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Part 3 - Drive Your Boat
By "The Bass Coach"
Roger Lee Brown
rlbrown@capital.net
Now, let’s start back to the boat launch..... The best way I found when encountering big waves or choppy water is to slow the boat down and keep the nose (or bow) of the boat trimmed down as much as possible. If you have a side of the lake or body of water that may have calmer conditions, ease over to the calmer side by driving the boat in-between or parallel with the waves. If conditions get really unsafe such as small craft warnings on a body of water and if there isn’t a close place to go to instead of the launch, sometimes a "Zigzag" pattern will help. As mentioned above as far as keeping the nose (or bow) trimmed down as much as possible angel the boat about a 15% angle and zigzag back and forth to each side if the waves are coming straight against you on your way back to the launch. A larger boat will of course handle better than a smaller one in rough conditions, but when you get 2’ to 4’ waves coming against you even the 20’ boats will have a rough wet ride. The worst thing you can do in rough weather is panic!, just take your time and be a smart (not a rookie scatterbrain speed freak) driver always keeping safety in mind and you’ll get wet, but you’ll make it back safely. I have been in these situations many, many, times through my years as a bass pro and I may get nervous sometimes, but I always managed to get back safely without injury to anyone on board my boat.
I would like to give you a few tips on boating that I have had to learn the hard way over the years. Hopefully these tips can make a difference for you one day and not ruin a good day of bass fishing.
Tip-1... Always have either a spare battery (charged-up) or a heavy duty set of jumper cables on board. The reason for this is because I’ve been in 2, 3, and 4 day tournaments or have been with clients or students and not running the main gas engine very much (which usually charges the main battery) while running my livewells and electronics all day long (which usually run off of your main battery), not realizing this at the time I go to start my boat up and there isn’t enough juice in the battery to turn my main gas motor over to start. Believe me! it happens to many anglers..........
Tip-2... Always let someone know where you are going and an approximate time for your return. Situations in the past that I have encountered were anglers that didn’t know how to handle their boats in rough water, or they broke down (stranded without communication), or for what ever the reason didn’t make it back to where they launched out of at their designated time. Try to carry a 2-way radio, cell phone, flares, and emergency flag in your boat and always expect the unexpected!
Tip-3... When running up or down the water and you come to these large 25’+ boats that leave these huge wakes behind them and you want to pass, trim your nose (or bow) downwards and slow down while turning your boat slightly angled into the wakes. Once you get past the wakes, "keep on truckin"’! (I mean boating)..... Oh yeah, there is one other small little thing I need to add to this tip: KNOW YOUR SPEED LIMIT! Most bodies of water don’t have speed limits but the ones that do watch out for the law because you will get a ticket, and that can surely ruin your day of fishing. A good angler will always follow and obey all Federal and State Laws and Regulations... as well as always being courteous and thoughtful of others.
I hope this article will help not only bass anglers but all boaters! Each year the bass boats keep getting bigger and faster and I just hope the drivers use their good judgment and always, always, think safety as a number one (numeral uno) priority.
If you may have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you.
Until next time, Take Care & God Bless!
"The Bass Coach"...Roger Lee Brown"
rlbrown@capital.net
www.capital.net/~rlbrown
www.fishing-boating.com/basscoach
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