What to do when water is "too cold?"

[UnfixedPyle]

I'm in San Antonio and looking to stay boating all winter. We get random days in December and January where it will get to the mid 70's etc. Even right now the highs can still get into the 80s but the water is cooling down quick because of the lows at night.

So what does everyone do when the water is "too cold" for water sports or swimming? I enjoy just cruising around, but I'm driving so I'm entertained. I need to find some good activities to convince the family to go.

 

[Sean R]

We enjoy flying kites from the boat during the cooler months, the pocket/parafoil style kites on Amazon work well.

 

[marcham]

Our first surf day this year, air and water temp were 12C (54 F). Hottest the lake ever got was 69F. ... we all have wetsuits, and booties, and gloves!

Below 10C, we fish or cruise somewhere just to grab lunch ....

When it gets colder we switch to downhill skiing.

 

[PEARCE]

We like to cruise and hangout on the boat. If we're on a new to us lake with houses we'll cruise and explore. My son will have fishing gear as usual and myself and wife and daughter will have stuff to read or a laptop to do some work or something. Our problem is what to do when nature calls and the water is too cold to dunk the lower half of our bodies in. Not all lakes have public restroom access and/or it's at all convenient.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I'm in San Antonio and looking to stay boating all winter. We get random days in December and January where it will get to the mid 70's etc. Even right now the highs can still get into the 80s but the water is cooling down quick because of the lows at night.

So what does everyone do when the water is "too cold" for water sports or swimming? I enjoy just cruising around, but I'm driving so I'm entertained. I need to find some good activities to convince the family to go.

Go to Bass pro or Cabela’s and get a few starter rod / reel combo’s and some crank baits or whatever they tell you to use to catch bass and go fish for bass with lures. No baiting hooks and a heck of a lot of fun. People who say they don’t like fishing will get their eyes opened up when they get a 5 or 10 pound large mouth on. Heck you guys probably even have crappie there as well. Just smash the barbs down on the hooks to make releasing them easy and not injure the fish.

 

[Farny]

Wetsuit . We surf canyon lake to thanksgiving no wetsuit but that H2O does feel cold at 67deg

 

[HangOutdoors]

Yall a bit spoiled down south. Take up fishing/trolling in the cooler months. Buy an DC Coffee pot or drink warmer, bring a tablet and stream a movie while you are fishing! get a grill and make some nice hot food. Bring blankets and pillows and have fun. Only reason I put the boat away cause it is going freezing and below soon. If it wouldn't drop below 40's and 50's I would be out all year round here.


Lake St. Clair water temperature by month

	Max. Water Temperature (°F)	ø. Water Temperature (°F)	Min. Water Temperature (°F)
January	32.7	32.2	32
February	32	32	32
March	35.2	32.9	32
April	57.2	44.8	35.2
May	77.5	64.4	54.3
June	83.5	74.8	67.5
July	84.7	79.3	73.8
August	84.6	77.5	72.5
September	80.2	70.3	62.4
October	65.5	56.3	49.1
November	49.8	44.8	39.4
December	39.6	35.1	32.7

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Almost never too cold here. Wind now, that's another story but Halloween Weekend 2021 and we finally had perfect conditions for an Overnight Boating weekend on the water. Alas, no Trick or Treaters but we did find a place to anchor overnight.

 

[RobbieO]

Yall a bit spoiled down south. Take up fishing/trolling in the cooler months. Buy an DC Coffee pot or drink warmer, bring a tablet and stream a movie while you are fishing! get a grill and make some nice hot food. Bring blankets and pillows and have fun. Only reason I put the boat away cause it is going freezing and below soon. If it wouldn't drop below 40's and 50's I would be out all year round here.


Lake St. Clair water temperature by month

	Max. Water Temperature (°F)	ø. Water Temperature (°F)	Min. Water Temperature (°F)
January	32.7	32.2	32
February	32	32	32
March	35.2	32.9	32
April	57.2	44.8	35.2
May	77.5	64.4	54.3
June	83.5	74.8	67.5
July	84.7	79.3	73.8
August	84.6	77.5	72.5
September	80.2	70.3	62.4
October	65.5	56.3	49.1
November	49.8	44.8	39.4
December	39.6	35.1	32.7

If the water levels were higher here in CA I would keep boating until late Nov. Our fall weather can average 75-80.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I didnt consider the water levels.

 

[Ronnie]

I live in NCal, when I was younger I would just put more layers of clothing on before going boating. If we planned go go Waverunning we’d put on spring suits (wet suits with short sleeves and pant legs) and/or float coats. We would always have a restaurant destination planned so we would be on the river or in sf bay. That is, we wouldn’t just go to be on the water. Now that I’m older we simply stop boating at the end of September / start of October when the air temp drops. If we really want to eat at a specific place on the water, which we haven’t, we drive there.

if you want to stay on the water longer every year consider having a camper top/cockpit enclosure made or see if any members here or on yamahajetboaters.com are selling theirs’. They are not cheap, $2k plus new, but the alternative of buying a different kind of boat is a lot more expensive.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Head south

 

[tabbibus]

We enjoy flying kites from the boat during the cooler months, the pocket/parafoil style kites on Amazon work well.

do you have any links? I'd love to do this with my girls

 

[UnfixedPyle]

Head south

Not a whole lot South of San Antonio

 

[UnfixedPyle]

Wetsuit . We surf canyon lake to thanksgiving no wetsuit but that H2O does feel cold at 67deg

Do you go all year with a wetsuit? I've been trying to find water temp data for Canyon and Medina (although it's 40ft low) to see what months a wetsuit would be a viable option. I'm not sure that would get my teenage daughters in the water but it would work for me depending on how cold it gets. I can't find accurate data online though.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Not a whole lot South of San Antonio

Head east first.

 

[Weeb]

Smoke cigars.

 

[RobbieO]

Smoke cigars.

Green ones?

 

[biffdotorg]

 

[buckbuck]

That is a good dinner right there!