have different features that could make it hard to nail it down simply to MPH for the wind. Again thanks for the advice.
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[flygoddess]

I will say, when I do launch in a wind, I try my hardest to stay close to the shore line. I have had those back breaking work outs as well.
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[Erawk]

I asked a similar question and got great answers from the good people here at BFT. Check the links [fishin]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=441483#441483"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...i?post=441483#441483[/url]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=337898"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...orum.cgi?post=337898[/url]
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[Hnaf]

Thanks for those 2 links they were good reads!
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[Hnaf]

Maybe this would be of interest to others as well. I spoke with some of the Meteorologists up here at the U and asked what web resource would present the best information for localized weather in Utah. I was pointed at this NOAA web service:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/firewx/fwpfm/fwp...ace=public

From a few quick glances it looks fairly easy to drill in on specific areas and it gives some wind information for the next 3 days.
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[flygoddess]

WOW!!!! That is awesome, you rock man...thanks!
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