LOTO rough water
 

I read a lot of posts talking about LOTO being very rough. Is this just during the shoot out due to volume of traffic? Look like would be nice lake to visit, but I don’t enjoy boating in a washing machine.

It's mostly rough on the weekends. During the week it's not as bad. If you can swing coming during the week in September, after labor day and schools are back in session, it is smooth boating. And everything is still open on the water.

Weekdays are fine, once you get an influx of cruisers out, things will change, after you get past the 38mm it never seems bad

The thing is, in the lower mm’s, you could have a cruiser a couple miles ahead of you, their wake goes out, hits a cliff, and travels back out in the channel, those are the ones that sneak up on you when you least expect it.

Like everyone else has said; LOTO normal conditions 0mm (Dam) to the 38mm: Weekdays: no issue, Saturdays: big water this is during Memorial Day to Labor Day. Shoot out: BIG WATER

That being said,In all instances Saturdays if you go early and come back later in the evening, no issue. You really just have to pay attention, and if you are in a smaller boat and it gets rough in the main channel, just hug one of the sides. lake arms: Niagua (Big and small) and after 38mm is rarely an issue. Also there are literally thousands of coves, so if it gets too rough, just pull into one of the coves and hang out a bit or find one of the 200+ restaurants/Bars or resorts to visit.

Don’t “not come” because of rough water. Even during the summer, it is usually just Saturday afternoons that things get pretty stirred up. This idea of rough water keeps many from enjoying what the lake has to offer. Do not let it get in your way!

What I’ve researched looks like a Great Lake with lots of restaurants and lodging just read a lot about water. Dumb question; the dam is 0mm and markers indicate distance from dam?

Yes

The OLD after Shootout water. It is no longer this bad due to a 14 mile long no wake after the races.
Holiday weekends in the main channel from the 6-30mm are still close.
During the week, it is it fine for any 18 footer.

Really depends on size and type of boat.... 28+ foot boats with twins and real vee's (ex cobalt) seem to do well here...

parents brought deck boat to my place before they moved here, it was absolutely terrible. They now have a 30ft cobalt.

Water can be very confused at times... even making steady 2-3s in what I can only describe as a grid....

if you can boat on lake Michgan, LOTO should be fine.

Is the dam in the southern part of the lake? And how would a 28 Pantera with twins handle it?

I'm not too savvy direction-wise but I'd say the dam is north east ?

28 Pantera with twins should do well.

Thanks all. That’s some bad looking stuff Griff.

dams kind of middle eastern part of the lake

Do people not swim in the lake much?

There is literally thousands of coves, if you want to swim, that is where you would go. The Main channel is where the rough water is.https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...cFlD5&usqp=CAU

The lake is 100 miles long, over 1500 miles of frontage. Don't be scared by the video. That is the first 10 minutes of everyone leaving the shootout. Picture this 5000+ boats, all leaving at the same time with a storm coming in. That is when that was taped. Is not a problem anymore, yes it is rough, but they have spread everything out with the no wake zones during the Shootout specified hours.

That would be ALLOT of fun! I know the Pantera would be up to it!

For a few hours Saturday afternoons on holiday weekends it can get rough. This video was after the Shootout so there were literally thousands leaving at the same time. If a guy waited an hour, it would have subsided quite a bit. We just make certain that we are where we want to be at those times. It is an awesome time to be someplace with a good view of the main channel as you will get a chance to see allot of the coolest boats on the planet!

For a few hours Saturday afternoons on holiday weekends it can get rough. This video was after the Shootout so there were literally thousands leaving at the same time. If a guy waited an hour, it would have subsided quite a bit. We just make certain that we are where we want to be at those times. It is an awesome time to be someplace with a good view of the main channel as you will get a chance to see allot of the coolest boats on the planet tearing it up!

Dam is marked with the red location symbol
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...8c44171cbb.png

28 Pantera will do fine and will take whatever LOTO throws at it. It will still be a bumpy ride on big weekends from the 0 to 40mm though. I went from a Pantera single to my 32 AT. The AT rides a lot better, but its still a bumpy ride on most Summer Saturday afternoons.

The tricky part about loto is there is no rhythm to the waves. Big water is a lot easier to chop through when it’s all going in the same direction. Never the case here, always keep a lookout for the rouge wave lingering.

Swim all the time. Just watch your moles and nips for bluegill attacks!

LOL......and getting electrocuted around ungrounded docks

That was sad a few years back when those electrocutions occurred. Really no excuse for it to happen now.

I have a 26 foot checkmate and I go to LOTO a few times a year.
What I have found is this.
Fridays are just fine. Sometimes gets a little rough but not bad.
Sundays everyone goes home, Also just fine.
Saturdays on a holiday weekend...wow hold on!
We usually boat from the 7 to the 43 so most of the lake.
We went to shady gators 7MM on a holiday weekend and it was scary. Constant cruiser wakes.
Shootout weekend is fine. Friday for poker run is fine, Sunday everyone goes home so its fine, Saturday on shootout weekend it is all no wake so its fine. I would just tell you LOTO is really fun but you have to pick what you do on the busiest of days. Going forward on a holiday weekend we will keep the boat in a slip on a Saturday and just go to one of the swim up bars.

All of the above comments have merit. Best advice it to be alert and stay sober or have some one else drive. The worst thing, in my opinion is, the Lake is not directional AT ALL, and the Water Patrol, will not discuss or consider it. Example are, people run fast too close to shore and a lot of the coves are blind to the channel. Be careful exiting a cove because someone might me coming hard on the channel and you could end up in a collision, Had a girl pull out of my old cove years ago on a PWC at full speed, (she was on the blind side of the cove, she was hit by a boat, her last ride. I myself, have had to make big corrections too many times. Couple years ago, was headed up river and went to cross Lake in front of a slow moving BIG cruiser, guys in a go fast was running hot behind him, never saw him and I had to make a too late decision to keep moving in front. Guy chased me down and started ranting etc. I wanted to apologize for not seeing him, ended up flipping him off and I drove away. At night it can be very confusing , if you are not familiar with the Lake, better have a GPS, stay on the right and remember there is a 30MPH speed limit. Patrol will stop you and fine you and arrest you if you are under the influence, don't have your life jackets, papers or all safety gear. They sit near the coves at night with no lights.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...00d1d0f896.jpg

Some of the best runs I have had was after the Shootout in the Cig!

Get in Shut up Sit down and Hold the Fuk ON!!

I agree w/ Quinlan here. My favorite run ever was after the Saturday Shootout event headed back to Dog Days in a Checkmate 259 Convincor. It had after market trim tabs and full hydraulic steering and I'm glad it did but that was about as good as it gets. The battery box ripped out of the floor!!!

Cig run not bad at all ....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDMwN9MkpI

Here`s on the way to the shootout

Damn! That's a haul. What's up with that?

That was kinda my first thought too!

Agree 100%

Agree except for the sit down part, I’ve found they’re happier when they can see what we’re getting into and prepare for it

When is the shootout this year?

it’s always the weekend before Labor Day Weekend so that would make it the 29th and 30th

Like others have said this is not a wind driven wave. The lake is different in that you have the main channel that is a mile or 2 wide and many coves and several arms.

What you will notice is that there is home after home and dock after dock lining the shore.

There a lots of boats and lots of big boats up to 60'. On top of that you have many seawalls or cliffs that reflect waves versus absorbing thing.

This leads to large waves coming from different directions. . The worst is when several large waves come together. They make what I call holes. You want to avoid them. Easy to spear a wave like that.

During the recession the lake saw a big decline in boat traffic and was nice to boat at. The boat traffic has grown each year since. So you want to be on the look out for large boats particularly cruisers that tend to plow. Look at your path way out in front and head away from the path of large boats.

Also some of the cruiser wakes can sneak up on you. The cruiser is long gone and here come this random large wake.

Pretty much any afternoon can get busy. Later in the week more so.

Sounds so similar to Anchor Bay at the north end of Lake St.Clair. A washing machine on weekends.

How well would a 24’ Cobalt handle Loto on a rough day? Ive heard the Cobalts don’t ride on a pad and are more of a level running boat. Just curious about rough water handling. Fixing to make an offer on a low hour 242.

"How well" is a relative term. You'll make it around, likely slowly. It will be a rough ride.