Talked the Mrs. and Mirco Downriggin into heading up early Monday to fish the morning and early afternoon. Give us a shout... 16' Northwood Black and Tan. (May the Wind Gods be with us!)

Dangerous Dave... For some reason I can't get ahold of you today or tomorrow, I'll hit ya on Ch 68 Monday.

Downriggin'

Downriggin, Sounds as if my family might be starting to back out. Weather report is calling for not so good conditions in the Straits begining tonight and continuing throughout the weekend. Talked to the Lady at Olsons Marina and a guy came off the water at 0900 this am and claims their were 12 ft rollers out there????Frecast says 3-4' wind waves for Sunday...That coupled with big rollers might get nasty... Starting to look into fishing Southworth or maybe Dolphin Pt.
Give me a buzz later this evening.

Hey Downriggin hope your having a good day and hope you got all the boys moved out okay :p :ma.
Change 965 to my plans! Sekiu is back on, think I'm leaving tonight and gonna try the the early morning bite. Getting ready to check the marine forecast again, but hear it is worsening....

I guess they don't call you Dangerous Dave for nothing. Weather Report.

Think I'll stay in my zipper lip spot this weekend. Heck I might even shoot over to Southworth.

I'll call you later.

Downriggin'

I guess your finished at the "Q".
Here's the wx i've been looking at: What do you think??????
Weak onshore flow will continue today. Onshore flow will increase behind the cold front on sun. A stronger front will approach the area Mon and Mon night bringing increasing southerly flow and a chance of rain. Stationary low pres behind the front will persist Tue and Wed bringing light SW flow and scattered showers.

Forecast as of 9:30 am PDT on August 31, 2002
U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca
Small Craft Advisory expected tonight and Sunday Today
W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 1 or 2 ft. Areas of fog with visibilities less than a mile lifting by noon.
Tonight
W wind 15 to 25 kt...with the strongest winds over the central Strait and E entrance. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. Local drizzle late.
Sun
W wind 15 to 25 kt...with the strongest winds over the central Strait and E entrance. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. Areas of morning drizzle or light rain.
Sun Night
W wind 30 kt.
Mon
W wind 20 kt becoming SE 15 kt in the afternoon.

Even in your boat, don't think I would be heading up. Wind waves are different than swells (they break on top of the swell) plus low pressure fronts are unpredictable.

You might be ok fishing inside the bay area though... it is a long drive to be wrong!

It's hard to make a decision when the Silvers are thick...

Downriggin

The time to decide to go or not is when your just leaving the bay. Not going at all based on weather reports you would miss out on many a great fishing ventures. We fished in a 15' boat and had 6-8' swells on Friday but landed some 10-15lb. coho. Have fun.

Waiteman,

As a professional mariner, I would have to wholeheartly disagree with you unless I was still fishing commercially and had to put food on the table. However, a few thoughts....

My life is not worth the fish I intend to catch. I play, "Better safe than sorry." Additionally, if I was a betting man, I'd wager my wife would kill me (or cut me off for a very long time) if I attempted to leave the dock with her and my 7 year old daughter in a 16' boat during this type of weather.

Points to ponder:

1) It only takes half the distance of your freeboard to capsize your vessel.
(Displacement +/- Center of Gravity = Stability)

2) Although weather reports are fairly accurate, they are based on models therefore predicted. Low presssure fronts are nothing to play with especially in a small craft (or any vessel for that matter because they tend to be unpredictable in nature). Then one might have to deal with rogue swell/waves. I would rather concentrate on fishing than holding onto something...

3) Lord help those with sudden engine or bilge failure... And then there are those who don't carry VHF or GPS... scary thought!

4) Advise to all. You are a boater first and foremost- fisherman second. If you didn't have rods in the boat, would you leave the dock in heavy weather? We all fall in the
"complacency trap" all too often out on the water.

I didn't intend to come across as the fishing/weather Scrooge however, there is a vision that enters my mind when the chop is up. A vision that will never leave... Although the scenario is different, (earning a living vice recreational)it is painful to lose a buddy over the side. What a reminder huh?

Downriggin'

Downriggin,

My post was targeting the lighter side of fishing in general, not as a rule of thumb to live by. Obviously it touched a nerve or memory of a tragic event from the past. I can only base my opinions on my own abilities, knowledge of the water and the equipement I'm using. I do have an extensive background with N.W. weather and the water conditions that may arise and base my fishing ventures drawing from all the available information, past and current. My boating skills are far above average so maybe I'm not taking into account the readers abilities when making general statements. As stated in a previous post, be ready for anything.

Points To Ponder:

The Titanic was unsinkable...

Linguists estimate Easter Island's first inhabitants arrived around AD 400, and most agree that they came from East Polynesia...by canoe

What a true quote. However, the owner led the world to believe this, not the builder

There's always the Edmond Fitzgerald...

No hard feelings here... I am sure there are varying degress of boating skills on the BB and admire your confidence however, it only takes one AH [Bleeeeep!]. My point is, why put yourself in harm's way if you don't have to. Personally, I am not going to drive 180 miles to fish those conditions or even if there is a chance of it.

At my current profession, in my younger days, I used to meet folks the hard way. Either jumping from a helo or off a boat to fish them out. When things settled down, we would query them in detail. Their answer the first question always started with two words, "I thought..."

Again, no hard feelings. Keep it safe- I hate cold water! Plus, the world doesn't need another movie about incidents at sea!

Downriggin'

I fished Sekiu today. The weather was beautiful, nearly as good as it gets. Small swells and hardly any wind. A little fog every once in a while. Fish were biting well once we found where they were at. Three of us put about 20 fish to the side of the boat, largest pushing only 10lbs though. All said and done it was a great day on the water. Really looking forward to heading back up there in a couple of weeks and getting into some of the big ones......