How much current is too much?

Kardinal's posts about fishing Deep Creek got me thinking.  His current forecasts are showing as much as 2.5+ knots/hr current.  IMO, that's a lot.  How much is too much?  Consider the following math.  The average paddle may paddle 3 kt/hr comfortably over a long period.  In 1 hour, you would drift 2.5 knots.  Against a 2.5 kt/hr current, you'd be paddling 0.5 kt/hr.  It would take you 5 hours to return to where you start.  Yes, that's assuming the current stays constant and there is no tide slack.  But really, the numbers are high, well, unless you're doing a one way run and shuttling back.

-Allen

Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there's more than one way to deal with current.

Assuming there's no big wind forecast that would initiate a wind opposing current situation (and a nasty chop), I like to launch at a time that allows me to ride the current out and back. As long as the current isn't too big for me to effectively fish, it's no big deal. If I time it right, I can even let the current do most of the work for me.

Sometimes, like at Seaton's Grove a few miles below Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia, the current is one way and it can be a lot stronger than 2.5kt. I still fish it, but instead of trying to row back up in mid-stream, I hug the banks and search for eddies that might give me a free ride, at least part of the way. Even if there isn't an eddy, the current tight to the bank will still be much reduced. This can work in a lot of places in the salt, too, if you don't want to wait for the tide to change. In the salt, when salmon fishing in the rips, I can often find an eddy downstream off the point creating the rip, that allows me to return to the point
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For me, it's too much when it's not safe or I can't fish. There's no single threshold number, but rather it has to be factored in with the other variables.

Kardinal's posts about fishing Deep Creek got me thinking.  His current forecasts are showing as much as 2.5+ knots/hr current.  IMO, that's a lot.  How much is too much?  Consider the following math.  The average paddle may paddle 3 kt/hr comfortably over a long period.  In 1 hour, you would drift 2.5 knots.  Against a 2.5 kt/hr current, you'd be paddling 0.5 kt/hr.  It would take you 5 hours to return to where you start.  Yes, that's assuming the current stays constant and there is no tide slack.  But really, the numbers are high, well, unless you're doing a one way run and shuttling back.

-Allen

Great question.  The tides on the day showing 2.5 knots is a SLOW current on a neap tide and May has the lowest tide swings in general of any month to boot. 

Of course the tide changes so we just plan on drifting back the other way.  I also plan on during the big current events to shuttle using trucks.  Just treat the Ocean as a river and the beach is the river bank. If you read my report it did NOT happen that way and we walked nearly 2 miles. Just very interesting how different kayaks react than say a powerboat.  I have fished this area since I was a kid but what actually transpired on the water was not exactly what I had thought.  Close enough that we survived but the additional walk.  Got a plan

The thing that scares me about these fast currents is the amazing speed in which things get separated when you factor in wind.  I was amazed to see how fast my mini-X would drift from the AIRE Sea tiger inflatable.  Of course I didn't try it, but I'd be interested in knowing how fast I would get separated from kayak in such conditions.  I think that's my biggest fear with fast currents.

One thing I would like to try and document are some of these things with a rescue support boat near by.  Fall off, and how long before you are too far from the kayak?  Can you swim and make it back to the boat?  Definitely want to try it in a fairly controlled environment.

One thing I would like to try and document are some of these things with a rescue support boat near by.  Fall off, and how long before you are too far from the kayak?  Can you swim and make it back to the boat?  Definitely want to try it in a fairly controlled environment.

There are some videos on the web showing how fast you can get separated from your kayak in a relatively light (10-15 kt???) wind.

-Allen

The thing that scares me about these fast currents is the amazing speed in which things get separated when you factor in wind.  I was amazed to see how fast my mini-X would drift from the AIRE Sea tiger inflatable.  Of course I didn't try it, but I'd be interested in knowing how fast I would get separated from kayak in such conditions.  I think that's my biggest fear with fast currents.

One thing I would like to try and document are some of these things with a rescue support boat near by.  Fall off, and how long before you are too far from the kayak?  Can you swim and make it back to the boat?  Definitely want to try it in a fairly controlled environment.

I always carry a drift chute with me. It's part of the anchor kit that I always take. In wind, it make all the difference in the world in allowing me to fish. (There's been at least one instance when Polepole and others have bailed, and I've kept on fishing. ) I've never tried it, but I think it would be possible to rig one so that if the boat rolled, it deployed a chute. Figuring out how to get it to deploy if you only fall out is another problem. So is keeping it from deploying prematurely, say by a wave that sweeps the decks.

A few aspects that hasn't been addressed and hull efficiency propulsion method.  I know for a fact that my current threshold in my paddle powered P13 is lower than some one else in a Hobie with their Mirage Drive.  Even amongst the same propulsion types you have differences in hull shapes.  These differences, how we have our decks outfitted, and our own torso profiles play a huge part in how much the wind effects drift.   Personally, I would rather tether my pfd to my yak than deal with a drift sock contraption.  I don't currently do it, but I have considered it in a few situations.

As far as kayak fishing goes... when my heaviest jig is 45* to the plane of my 'yak it is time to move on.   

Think of current as a giant conveyor belt.  You just have to know about its different speeds and when it changes directions and hop on and off at the right places.

Scott