N,W,S or E?

[tailchaser]

It all depends on the current conditions. Bad storms typically originate from the North and drizzly rainy stuff without the nasty winds come from the south and the tropics. The first thing to look at is what the weather is doing the day before and the day after your planned trip.

Secondly wave interval is a large key. The closer they are together the rougher the water will be. Add some wind waves to that and you're in some nasty stuff. Large swell with low wind waves and long periods are just fine and can be ok up to around 11'. A lot of times add the two together to get a total height. Commonly people have a limit around 11-14' depending on your vessel. In my sled it's closer to 11.

Wind direction means different things out on the big blue. A south wind is usually brining moisture, but the day the wind switched from north to south usually makes a flat ocean. Direct West winds are odd and don't typically last long so no worries there. However, wind direction can tell you where to cross the jetties on a rough day. One side will be more protected from another depending on the wind direction.

In a nutshell keed a closer eye on the wave height more than the wind direction. Keep an eye on the wind speed however. Over 20 is making a sloppy ocean. The direction may help more in planning longer outings aka halibut or tuna. Then it comes into consideration more with a comfortable ride on the way back.

tc

[fish assassin]

Swell is typically out of the NW. It takes less of a SW wind to mess up the
ocean than it does a NW wind because then the wind is coming from the same direction
as the swell and you get less chop that is not as steep. FWIW ... my personal observations.

-assAssin-

[Mello-Yello]

Thanks for the input guys. Here's why I asked...

Sat
W wind 10 kt in the morning...becoming SW 15 kt...backing to se in the evening. Wind waves 3 ft. NW swell 7 ft. Showers.
Sun
Se wind 20 kt...becoming S 20 kt early in the afternoon. Wind waves 3 ft. NW swell 6 ft.

If this forecast holds, I'll probably at least go and take a look.

[Miss B Haven]

Looks Cccchhhhooopppppyyyy but doable. Be safe! :smile:

[fish assassin]

Even though the swell is predicted to by smaller on Sunday, it would be my
best guess that Saturday will be a better day. West turning to SW is not the best
change you would like to see (NW to SW is a better "change" day), but the difference
of winds 10-15 and winds at a steady 20 will make a *lot* of difference (IMHO).

Of course, I'm not a trained meteorologist and look at how well I predicted
*LAST* Saturday ... I thought it was going to be a "no-go" day, and it turned out
that I fished a loooong day Saturday! :grin: :grin:

The best predictor is to be there and check it out! If it looks good, GO. If
not, DON'T!

-assAssin-

[SouthCoastStu]

I'm planning on going out on Saturday at 6-6:30 from Charleston to take a peek. Maybe we'll see you out there!

Whoops! With new the forecast posted Friday morning, it looks like a no-go, maybe Sunday morning.

[ 04-25-2003, 08:02 AM: Message edited by: DiamondBack ]

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

Okay, here's the reason a south wind is so much more dangerous. First, when a storm is coming through it circulates counter clock wise around the low. Since all storms come from the west, it means the east side of the storm is where the wind and seas are piling up. [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img] Also, the predominant current is from the north so the wind is blowing against the current and it acts just like an ebbing tide so the waves are steep and close together. Then the prevailing waves are also from the northwest and so the south winds are blowing against them and again causing the waves to get steeper. In short, if it's blowing out of the south, try to stay in port.

[Martin85]

I feel like I'm jumping your post, but the 15+ times I've been out of Tilli in the last couple of years I've gone down to crab and maybe race down to three arches to do some bottom fishing If my eye told me to go. Now after reading this board for about a year and attending the last T/A meeting I'm much wiser and informed from your advice but now I'm also confused.
The weather forcast predictions for offshore, and the trends make me hesitate at combo of 10 and this weekend looks to be right there. The south vs. northwest wind makes me wonder if I should make or break my trip because of wind direction. I want to go try it and I'm going with lovetofish hopefully on his maiden voyage in the big blue. We both have 20' boats with lots of free board, I was thinking that Newport was the bar to cross for his first time after what was said at the T/A meeting. We will go each with a rider on board and use our boats in a buddy system. We have radios,cell phones and lots of extras ( many I didn't have before this web site) I think we will go and try for Sunday morning but now with the knowledge I'm still unsure if we will get out if its marginal, so I'm back to the eye and gut thing again until I do a few trips to match my eye to the forcasts and the models.
Last rambling for the night, with out being to specific anyone know any general areas close within 5+ miles of the mouth to try for bottom fish. I figured to stay close with Love2fish so we can run back if it gets rough.

Thanks for any help in advance [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

[corrirod]

Martin, the thing to know is that those are just PREDICTIONS, and worse case predictions to boot. Keep in mind, these are Weatherpeople we are talking about!

The best you can do is check all your weather links, including buoy stations, to see what is really going on and then make the call. Last Saturday was a prime example, at 9:30pm on Friday night the forecast was 4 ft. wind waves and 8 ft. swell, next mornings forecast 3ft./ 8ft., and when I hit the bar at about 2:30pm that day the real conditions were 0 chop and 5-6 ft. swell.

Sometimes it's obvious that things are bad, it's the times like this weekend that are tough to judge.

In regards to finding bottomfish out of Newport, there are alot of inner reefs that are real easy to find on your fishfinder but you can also check a chart(if you don't have a paper one) at the link below for free:

Free Charts

[Lepper]

Martin. doubles in electronics are nice but once in a great while as happened to me.. circumstances will wipe out everything includeing the back up electronics..
d

[Mello-Yello]

I overheard some guys talking about wind last week, and one of them said they don't like going out when the wind is going to be coming out of the South.

If the forecast calls for say, 2ft. wind waves and 6 ft. swells, with the wind out of the South, would one expect different conditions?

Dazed and Confused...

:whazzup:

[Miss B Haven]

In the winter - the really big ones come out of the South. I've heard a lot of the commercial boats (Draggers in the winter mostly) say that they won't go out in South weather. One guy I was beside one winter told me that right after he told me he lost his brother out there in a winter storm.
Summer, usually not to bad but it can make a confusing sea if the swell is W or NW and the wind chop is S.
Only one day last year I did not go out due to water conditions. Late in the season and the wind was SE. Worst wind chop I ever saw at the CR. I poked my nose around the south jetty and it was uhuh- not today! It was abou 4 feet and kinda like a square wave - straight up and straight down and about 4 feet high and 4 feet apart. :shocked:

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

Martin, the one thing to remember is that you use all the knowledge available to make a decision on going out. Don't allow yourself to become confused and make your "go don't go" choice based on someone else's advice. Use your gained knowledge of the situation and your boats capabilities and ALWAYS act on the side of caution. Never counter your "gut" decision. I have years of experience, a large CG COI boat and I'm out there almost every day. I make decisions on going based on a lot more than what is available to you. The morale being that YOU are the one in charge of your safety. Remember, saftey first, fun second. :smile:

[Martin85]

Thanks for the info, I will keep my eye on the board and the models and at least go and take a look and see if its doable, if not then we will try to figure somethng out in the bay to fish for.

thanks

[Mello-Yello]

This is just crazy. Here's the current forecast for Coos Bay Bar.

Friday
W wind 20 kt becoming SW early this afternoon. Wind waves 5 ft. West swell 12 ft at 12 seconds. Showers with isolated tstms.

I called the bar report, last report at ~7:30 am. this morning. (888-3102)

E wind 5-10 kt, 2-4' long ocean swells. No current bar restrictions. (there is however a small craft advisory from Pt. St. George to Florence.

They're 180deg off on the wind...and way off on swell size.

I'm gonna run up to the S. Jetty in a bit just to have a look.

[Miss B Haven]

You gotta remember that the forecast is for a very big section of the coast/ocean. Small relative to the whole Pacific, but very big relative to your boat and little piece of water you are going to be in.
I always figure they mean "somewhere" in the what...60x200 mile section? for the forecast, the conditions will be as bad as they say. You don't know if it's "your" section until you poke out and look. And... as Pilar says, watch the trend! :smile: