Whats the worst weather you have been out in,and any scary story's please feel free

stlbob

Cadet
Joined
Jun 28, 2013
Messages
12
Would prefer weather from a run on the river or lake...im a looong way from coastal waters.
 

chimmike

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 26, 2013
Messages
141
Re: Whats the worst weather you have been out in,and any scary story's please feel fr

we were in a pretty nasty FL thunderstorm last weekend on the Manatee river. 18' bowrider, bimini up but not helping. Couldn't see 20' in front of the boat because of the wind-driven rain. Waves kicked up 2-3' and were were porpoising from it. Plowing along staying off plane to keep from splashing over the bow. I was getting pelted while standing up and trying to see!

Minor story, but that's mine.
 

Fishing Dude too

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
May 13, 2011
Messages
1,035
Re: Whats the worst weather you have been out in,and any scary story's please feel fr

5 small water spouts on lake Erie while watching from the beach. Nuff said
 

Tyme2fish

Commander
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
2,481
Re: Whats the worst weather you have been out in,and any scary story's please feel fr

Knute(The Heathen) and I were at Lake Talquin in Florida. We noticed all the other boats leaving but they generally left about that time each day. We look at the horizon and see an ominous black cloud approaching and start to hear the thunder. Knute(The Heathen) was starting to catch some crappie and didn't want to leave but I prevailed in us heading back to the dock.

We had to slow down to idle speed approaching the cove in which the dock was located and that small delay almost cost us.

Right as we were approaching the covered dock, a deafening peal of thunder was instantly accompanied by a lightning strike to the water. Holy Mother of ....... I was surprised to find that my shorts weren't soiled.

We sat under the metal roof of the dock and listened to the intense rain for over an hour.
 

southkogs

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Staff member
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Jul 7, 2010
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14,785
Re: Whats the worst weather you have been out in,and any scary story's please feel fr

Last year I was out on a charter in the Gulf of Mexico outta' Florida. We thought a storm had passed and the captain opted to stay out. Over the course of the ensuing couple hours the waves began growing and we headed in. Before we got to shore, we had waves between 8 and 12 feet. No rain, no real wind (to speak of) - just REALLY big waves!
 

fishrdan

Admiral
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
6,989
Re: Whats the worst weather you have been out in,and any scary story's please feel fr

We were fishing in my 16' tri-hull and decided to head back since it was a 15 mile run and 2-3' waves were building. Rounding a point we were greeted with 4-5' waves, but the little 16'er was handling the bigger waves so we pushed out into the basin. A straight shot of only 3-4 miles back to the marina, so we decided to go for it...

Out in the middle of the basin I was dodging bigger waves, then I spotted a set of 3 huge 6' waves close together with no way to steer out of their path. Looking at their size and how close they were together I figured it was best to hit them head on as taking them at 45 degrees might have swamped up. Cresting the first wave I looked down into the trough and thought "Whoa Carp, we are going down there!" Then diving down into the trough I watched as the bow was only inches from plowing into the face of the next wave. Second wave was a repeat of the first, but the third one wasn't as bad.

I looked over at my friend who was scared shipless and it didn't take but 2 seconds to agree that the little cove on the shore looked very inviting. We camped there and dried out for the afternoon, then drove back to the marina at dusk. By then the water was as flat as glass.
 

DXN

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 21, 2013
Messages
120
Re: Whats the worst weather you have been out in,and any scary story's please feel fr

Dont need any one telling me how stupid this was, I know
I had a friend that is always wanting do do something crazy and exiting. One day the winds were crazy and out on the open part of the lake they were whit-capping between 3-4 ft. him and this pretty girl wanted to go out on the lake an "play" in the waves. I let them (mainly her) persuade me to go agenst my judgment. We got out headed for the down wind shore ~5 mile run. my little 15' boat was getting thrashed and then it got worse the bow was crashing through the waves, i couldn't keep the bow high enough. the waves are probably 5-6 feet now(taller than i was) and they want to continue to Runaway bay. I was thinking yea right we will be lucky to get out of here. I didn't know what i was doing, i manage to turn back and made things worse we were "falling" down one wave then back the next one slowed us down and I kept getting caught between two waves with water spilling over the transom. we made it back, and we had fun but none of us will do it again. We were stupid!
this was the boat
2011-06-14 20.16.42.jpg
 

StrokeBail

Cadet
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
7
Last week was out at Cochiti Lake/dam; 6th time out in my new 16 ft Tracker Grizzly 1648 MVX SC with 30 hp Merc. Trying to fish with a little success when it got cloudy with obvious heavy rain in the distant mountains. Decided to beach it, eat lunch and watch the weather. Half way through lunch I could see whitecaps out on the lake and the wind was coming up, a few minutes later I chucked my lunch into the bushes and tried to get the boat turned around. I did turn it but by now the waves were 2-3 ft and breaking on the shore trying to shove the boat sideways and driving the stern into the gravel. Kept trying to pole it off enough to lower the motor but all I could do was try to keep it facing the waves with the pole. Very quickly the waves were breaking over the bow and I was ankle deep in water. The bow was floating but the bottom of transom and skeg on motor were stuck in gravel. Ran back to turn on bilge pump. In those two steps the waves turned the boat parallel to the shore and started to flip it. Bent one pole getting her back to facing the waves. Kept poling like this for 1.5 hours, then driving freezing rain started. No rain gear, soon soaked to skin, temp about 55 degrees. Thinking getting fuzzy: swim the anchor out 100 ft and pull boat out? Sure way to drown! Finally the gaps between the waves got longer, poled out about 10 ft, ran back to lower motor and go WOT before the next set hit. Bilge still pumping a solid stream, has been going for over an hour steady by now, wondering where the hole is? Ran wide open slamming through the waves, about a mile back to the launch. Tied up to floating dock to get trailer and finally bilge stops pumping. On the trailer I see some paint missing below transom and note that the intake screen for the livewell is crushed and the housing is screwed half out but no holes or broken welds. Lesson learned. Anchor off the beach, bring foul weather gear, pay attention to the weather DUH! Make the bilge pump your new best buddy. Bring your other best buddy to stand in the surf and push the boat off the beach. Oh yeah when I got home had to wring out the cash in my pocket and spread it out to dry.
 

StrokeBail

Cadet
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
7
And then there was the time I was duck hunting in Montana where the Flathead river runs into the lake. Running a 12 ft Avon with wooden floor and transom and a 7.5 hp Merc longshaft. This combo will plane like crazy; just skitters over the water after you run forward to get the bow down (tiller steer). So zooming down the river and decide to investigate a little side creek. Flying along right into an underwater stump field. The longshaft now slams into a big stump just under the surface and bucks up out of the water while boat stops right now! I go flying forward and grab hold of a large bag of decoys to keep from going swimming. No damage to anything, assume the inflated tubes absorbed some shock.
 

mickyryan

Rear Admiral
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
4,210
well worst ever was a friend bought a 60 ft boat decided to run her across cheseapeke bay then fog rolled in and I figured ahh we will be fine until I noticed he wasn't quite up on boat electronics yet I think by the time we got across the bay we had 11 or 12 boats following us I was using the chart plotter and buoys all the way in
 

boatman37

Lieutenant
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
1,273
August 2012 the family was on a Carnival cruise ship from Tampa to Cayman and Cozumel. we were supposed to go to cozumel first but there was a hurrican so we hugged the coast of Cuba and headed for Cayman. can't remember the ships name but i think it is the smallest one carnival has. anyway, they said the waves were about 15' but i think they were worse than that. our cabin window was probably at least 20' or so from water level and looking out the waves were quite a bit higher than the windows. there were barf bags lined in the hallways and people sitting everywhere. we had heard that about 60% of the crew got sea sick. me and my son weren't affected by it so tried to go up to the top deck to watch from there but it was closed. we snuck through anyway. the hardest part was walking down steps. not too scary for me but i think lots of passengers were scared.

haven't had any issues with our boat. we have never been out in bad weather yet although about a month ago we were anchored up and wife got a text from a fried that a storm was coming. i checked the weather and they were calling for 60MPH gusts. i wasn't concerned with water conditions on the Ohio river in a 25' boat but didn't want to try docking in that wind and didn't want to be out there when the lightning came. we made it back and got the top back on just as it let loose. we had my daughters 4 door wrangler and had the doors off. we were soaked by the time we got home. earlier in the day they said no rain until after 6:00PM. this let loose about 3:30...lol
 

avenger79

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
1,791
well you would have to know my dad. he just wasn't wired quite right LOL probably passed that part along.

we lived in Superior near Lake Superior. One day he borrowed his brother's fishing boat a whopping 12 footer with a 9.9 on it. we took her out on the lake to fish. I must have been 9 or 10 at the time. weather on the lake changes fast. so we're out fishing having fun and all of a sudden he yells to get on the floor and hold on. this is not a guy who panics.......ever and I could hear a little "something" in his voice. get on the floor and manage to look over the bow. coming at us are some of the darkest clouds I have ever seen. He turns us around and guns it, yeah the weather caught us. Not sure how big the waves were but I do remember going up one side and the bow getting buried a bit when coming down.
we made it back to the dock, of course a few folks ran over to see if I was ok, and one fellow was dumb enough to tell my dad how stupid it was to be out there.
Funny thing I was never even a bit nervous on that ride. I knew my dad was a Navy vet and I had seen him do some crazy stuff over the years, I just knew we would make it back.

Now days we joke about some of the dumb things we have done over the years (rubber raft in a gator filled pond) and oh so many more, and yeah now days I have my own collection of "pfft I can do that" moments. someday I may lose the bet with Mother Nature but it sure has been fun playing the game so far.

Funny thing neither one of my sons seem to get it.
 

MTboatguy

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Jul 8, 2010
Messages
8,988
Here in Montana, we can get some wild weather, couple of years ago, out on one of the lakes in my 14 footer fishing with the wife, nice sunny and warm, hour later cloudy, cold rain and windy, by time we got back to the dock, there was 6 inches of snow on the ground and the snow was coming down sideways, ended up staying at the campground for 4 days before it stopped.

Was not fun towing the 5th wheel back home. Just a really nasty time!
 

angus63

Captain
Joined
May 20, 2002
Messages
3,726
1982, Tropical Storm Sergio, South Pacific between Guam and Hawaii. 30Ft+ waves, lost the plant, 40degree rolls, 600ft container vessel. Lost top 2 rows of containers. I was 19 yrs old. Towed to Pearl City HI. Spent three weeks at repair dock. Took me 5 months to pay back what I spent in three weeks. Worth every memory and even what I can't remember.
 
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