Port Sheldon Buoy wave height?

[jdh]

Port Sheldon Buoy wave height?

Before the new website came up I knew that my comfortable limit for fishing was waves under 1.7 ft.

Now a few times like today I go out and the buoy is saying 1.2 ft, but it's definitely rougher than the "old" 1.7?

And the the other day is said 0.7 yet the lake was flat as glass?

Something just seems off.

-JDH

[John's Tuition]

I used to go by the 1.3 rule for my boat. However, I learned to use the wave period as another factor. 1.2 can be pretty rough in a smaller boat with a short wave period (say under 3 seconds). Change that wave period to 5 or 6 seconds and now you have smooth sailing. Most likely the .7 you saw had a long wave period so the lake seemed flat but there were little rollers being picked up by the buoy. I watch that buoy closely and it seems pretty spot on all of the time. Also, keep in mind that what the wind/waves are doing at 80 FOW may be different than at the pier heads...

[jdh]

I'll keep a better eye out on the wave period from now on.  Might have something to do with it.  Thanks.