I've only been boating for over a year now so this has happened to me yet, thankfully.

Few questions. How fast are you guys going when this happens? I can't imagine you can be going that fast if the water is that rough? Your boat would just be slamming down on the water? I've been in rough water on my boat and we have got soaked before but that was because we were not on plane. Do you let your boat slam down on those waves pretty hard or do you slow it down and just get wet? I would think if you are going fast enough to be on plane in rough water your boat is slamming down on that water when the timing isn't right and that would make me slow down asap.

Is it bad to have your prop come out of the water in rough water? I had mine come out twice this weekend

We were running just fast enough to stay on top and reach across the trough when the ground swell got us. I always go just fast enough to stay up on top and reach across to the next wave if at all possible. If it gets to rough I will slow down and ride the waves, but if your doing that in following seas be careful one don't get you from behind. I do miss my Haynie Bay Boat when water gets rough, wish they could design a way of draining the decks like bay boats do.....

Chad, I've been fishing since 1970 and I've speared a few waves, 4 to be exact, but that isn't something that is inevitable. Of course the following is JMO. First, know that running downwind is the most dangerous and forget that nonsense of trying to stay on top and reach the next wave with the bow of your boat...it's just not going to happen 100% of the time. I don't care how long your boat is, you're going to find a set of waves that's farther apart than your boat is long...you'll spear one then. If you'll just slow way down and handle every single wave you're better off. Tack across the lake like sail boats do and be on your toes when you have to reverse your tack. Finally, it is bad to have your prop come out of the water. What can happen is you'll 'spin a hub' which will cost you money and slow you down to about an idle speed until repaired.

Speared eight of them on Ray Roberts last Wednesday heading back to the boat ramp. I was going just above idle speed back in the timber when it all happened. Once I got in to the "stump free" zone and could give it a little gas it stopped. Eight years in my 21 foot skeeter and never had it happen once, until then. I was more worried about being dropped hard on a stump off the top of one of the big rollers than anything else... On the bright side, my bilge pumps worked great considering they've only pumped out a little rain here and there!

I was only doing 20ish mph when I speared the worst one. If the waves are taller than your boat is deep, and the troughs are a foot wider than your boat is long, your chances of not spearing one are slim nomatter how good a driver you are. Luckily my boat is so slow that I can surf the huge waves and just roll with them while on top. With the bigger faster boats, sometimes you just have to take the beating because they wont stay on top slow enough and idling for 10 miles is just not an option. And don't be fooled, you can spear them just as much idling because you have little to no control of the nose angle at that speed.

Exposing the prop isn't terrible on the occasion but frequent over-revving is not good for any engine.

only time I have speared waves is coming off the leading edge of the previous wave.. it picks the back end of the boat up and scoops the front under the next wave. I have speared 3 waves in all my life. I had a partner spear 6 in a row in his legend on cedar creek one chilly morning in a CABA tourney. 4 over the front, and 2 over the passenger side while turning around quite fast-like... LOL!

one of the reasons I have two very large bilge pumps in my bilge area... i can switch both on and empty my boat of water pretty quickly if need be.. better safe than sorry.

also put the hydr. jackplate on, so I can keep my motor down in the water in rough slop now. and can raise it to run shallow.

You have to run big water completely different going into the wind vs. going with the wind. If you're going into the wind and you aren't in a hurry (which you shouldn't be, because you've allowed yourself enough time to make it to weigh-in) just trim your motor all the way down, put your boat to a speed just before it breaks over on pad, and just go directly into them. You will have no problems as long as you keep the nose up and slow down. Going fast will only make you look like an idiot and cost you more money when you spear one (trust me I know from experience). It also tears your boat up, stresses your transom, does damage to rods, and does damage to your back. "Riding the tops of waves" is not a viable option unless you just like putting yourself, your equipment, or your partner in jeopardy of injury (keep in mind I'm talking about big waves, waves if you tried to run on top of them you probably wouldn't be reading this).

Going with the waves is alot more tricky, because the nose of your boat has a tendency to "fall" into the trough, especially if the wave has had time to develop (lakes like Falcon, Cedar Creek, Rayburn, Whitney, Amistad, Toledo, and Ivie come to mind for "developed" waves). In this case, its best to try and run the troughs. Similar to how a surfer surfs a wave, just not on as big a scale. You don't want to run directly with the wind and wave direction if at all possible because eventually you will spear one. Instead try a slight angle to where the nose of your boat rides up the side of a wave at about a 45 degree angle (the boat will roll to one side of the other slightly but the important thing is the nose won't dip). You will have to do a zigzag pattern because eventually you will run out of water but this system has worked well for me.

In situations where boat lanes prevent you from doing this, or if you feel uncomfortable running in large waves, the BEST possible thing is to just slow down to idle, if you take one over the nose, your not going to tear anything up and if your bilge pumps work properly you'll make it in just fine.

AFS on Falcon 2 years ago I probably would have just beached it, my little bro fished the pro side and said it was the worst he'd ever seen on a freshwater lake. I know a few guys that made the run from Tigers and the Salinillas to Veleno that day, but not many. Most that made that run ended up beaching in the Tigers and having someone come get them and their boats.

Thanks to those that answered my post. Good info. I usually always try to keep the nose down as much as I can safely in rough water.

First boat I ever owned was a Taylor jet boat, blown 460, made all kinds of noise, but would go fast for [censored], may 70mph. In the jet boat world its called "duck diving". Duck drived that thing more then I would have liked to. Worst part is when your eye lids turn into water balloons.

I've only speared, or in this instance, submarined a wave once. I had a ZX185C, and had a great rhythm going headed into some GIANT rollers on Fork. It was when another boat passed me and his wake combined with the normal rollers that I found myself in trouble. One popped up right in front of me and we went through it, literally. Water temp was 48 and the floor pan was full up to the mid calf area. It killed the motor, and we had taken on so much water that when I refired the engine the boat had to much in it to get back on pad. I just gave it enough throttle to keep the nose up so we didnt take any more over the bow while the bilge caught up.

Following "sea". Surf down the face of a good one, stern up, bow down and spear the wave in front of that with about half or more than half the length of the boat. I did it on purpose a couple times. The third time was not fun and I felt like a moron taking a risk like that. My winshield almost imploded and I had what felt like several hundred gallons to bilge.

Couple of weeks ago we fished on the Mexico side of Falcon. Way up in Blanco out of the wind all day but you could hear the wind hollowing in the tree tops and even see the rollers making it up into the protected coves. Predominate south winds blow strait down the lake so we head strait across at a 90 degree angle to the 4-5' swells. Head strait across and it seems as if we are able to "surf" inside the same swell the entire way across. Never even come close to feeling bad and this is from someone who has stuffed the bow more than once. Just couldnt have gone smoother. Perfect size waves, proper size troughs and no rogue waves. Once you get to the Texas side you can usually run north to Zappata in much smaller seas. Its one of those perfect bad water trips that could get you into trouble next time by making you over confident!

I was out on Rayburn yesterday and I got the chance to enjoy the wonderful rollers on Rayburn. Wind was just right to where it blew right down the middle of the lake. I had to run from the house to Harvey and it was not an enjoyable time. Ended up hitting one that made a wall of water and put some water in the seats but kept on the gas and got to the ramp. I knew of 3 swamped boats out there. It is a humbling experience to run in big waves thats for sure.

This must be a Skeeter runner post.

515 east bridge just after lunch Saturday.The Pic was take looking South.