There was a question on the Q&A the other night about what wave conditions we’re looking for when we go tarpon fishing and what is considered too rough. It’s always hard to get video that really shows how rough and choppy it is, but I took this video Wednesday on our way back home. This is what approximately 2’ at 2 seconds look, with a few legit 3fts James had to pull back on. It was a long rough boat ride back. It was never really nice that day, but the morning was much better than this. Once the wind switched directions and started picking up and blowing against a really hard current, it got choppy really fast. We knew the forecast showed this happening so it was no surprise.
James runs a 25’ Whaler so even though it’s not comfortable it can handle those conditions just fine. If I would have had to make that run in my 24’ recon it would have been absolutely brutal.
But if those 2’ waves were spaced out at 7 or 8 seconds it would have been a completely different different story. When you have high wave heights spaced close together it’s hard to fish in it and it’s rough as hell running in it.
If you’re wanting to get in the beach front in your bay boat but haven’t done it before, I would recommend waiting until you get something like 1’ or less wave heights spaced out at least 6-7 seconds apart to try it. If you get out there and don’t feel comfortable in it just turn around and head in and wait until there’s even calmer conditions to get out there.
Also, keep in mind that if there are any squalls in the area you can pull some wind off of them that will rough the water up a bit until they clear the area and it calms down again.
And always keep an eye on the weather radar throughout the day.
