Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Hello everyone,

A strange thing happened last week when I was out on the delta. I was wondering on peoples thoughts on this were.

I was in a cove off from the main channel and the water was pretty flat where I was. I then looked up and saw a HUGE ship floating down the river. First of all I thought that was weird, because the damn thing was as big as a cruise ship.

So where I was at, the water never moved, no wake or anything but all of the sudden a **** load of bait fish or something rose to the surface. I saw hundreds of the come up then a minute or so later all went away. Weird sight to say the least!

Those ships throw an enormous under tow/current. Be glad you didn’t get caught in that as you’ll easily end up like the SS Minnow.

You may want to consider leaving the area if you spot one and return later....

Good luck!

Yes, those ships create a tremendous ground swell which hangs around for minutes after they have blown through an area. Thank goodness you didn't have to deal with a four foot wake.

another strange sight “ last year on Clear Lake ‘ I was running across the lake , state park to Shag rock , when a giant boil rolled up in front of me ! about 50’ across ‘ & 2’ high ! thought the volcano was erupting again !...

Yup those contianer ships create their own tide i have seen it drop off 3' and then gush 4' + on the infill. The in fill can create a feeding opportunity for sure - thats pretty awesome the bait fish went wild. did you hook up?

ash wrote:Yup those contianer ships create their own tide i have seen it drop off 3' and then gush 4' + on the infill. The in fill can create a feeding opportunity for sure - thats pretty awesome the bait fish went wild. did you hook up?

Strange but slowed down for about 15 - 20 minutes after that then heated up again.

I've had it happen to me twice. The first time I was on the main river, with nothing between me and the ship, and the wakes were huge. I wasn't motoring, so I was able to ride them out.
The second time I was way in the back of the flooded island next to Three River Reach, where I couldn't even see the main river or the ship. All of a sudden the water receded like a really fast tide, and then came back in fast. The wave was lower, and more spread out, but it was still weird.\, and moved a lot of water.
Big ships are nothing to fool around with. If I see them coming on the main river, I try and duck in behind some kind of island or berm to block their wakes.