No Wake Zone

[Predator1]

How many of you think the Bridges on Table rock should be NO WAKE ZONES......While we were fishing Saturday, some Big Pleasure cruisers past by too close and caused a big enough wake to push us into a Bride Pilon....I think alot more people need to know safety before cranking up that new vessel.

Any other opinions.

Thanks,

Charles E. Jackson

[mclothier1]

Those big cruisers seem to run up and down the lake on half plane. Im no expert on those boats, but seeing as everyone of them I have seen is plowing water, do they ever plane out? or maybe its just the driver enjoys swamping other boats?

In my mind it all comes down to common sense, when you know your driving a boat that throws a huge wake, common sense would tell me to slow down especially around other boats fishing and even more so around the bridge piers.

I had the pleasure of fishing a point and a boat came within 100 ft to my left, then another boat came around the other side and cut inbetween the two of us. Ive got a 20' fish and ski Glastron and we had to hang on pretty good, felt like it was gonna throw us.

Like I said common sense, too bad not everyone has it.

[rps]

I know it is hard to believe, but some of the boats are made to make large wakes. They are displacement craft like the old wooden cruisers. The older style of hull was deemed superior for water sking tricks and competitions. Mastercraft is an example.

Even at top speed, "on plane," the hull makes a large wake. They are popular with the with the wakeboard and skidoo crowd as well.

The real giants out there are also primarily displacement hulls as they give a smoother ride in ocean chop. Cigarette boats are the exception for oceangoing craft, and, if you've seen film of their races, the passengers take a beating. As an aside, I question the sanity of those who put ocean craft on inland lakes. Until laws are made, they have the right. Doesn't mean I can't laugh at them.

Your fish and ski and my aluminium center console are a more modern hull design. Memory seems to tell me the PT boat was the first large planing hull and was based on small fishing boat designs - plywood was used to make a V bow that flattened to a relatively flat stern hull line and then overpowered to push it fast enough to put it on plane. Can we say 1980's Ranger?

[focused fishing]

Maybe it's been such a cool & raining spring that my memory is slipping but it sure seems like the "big wake" boat traffic is worse this summer than last. I know OK as no wake zones around bridges, of course we would need water patrol to enforce it, but it would be nice to fish a bridge pilling (for that matter an off shore hump) without having to do the trolling motor two step all afternoon.

[Predator1]

maybe a sign on the pilons would work.

[bassman1308]

Doesn't Beaver lake have 'no wake ' signs around their bridges? I know they did a few years ago in the Prairie Creek area.

[Hogfan]

You're right Bassman, the two bridges on Beaver both have no wake zones.

[Shaner]

maybe a sign on the pilons would work.

Kansas implemented a new rule this year, no wake within 200 ft. of a bridge,dock, or anchored "mooring" boat. They said its a no tolerance law so tickets will be giving.

[skeeter]

Part of the problem with fishing next to bridge piers is that not only do you get the wake directly off the play-boat's passage but then you get the reflected wave from behind you as it bounces off the bridge pier. That's what makes tying up there so dangerous and I'm certainly not implying you shouldn't fish there but be prepared to "fend off " when irresponsible boaters go by. Where two wave peaks intersect going the same or in opposite directions, the wave height is double what the original wave height was. That is what has swamped several large craft at Lake of the Ozarks.

Think I have said this before but I'll say it again.

A hull length limit needs to be established on Table Rock right now. Either that or maybe make the entire lake "no wake " if your craft exceeds a certain length ??

They screwed up at Lake of the Ozarks and didn't install a size limit before the gargantuan boats owned by the "look at me and my new toy " crowd ruined that lake. As a result they have many "battleships in a bathtub " running around ruining everyone's days and property. If you've fished TR for a few years you've seen play-boat sizes and their numbers and the seemingly accompanying lack of common courtesy growing and growing. I have no idea where to start with this and hope others that are fed up have some ideas ???

Who do we contact ? How does this get started ? What kind of an organization will it take to get this needed regulation off the ground ? Thanks.

[Whack'emGood]

Good post Skeeter. I'm always saying that they have no business bringing those ocean-going size boats to the lake. The waves from those boats are extremely annoying-- thats one thing... Well, I guess you can't make a law against being annoying and inconsiderate-- but the safety issue is a much more serious thing. If you aren't watching, you can be ejected from the platform of your boat and (at worst) drown. I fish with my dad alot, and I don't know how he would do if he got dumped into the water. I'm always telling him to hang on when the swells from those massive boats approach the boat. Also, there has to be a capsizing issue on alot of the smaller boats. I can't see my Nitro sinking from a series of waves, but there have been plenty of times where if we had been in a lesser (less sink/capsize resistant) boat, that I figure we might have been in serious trouble. I don't know what can be done, but if something can be done-- I'm in.

Whack'em