Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: JFE on August 21, 2014, 09:23:08 PM

Title: Marine Weather
Post by: JFE on August 21, 2014, 09:23:08 PM

I bought a boat this year and I am new to ocean trolling with down riggers.  We have been fishing sand heads/ steveston area this year with some success.   We have also encountered some nasty waves on the ebb tide when the wind picks up.  A question for the old salts:  given the same tides and winds is it more advisable to launch at mcdonald beach and fish up to pt grey? Does a 10-15 knot wind mean the same thing at sand heads as it does further north or south by the coal port for that matter?  Is ambleside a decent place to fish when the wind is too high for sand heads?  And one more question, what is a general rule of thumb for what sort of weather one can venture out in.  Is a 10 knot wind too much?  Thanks in advance for the advice and tight lines!

Title: Re: Marine Weather
Post by: Alomar on August 21, 2014, 09:58:51 PM

How big is your boat

Title: Re: Marine Weather
Post by: canso on August 21, 2014, 10:01:08 PM

 over 10knots anything westerly (NW, W, or SW) gets lumpy at any Fraser arm. Add that with an ebb tide and you have standing waves.
If you have to go, then horseshoe bay or lions bay would be protected but then your fishing less productive areas. But watch for the Howe sound southerly outflow. Lol

The biggest waves I've seen have been at the North Arm in front of wreck beach. Seemed like double the hight of my windshield. They were chasing me in, caught in the trough I couldn't power up the next wave. I looked back praying the wave didn't crest into my boat, with the over weight prawn gear on my back deck. Nothing tied down just incase we needed to push it overboard.

Title: Re: Marine Weather
Post by: JFE on August 22, 2014, 10:23:01 AM

Thanks for the tips and anecdote. I have a 15 ft smokercraft with a 40 hp yamaha.  Its more of a river boat but on a calm day its a lot of fun on the chuck. 

Title: Re: Marine Weather
Post by: vandenhooff on August 23, 2014, 09:41:20 AM

Here's a nice site with wind conditions. Its doesn't reference the Sand Heads or Point Grey area. Its for English Bay area, but I'm sure you'll be taking your boat there too. There's a live web cam so you can see what its really doing out there. Try it, it may be useful for you.

http://www.jerichowind.com/