Our scheduled deep sea charter called to cancel bc tomorrow ill be too rough. Can someone explain to me what makes a captain decide the water ia too rough? I thought tomorrow would be a good day, but admittedly i dont know what factora to look for
Look up national weather service marine forecast
North east winds mean never ever
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You’re lucky your captain didn’t just take you out and make his money
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Thank you!! I appreciate knowing the reasoning, are NE winds dangerous? Or do they make the water more dangerous?
When the wind is blowing the tops off 5 foot waves and you are getting tossed around so much all you can do is hold on, and not to a fishing rod, it’s too rough.
You paid him to take you out and catch fish, like sman said, you had a good captain whobwas looking out for you. Count your blessings and rebook. He did you a favor
Really
15-20knts and 3-5 feet, no thank you. That’s not a fun day.
Yes the big boats can do it, but it’s still not fun. It’s tougher to keep baits where you want them, it’s tougher to fight fish, it’s tougher to rig, it’s just alot more work and it’s less enjoyable is you are constantly having to hang on.
Wave height is not as important as the wave period. Long distances between swells makes even 6 footers not a big deal. Fishing those days is actually really fun. The shorter the period, the tighter the waves are stacked. This is what leads to what people consider rougher waters. Most times higher winds equals smaller period equals tighter waves equals the boat getting smacked around equals you not having fun.
If you can fish a 10 second or more wave period, that’s a fun day. My guess is withthe forecasted 20knt winds and 3-5 foot waves, you’ll be looking at true 3-4 footers around 4-5 seconds with the occasional 5 footer smacking you and soaking the boat. That’s not my kinda fun anymore.
And when they talk about 5 feet, that’s the average. That boat travels up 5 feet, back down to “0” and then down another 5 feet. So the boat is actually moving a total of 10 feet from peak to low. Also, not fun. The captain made a good decision.
Wait for a 5knot, 2 foot day. 
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www.weather.gov click on the front page image of the area you will be headed to and then click again on the more detailed image. It will deliver the Marine Point Forecast or NWS Marine Forecast, depending on how far offshore you click, which has wave height and, sometimes, period/direction. Can also click through to buoy observations.
Windfinder.com has detailed wave height, wind speed, wind direction and other forecasts. Works best if you select a forecast for a particular buoy location near where you are headed, in my opinion.
Windy.com has wind, wave and other forecasts in a visual display format rather than numeric quantities. Good for identifying if there are changes in conditions as you move directionally. Sometimes much rougher further out, sometimes the opposite.
NE winds are a challenge because the ocean swell direction is almost always from the S/SE. The NE wind has an ocean’s worth of fetch that creates a second set of waves from a different direction with different height and period. 3 foot seas can be 3 from the S, long period, and 3 from the NE, short period. The combination can be unpleasant.
Depends on the boat but 2 foot or less wave forecast, NE wind, I would probably go out. 3 probably not.
Wind switches to from the south 5/25 - I plan to go out as of now.
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Excellent post, great info.
Also use Sailflow.com to check winds. It’s pretty dang accurate
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The free version is reel* good, the paid for is great