Dam Forecasters

Fish Assassin

Fish Assassin

Crew Member
Loaded the boat, made lunches, fuelled up for a family day and headed to the ramp. 1.9kt winds, forecasted 0-5 all day by BWD. Get to the ramp to watch guys bailing. Flags are straight out and white caps as far as I could see. :mad:
 
I was on your side of Texada this morning...started off ok, but the wind just kept building and building .

fishWish
 
It's the ocean, I don't see how you can reply on a morning report that says 0-5 all day. By 10am that can all change.

Environment Canada is all I use. It's not perfect, but neither is the weather. updated 4 times through the day. Here's what it says now for North of Nanaimo.

Today Tonight and Friday - Strong wind warning in effect.

Wind light increasing to southeast 5 to 15 knots this afternoon and to southeast 15 to 20 early this evening except southwest 20 to 25 near Qualicum Beach. Wind becoming northwest 5 to 15 near midnight then becoming light near noon Friday.

Seems spot on given your on the water descriptions for today. But the 4am report could have said light winds all day, I don't know. Point being, can't leave the house expecting the last report you read to hold true for the entire day.

How often does BWD update? And where do they get their updates?
 
Big Wave Dave updates there Prediction #1 at 10:35 in the morning........and it can change a lot from previous ones. Prediction 1 and Prediction 2 are from different sources I believe...and many times those are at odds with each other...

I use Wind Alert as well...just to see what others are saying...

If I had a dollar for every time Environment Canada was wrong, I could book a charter someplace.
 
I wouldn't say Enviro Can is regularly wrong, I just find the err on the worst side of the weather during the 4 hours between updates. Example, I have been out in the Straight and it was flat calm, but weather called for 10-15 by noon. More often than not, the predictions proves correct by the end of the update period (noon). Or so I've found.
 
BWD was right on for JDF (Sooke) this morning. Around 10mph WNW and with the early morning flood tide that made for a 6 inch chop. Beauty all morning....but blowing hard in Victoria when I left the house and still blowing now.
 
Yup, that's what I'm at, 2 fish in 4 or 5 trips....many hours spent trying to fend off a mutiny by 8yr old crew member.
 
On BWD I also look at latest reports see what winds are actually gusting at. I find Enviro Canada always has a wind warning in effect. This might be good for you if you have stations near you http://www.windfinder.com/report/gordons-beach_sooke

Funny the wind on shore in Vic and nice on the water. It was the same Tuesday. I was surprised so many people had reports as it was blowing so hard here I figure on the water it would be worse.

Better then me RockDog Im 0 for 2. Figured out what I was doing wrong. Think these early big fish like a real long leader when using bait. I was running 3 1/2' going at least 5+ next time. I hope I got it figured anyway. :)
 
I don't even look at the Env Can site for wind in JDF strait. It always just says "wind warning in effect". BWD is the best tool IMO but it's not infallible, especially lately.
 
BWD is a great tool but you can't just use it alone. In my case I don't live 10 minutes from a launch it's an hour one way down malahat..That means its a **** off If I pack everything and go. I use uvic island weather stations on all schools to see how fast barometer is dipping, murrays table current direction and intensity that day, and city/Washington marine state forecasts. Environment Canada completely sucks, so I use Washington state forecast way more accurate at least on south end. And of course in end I check BWD....

Since I have been doing that usually 95% time I am right... For example I have learned that say if Murray's table indicates a situation sits flood current all day and its blowing.... It can usually be pretty much flat. But say you have an ebbing current with the same west wind then you have opposing current/wind and just sucks. After a while you get to know with direction if its worth going or not.

Don't worry Owen I know it just sucks you get there and its totally opposite to what it is supposed to do a real **** off. I guess up there you don't have many webcams either....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
back in old days, I looked at pulp mill s smoke going up straight into the sky....waters calm. When the mill s smoke went down at 45 degrees or lower, it indicated that the water is rough, I bailed out fishing.
 
Oh and if you are not the best with knowing when slack is. Use the surface currents choice on the left side. It animates the speed and direction of currents and it even shows a few of the known back eddies around the south island. Play with it and you will like it! Water temp is also very neat


-KK
 
And here I am this morning, beached. Why? because all 4 forecasts I read last night called for weather. Yet here it is, calm as can be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Sharphooks
Thompson River Stories: Share Yours!
Replies
101
Views
10K
Derby
Derby
Sharphooks
NORTH COAST TRIP PART IV
Replies
9
Views
2K
Dave H
Dave H
OldBlackDog
Barkley Sound Roundtable
Replies
5
Views
1K
searun
searun
Dave H
Cruising For "Plus" Trees Back In The Day..
Replies
4
Views
1K
pescador
pescador
Admin
Coastal Charters
Replies
0
Views
3K
Admin
Admin
Back
Top