i ve had my 14 foot for 20+seasons now.. early in the year,,pre- memorial day.. i ve always felt safe..i have a 25 horse on it, and i get to where i want to go fairly easily..WIND is your enemy early season.. strong winds and a smaller boat can lead to a nightmare of a fishing trip. after memorial day.. i try to stay away,, those big boats rule the lake , altho most fisherman are cool about the speed they cruise by you at. but i do go out on those rainy days throughtout the summer as the sunworshippers tend to stay in. which is fine by me. hope this helps.
The sun worshippers sleep in until after 10 or 11 am.They like it warm(LOL)But once they get going they can churn up the lake as bad as a windy day.polebreaker
If you know what you are doing or maybe take the State boating course if you are unsure. Even though you may not need a boating license if you motor is 25 hp or under. you will still learn alot from a course.
If you pick your days as far as wind and weather are concerned you can have a heck of a lot of fun in a 14 ft boat on Winni and know I have!
I had a 14' alum. boat for 15 years and took it out on Winni lots of times.Manny great times in that boat. Salmon and Smallies.
You do have to watch the weather and pick your day! That is important.
What I used to do was launch the boat very close to where you want to fish. This way you dont have too far to get back to shore in the event of bad weather.
If your boat doesnt have a lot of freeboard [height above water] you will have to be even more carefull.
Also I usually fish Winni week day's as much as possible. The other thing I do is I fish from ice out till Memorial Day, then not till after Labor Day. Seemed to work out better then trying to deal with all the big boats.
Just my .02
Mark
