Leech lake wave size?

We were out on submarine island saturday midday and it started blowing something crazy. We stuck it out untill I took a wave over the side of the boat. We decided it was time to head in… This was the most nerveracking voyage back to land of all time. Im bad at estimating wave size but when we were down in the middle it was all of 10’+ back to the top of the wave. Wondering if anyone else was out in that madness. Glad us and all 5 boats in our party made it back!

We used to fish Sub while staying at 5 Mile Point. Many a day I had to run the throttle constantly and slowly as we skewered mongo wave after mongo wave in going from one side to the other..and that was in a Lund 1850 Tyee with 150 on the back. Yeah..Leech can get wild at times but I don’t ever recall 10 footers.

Working at a resort on Stony Point years ago, I can remember the waves being so crazy that I thought I was going to bottom out the resort boats in 8 FOW in the troughs. The winds on that lake can be insane.

My buddy has it on cell phone video. Its about a minute long and its after he thought he wouldnt fall out of the boat shooting it. I hope he posts it on here its wild. By the way fishing was bad for my boat we boated 6 fish saturday all under 16in. Some of the other boats in our group did well near goose island lindy rigging with shiners.

a couple years ago we where out there muskie fishing and the storm blew up within 20 minutes of us being out there. there were easy 6 and a few 7 footers. they were coming over the bow. i think there was a sustained 35 mph wind with winds up to 65. and we could see the eye of the storm. it was pretty crazy.

I was a mile east of ottertail point in portage bay, never seen a wind and wave action come up that fast, the skies were just grey and their was a good wind, when all h ll broke loose, I estimate 8 footers, whatever they were it was the biggest waves I have ever been in on fresh water. I fought the waves till I got behind the point and waited it out, my lifejacket was put on in a hurry, I was wet and my bilge was running nonstop, dog freaked out as was I. Many many years of experience on water, this one , never saw it coming. I was in a ranger 618T, if you had motor failure where I was it would be all over for your boat, lots of rocks on the shoreline. Dave in Walker

Sorry – I am not sure any lake in MN can get 10 footers…

Dog

We were camping at the federal campground on stoney point this past weekend when the wind came up, luckily the boat was tied up in the harbor. I have some pics of the waves, but they don’t show how wild it was, I heard from the park ranger it was blowing at 60+ mph. When it was done there was a 620T and a Lund 1775 tiller that were filled with water, and banging against the rocks on shore by the landing. Both of them took on water while trying to make it in, bilge pumps didn’t keep up.

OK, I’ll tell the humiliating story..

So I was working at Stony Point Resort and a huge storm came blowing through. Working the docks, it was my job to make sure everything was tied down and safe. The resort owner wife says that the waves are getting too big, so me and the other guy have to go out and take apart the dock segments so the waves dont wash them away.

Now the wood segments were just set into a metal fram, so all you had to do was grab em out and carry them back to shore. There were 55MPH winds gusting, and I am not a big guy. I grabbed a 6X6 piece of the dock and turned into the wind, and BOOM, I was blown right into the water, dock segment and all. Fun times on Leech!

how does somebody sink that nice of boat?? i’ve been on mille lacs on the wind blown side with my 16 ft. sylvan on a day like this and kept it afloat. hope they knew how to swim.

Someone sank a boat?

If you are in it, what do you think you are going to do…put it on the trailer?

I would just head into the wind and hope for the best….Stay on the throttle and keep the bow up.

If nothing else, you are going to make it to the calm side of the lake, get behind and island, etc.

It always amazes me as to how this happens to people…What is the plan when they start heading DOWN the lake?

PPP leads to a PPR.

Dog

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Sorry – I am not sure any lake in MN can get 10 footers…

Dog

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LOW, Superior?

Superior – YES

LOTW? Maybe…..but I doubt it. A 10 foot wave is really BIG. Surfers like to see waves bigger than 5 feet.

Dog

I’ve been on lotw in 10 footers when it’s blowing from the garden islands to the river at 40+mph it’ll get big FAST that’s 23 miles of shallow water and the closer you get to land the worse it gets.

From trough to crest 10′ is very possible on Upper Red but it takes a steady wind coming west south west and it will put the big rollers into the north east corners in 6 feet of water. When they roll diagonally into the north shore I have seen them form those tubes that you see the surfers riding in on the ocean

As for Leech I rode out the “fourth of July storm” in my Stratos 219F. The bow of the boat was not clearing the cap or crest of the wave as the motor was climbing out of the trough. It was a wild ride and some of the biggest inland waves I have ever seen. The biggest and nastiest water I have ever seen on several occasions is from Ottertail point to Stony point and out to Submarine and Pelican Island on Leech; it just simply makes nasty waves and I respectfully call it death valley.

We were in a alumacraft navigator 175 with a f75 tiller. The bow was not cresting the top of the wave as we were coming up the back side. I would have the motor wide open and it was like we werent even moving. They might not have been 10′ waves but they were atleast 10′ from bottom to top. My bilge ran the entire time and we were in ankle deep water in the boat. Also it wasnt that rough when when we ran out there, this howling wind came out of nowhere. Im just glad to hear that eveyone on the lake made it out ok. I think our group will always refer to this part of the lake Death Valley also. Some of the bigger swells were curling. Ive been to the north shore of Hawaii a couple of times. The surfers could have been out on Leech this weekend.

that was my Lund tiller. We made back to the landing, but there were a group of guys with their trailer on one ramp, with their boat on the other. The boat was facing the wrong way and they couldn’t get it turned around. Meanwhile, I’m taking water over the back(over the wave whackers), over the front and over the side. My bilge quit working when it plugged up with debris, so I had no choice but to beach it. It sucked doing that. Boat is fine, just $1850 damage to rods, reels, ship to shore radio, on board charger, foot control for front trolling motor, rear trolling motor shot, etc., etc. As far as wave height…I’ve fished Mille Lacs hard for the last 15- 20m years and have never seen waves like that before. For the most part, when someone talks about 4 or 5 footers, in my opinion they’re usually more like 3 – 4, but there were two that I hit on the way in, that I’d bet my life that they were 7. Like I said, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve been concerned in my boat with bad weather before, but I have to admit this one was scary.