The worst of the worst

I figured I would start this thread to hear a few yarns of the worst conditions that you have ever found yourself in while on Erie. Mine, I'm sure is fairly tame.
I have a 16' alum deep V. with (at the time) a 40 and 9.9 kicker. It was dead calm in August so I put in at East street and headed for the mountain. When I arrived, I dropped my riggers and started a long slow troll. After about an hour or so, some chop started. I was by myself and started feeling a bit on edge since I was starting to get rocked a bit. I decided to bring up the riggers and head closer to shore in case things got nasty. By the time I got both riggers up and my gear stowed, I was on my knees unable to stand in 4' rollers. In a 16' alum boat 4 footers are big. By the time I was under power and behind the wheel, I was in 4 foot whitecaps with the occasional 5 or 6 footer tossed at me. It was a long ride to the dock with a lot of throttle action going up one wave and down the next with waves crashing over my bow. I got beat up bad that day and my beilge was working overtime. I still felt like Ii was on a boat 4 hours after pulling out, lying on my couch at home. One ironic thing was that noaa (that I always monitor) kept calling for 2 feet or less to "calm".

Went out of dunkirk with dad in the am 16 ft alumacraft with 25hp tiller. lake was dead calm, boat would plane and run about 25 with just he & I. Granpa comes along with my two little brothers, can't run on plane any more. Start fishing our way back (about 6 mile south of dunkirk harbor). Anyway lake went from dead calm to legit 5-6 in 10-15 minutes. Lightning was crashing everywhere as we rounded the lighthouse and got into the harbor.

The other was just stupidity on my part. Was fishing a south wind for eyes about 5 years ago, out of walnut. I was out by my self and had had a decent morning running 2 rods. Needed one for my limit. Lake continues to pick up, I end up going down to 1 rod as it is getting too rough. By the time I caught my limit I had tied myself into my seat for fear of being bucked out of the boat. I laugh every time I see a south wind and guys go tearing out of the nut only to come back disgusted and mostly wet an hour or so later.

Lightning scares me more on that lake than the waves. If you don't lose power and aren't stupid you can survive waves. Lightning sucks.

Lightning scares me more on that lake than the waves. If you don't lose power and aren't stupid you can survive waves. Lightning sucks.

Years back we were off walnut in one or the other of the trenches with an incoming thunderstorm west of Ashtabula (we were aware it was coming and preparing to run back in). We started hearing crackling sound on the boat realized the antenna (aka lightning rod) was building a charge. We'll never know how close we were to a strike, but its still spooky to think about it. Lesson is that even a distant thunderstorm still presents risk...

when i was a senior in highschool, in central western pa, i met a junior that went to seneca highschool up there. my brother-in-law coached football then. we dated and went to a couple concerts at the erie fieldhouse. i went to her prom up in peak-n-peak. this was the only time i ever wore a yellow tux but she was worth it.
long distant relationsships never did work for me and we finally spit up. it broke my heart. she was the sweetest and most beautiful girl i ever dated. i still got scars 
besides this breakup and walleye fishing with dreamcatcher in his boat during 7' waves were the worst times for me up there in erie.
i still wonder what she is doing now days.
maybe if i had a bigger skiff!!!!!!!!!!!

ORIGINAL: kingnuke32

Funny how the bad stories start with I went out on Lake Erie in a 16' boat.

 
This one time....In my 22' Aluminum.....was out in 2's, then went to 4's in less than 15mins. Then by the time I called it's quit's it was 4's and 5's...by the time I was a mile from conny harbor, every wave a legitimate 6-8's..Was NW of conny and waves were coming NE...Not fun in ditch....Not fun at all.....slow ride in......Atleast I didn' get wet though and had cooler full of feesh.....Passengers kissed the dock when we got back....Waves don't start scaring me til they are over 5's anymore...Used to be a 3ft or less fisherman and 4's when I was itching to go, but I know certain person that likes to go out in anything....

Went out in a 16 foot tri hull. Wind kicked up, motor quit, waves separated the inner and outer hull and began to fill the boat between them. By the time we got the motor started and got back to the marina we had about 4 inches of freeboard between the gunwale and the water.

It wasn't on the Big Pond but I had quite the scare on Chautauqua one day.
Started out very early and wanted to troll the main basin for eyes.
Put in at Pendergast and headed North with a nice light chop...
As I got 4-5 miles up the Lake the North wind really kicked up so I turned around and had to ride 3-4 footers all the way back to the dock.
My little boat is only 14' and has about 18" of side board above the water line with even less in the transom.
When I would drop down into the trough between a couple 4 footers I would almost disappear..
I put on my life vest, had a tie down rope holding me to the seat and even went as far as to get my buoys out and usable so if the boat capsized I might have some idea where all my tackle was....

Watching the guys in the bigger boats hit into the waves head on was quite the site, every time they would hit a wave it looked like someone had thrown a couple 5 gallon buckets of water in their face....
 
 
 
DT I remember many many concerts at the field house. Well I remember going to the fieldhouse, the concerts ???

8 footers in a 14' shallow V. lol, what a ride.

I think Worm Waster can tell you a story, lol.

been 3 miles offshore in 6-8 footRs........

I was perch fishing from a jet ski...
It was fun!!!!

ORIGINAL: DarDys

The last tournament I fished on Erie, about 15 years ago,

was that the day like 15 or so bass boats capsized?

ORIGINAL: bluntman

Ill pi$$ people off, but some of the stories Ive read here were not caused by the weather, they were caused by people getting in over thier head, and anyone who says they rode 8 footers in a shallow 14 footer, wouldnt know an 8 footer if it capsized them, bottom  line is, you caused your peril, not the lake

Relax duud, you don't have to believe me. But I did and have a few guys that will tell you the same cause they saw me coming in. Yea, I was crazy in my younger days, lol. It wasn't peril, it was a rush, lol.

The sad fact is  when you dumbasses need help it puts others at risk, a 16 footer is marginal in good weather, a 14 footer is just plain stupidity if you cant throw a rock to the shore

ORIGINAL: Raab

ORIGINAL: DarDys

The last tournament I fished on Erie, about 15 years ago,

was that the day like 15 or so bass boats capsized?

 
Actually, it was a different tournament, but I was on the water the day that the 14 boats went down, including two from my club.  The water was rought hat day, but not nearly as bad as the incident I described.
 
Most swampings that day were due to pure inexperience on the Big Pond -- even the guys form my club.  One of them got hung up with a grub  and walked ot the back deck to try to shake it loose.  When he did, two thins happened -- 1) there were now two people on the back deck, making it way too low in the water, and 2) by walking back, he let off the trolling motor which he was using to keep the bow into the wind.  Without the trolling motor, the boat swung around, turning the now heavy, low riding stern into the waves and he took three quick ones over the back, basically swamping the boat.
 
My other club member, was within sight  of me on the NY border.  Back n those days, there was an external vent to the gas tank and they were not guarded.  He took a few onto the back deck, nothing unusual when idling aorund in a search pattern with the electronics.  Apparently, so water got in through the vent and he could not get the boat to plane, just idle.
 
I suggested that he just idle toward Presque Isle and that I would follow him to make sure he was okay.  His partner (it was a draw tournament, so we didn't know the guy) was in a full blown panic.  With his partner freaking out, my buddy decided to pull over to the Norht East Boat Livery, as I beleive it was called then, to call to Presque Isle to get his trailer -- there weren't cells then, just pay phones.  The North East Marina wasn't in existance then either, just a dirt launch ramp and a boat davit.
 
When I saw him get with 50 yards of the Livery, I just headed back out fishing.
 
Well, he pulls onto the davit (there wasn't a dock) and just as they are going to lift the boat up and out of the water, the dvit looses power.  The boat is motionless in the sling and it takes a wave over the back and is swamped.  My buddy ended up hitch-hiking back to Presque Isle to get his truck and trailer.  By the time he got back, they had power restored, had lifted and drained his boat and he loaded it up, releasing what would have been the winning limit of bass.
 
I can't write for certain what happened with the other boats that day.

was that the day like 15 or so bass boats capsized?
 
Don,t know if this was the tournament my bud was in, but he broke his bass boat in half hitting a wave.
He was an excellent basser and said there were many boats lost that day.
 
Myself, 15-17 years ago, had a 24' Thompson , put out of Walnut with 2-3 fters. and hit the 2nd trench.
Within a few hrs. the waves were rollers of 10-14 fters. Had side breakers that prevented any attemp of turn out of the question.
Had to ride the waves in and ended up in Conny. Turned the boat and crossed at an angle just to get back.
What got me was looking at that wall of water then riding to the top to see a few more boats doing the same thing. Freaking scary.

I see a trend here...Not many people starting their story with "I was on Erie with my 20 some foot glass boat"....Just Sayin