Mohave itself (the bay he's talking about above) is perfectly lined up with the prevailing desert winds. I have seen 6 - 8 foot wind waves zero to two second period.

You're just at fast idle and hope you don't stall with your stern to the wind. Some days out there would sink my boat if adrift no problem...

gorgeous place. I recommend it to anyone in the south west.

I-15 to Nipton Exit. Follow sign to "Searchlight". Drive and drive some more.

If you go at night, WATCH FOR THE RAILROAD TRACK. I personally don't think it gives you much notice to slow down and it's not an ultra smooth one.

Nice info SD, not calling BS, just surprised! My friend and his wife went to Mohave a few times and I never heard of this. Nice to know because I plan on going there one of these summers. Who would have known... Big water in the desert.

I don't know if the winds are seasonal or not. Everytime I've experienced it has always been early summer right at Memorial Day..

I have not ever heard of 25 footers but not sure what he means either. Don't let it stop you from going. It's worth the trip. Just do the wider bodies of water early in the morning in case you can't enjoy them later in the day... I had another larger boat several years back and wind waves broke over the bow at fast idle as well.

Sorry didn't mean to mis lead anyone. Maybe the term swell was a bad choice. What I did mean was there was a 25' gap between the 5' white caps. It was a lot for my nordic rage to handle, after I went over a wave the boat would fall in a trough before going over the next.

Aint skeered! I still plan on going, it's nice to know ahead of time the different conditions I may come across. I've seen 5 footers here at our local lake (Pleasant). I actually got caught in them. Flooded out my 502 na in my 26' Sleekcraft and I ended up washed up on the boat ramp. Not a good trip.

I don't think you were misleading etc... Regardless, sounds like we ALL agree that it gets rough out there when it blows... Nice engine Rage!!

The "Basin" is only about 6 miles across, once you are throught it, it turns back into a narrower area, you can take that all the way down to the Dam. Katherines is also right there at the end, very nice place, has a restaurant etc...

It gets windy during the winter @ 10am everyday and calms down about 5pm. Same in the summer months, just not as windy...

Years ago we lived in Bullhead/Laughlin (87-92) it is a great place to boat. I can remember one year on New year's day, we went snow sking in Flagstaff in the morning, came home and went water skiing that evening... Great Memories!

FYI: North of cottonwood is all the canyons, south of the basin is all the sandy beaches.

You get a complete vacation all on 1 lake.

I have seen a 28+/- ft scarab run all the way to the base of the hoover dam. We we hanging on the jet ski's and couldnt believe our eyes. I thought we were gonna hit bottom in some spots on the ski's and to see that boat run up there blew my mind. Either he knew exactly where to go or got extremely lucky the last mile or so. Awesome lake all around, i would boat there over mead any day.

I have always launched from Kathrines Landing. What I have seen, it is a good size lake, but I have never gone far enought to see beautiful canyons like in the pics. Like everyone has said the wavesg et bad!!!

I joined just to load this pic for you guys, and give you a couple of links:



This link shows the hourly releases from Hoover. When you get above 20,000 cu/ft/sec getting to the Dam is a non issue. The water is so clear you can see any shallows pretty well. There are a couple of big boulders on the sides, but generally speaking the middle is 25 ft. plus.

Hoover Water Release

This link explains the days and months you can get up there; read carefully, can be pretty confusing. We make the run from Dam to Dam every couple of years. 70 miles each way . . . The main basin is almost always as you guys describe. In the winter it blows North to South, in the summer South to North. With the wind can be a blast, the other way, not so much

Black Canyon Restrictions

The best thing to do is to launch at Willow Beach, but hard to get to with the Dam inspections. When they open the bypass bridge, it will be cake to get there from Vegas/Mead. We spend a lot of time on Mead and when it blows really hard we go down to Willow and enjoy the protection. Absolutely frigid water year round, but there are some hot springs up there too