Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Hey guys,

I want to start fishing the Kelly's,S,M,N Bass Islands area and I was wondering if you guys could give me some info on wind conditions.
I have about a 1.5 hour drive to get up there and am not quite sure when its just better to stay home due to rough seas.

Any info on which direction winds to avoid or anything above mph winds from any direction would be really helpful.

Also I know Cleveland has a lake cam any idea if any of the islands have one.

Thanks fellas.

   Your best bet is to find a link to a NOAA marine forcast site.  It will give you wind speed, direction and potential wave heighth for the area you want to fish. Depending on what size boat you have, I guess it just depends on how comfortable you are running and fishing in certain conditions.
   I live 3 hours from Catawba, and the same from Erie Metro near Detroit.  I would check the forcast and if it looked good would head out early in the morning.  I would take along a hand held marine radio.  When I got close to Toledo I would listen for the latest forcast.  If anything changed I could change my destination.
  Just remember the forcasts are "fairly" accurate.  I remember heading to Sandusky Harbor and hearing that they were forcasting 2-3 footers early building to 4 - 6 out of the northeast.  Well we figured we would get out early and duck behind some of the islands to fish and that the ride back might be a little tough.  (Had a 17footer with a 115 at the time) we stop at a convienience store close to the launch and there is a little wind.  A couple of guys walk by and mutter "Wonder where they think they're going?"  Pfffftttt, me and my buddy say, they don't know us.  Well be just fine.  Well we start heading out the channel from Sandusky harbor and there are already 5 footers rolling in !!!  About 100 feet out my buddy says "Dont you think we should turn around??!!!"  I tell him "Yep, as soon as I see the right wave to turn around on"  lolololol  We fished the harbor some, then headed home.   :-\' 

First of all, all the NOAA / Weather links including links to Great Lakes weather buoys are on one page at www.greatlakesbass.com/weather/

You can try some of the weather buoys because the forecasts don't always represent what you see in a specific part of the lake. The wind and waves sometimes seem to wrap around parts of the islands.

A really strong E or NE wind can be wicked but you may be able to cut across slow and steady from the Catawba area and fish the lee sides of the islands. If you get those winds, the mouth of Sandusky Bay can be brutal because the wind hits the current and stacks up.

Similarly, if the wind is out of the W / SW / NW you may be able to launch from Sandusky and cut across to the lee side of Kellys - always my favorite side anyway. Just remember you might be in for a big surprise when you pull out from behind the lee side of the island. That VHF radio is very helpful. Cell phones don't always work.

A strong South wind can be challenging. The waves may get bigger and bigger as you go out. But you can sometimes run down the South shore and fish Huron, Ruggles, etc.

A strong North wind can stink up just about everything if it isn't perfectly North. You can hop around the South parts of the Island but it sometimes seems like the waves wrap around more than they should. It seems there's a lot more rough water than calm.

I haven't fished that area in a while but that it what I recall from when I went over there bunch. I'll tell you, some of the worst waves I've ever seen were at the mouth of Sandusky Bay when a strong N / NE / E wind piled up against the current. I screamed a lot louder than the kids on the nearby roller coasters!! There was a few times when I fished Sandusky Bay instead. A little tough and even that can get fairly rough. 20 or more mph winds will be challenging over much of the area.

Follow up fishing can be good though because a lot of current is created when wind piles up water in one direction and then the wind finally stop and all that water falls back in the opposite direction.

Make sure you have all your safety equipment and everything is pretty dependable. Plenty of gas and oil too. I hate towing boats in rough water. ;D