Can You Catch More Fish...

[Mitch f]

Jet boats are for douche bags...I consider buying one occassionally, gotta be drunker than 400 mexicans to consider it....but It aint gonna happen. I dont want to get trapped up in that big old hurry....

The craft you float reflects your personality in many respects...Jet boats.....just too darn fast, all about me, noisey, lack of respect to others..IMO..Guess theres a 10% that are respectful jet boat owners...but most seem to be jerk offs. Dats the way I see it.

Gavin,

I understand your frustration with jet boats, I used to feel that way. But there's difference in a 200 HP jet and a 60 HP. Most of the guys in jet boats just like to cruise up and down the river with their babes on the deck in a bikini; Stir up the mud on the first 3 or 4 feet from the bank, and ruin it for all fisherman. These are the same guys with the cigarette boats on Lake O. Then there is the fishermen, We just use it as a means to get from one spot to another in comfort. I like to slow down when I pass a canoe, but I know some guys that think the wake created by slowing down is worse than if the boat is up on plane.

I'm a Metrologist and do laser scanning for a living, I was reverse engineering (scanning) the entire hull of a boat at the Express factory in Hot Springs, AR in 2003. They couldn't pay me on time so they gave me a jet boat and trailer for a super deep discount. I also had a 2003 Skeeter I won at a smallmouth tourney in Lake Erie. Within 6 months I sold the Skeeter and never looked back. I used the jet at least 3 times more than the Skeeter. If you ever fish out of one, you will be hard pressed to get back in a canoe. It's like washing your dishes in the sink vs. buying a dishwasher....too hard to go back.

[Zach Bearden]

I'm gonna go ahead and say Biplane... Clearly that's the most conservative and peaceful method to catch fish.

And Carp and Suckers are a game fish. They pull at the end of the line? That's game.

[FishinCricket]

I'm gonna go ahead and say Biplane... Clearly that's the most conservative and peaceful method to catch fish.

And Carp and Suckers are a game fish. They pull at the end of the line? That's game.

Man, where's the Gong when you need it? lol

Yeah, actually you're right about the gamefish thing.. Isn't carp the #1 tournament fish in the World?

But bowfishing and gigging isn't pertinent to this discussion.. (I don't think...)

[hank franklin]

Two guys in a canoe is the best fishing option. The stern paddler puts the guy in front in position. You should be able to have at least one good cast in practically all situations.

Where the jet boat shines is on the bigger rivers. There are sections of the Meramec below Sullivan for example that just can't be fished very thoroughly from a canoe. You can get some good shots from a canoe but you can't sit and be thorough. I'm thinking in particular of a great long rocky run between the State Park and the Caverns. Canoe fishing through there is pretty much hopeless.

I've got limited experience in a kayak. Boat control takes precedence there unlike the canoe where you can often just let the thing bounce and run itself aground if necessary. Yes you can get to more areas in a kayak but I much prefer the canoe.

If I'm on skinny to medium water, canoe. Bigger water, jet boat.

[Al Agnew]

Hank, I know that stretch of the Meramec, and it's all a matter of experience. I can fish it pretty effectively in my solo canoe, but I've been doing this for many years. And I don't agree with you that a kayak can go places a canoe can't. I can take my solos anywhere a kayak can go, and in tight spots I can do it easier since I'm not using a double bladed paddle that needs more room.

There's no doubt you can fish more comfortably and in most places on bigger rivers, more effectively, in a jetboat. But canoes aren't shabby if you have the proper set up and good seat system.

And Mitch is right. The majority of jetboat owners really do seem to be douchebags, but the majority of people who actually seriously use them for fishing, instead of the doofus motorheads who just see how fast they can go and how many times they can buzz by you, are a different story.

I don't use my jetboat all that much in the summer, because I tend to fish smaller streams then. But when I do, you'll see me go by you once, and that's all. The way I use it in the summer is to put in and run upstream as far as I think I can fish back down during the day, and then spend the day drifting back down to the access.

And although I own one, if I had my way I'd close a bunch of streams to all motorized traffic. Since I've always hated to see the things all the years I've fished from a canoe, I'd willingly give mine up if it meant that we could have rivers free of the noise and commotion from the motorheads. But since that ain't gonna happen and since they really are great to fish from on larger rivers and in the winter, I figure I might as well take advantage of their advantages! But I'm always thinking about how other river users are affected by my jetboat. I'll go by canoeists and kayakers at idle speed if possible. If I am coming up the river and see paddlers starting down the riffle ahead of me, I'll stop and wait for them to clear the riffle and idle past them once they get into the pool. I avoid stream sections that are apt to be crowded, because I don't want to have to wend my way through swimmers and tubers. And I wish more jetboat owners thought that way.

[Gatorjet]

A GATOR jetboat, what else.

[zipstick]

I sense a war developing.... Wish long ago MDC had put a 40 hp limit on all streams except the MO and 'Sippi. Could have prevented the streams being used as a secondary highway for big boats driven by idiots. Maybe we can get the legislature to to paint a yellow strip down the middle of streams for the weekend crowds of jetters and canoes....

A really good reason to angle in winter.

No one likes to see this weak economy continuing, but I think it has taken some of the riff raff off the rivers.

[RSBreth]

I catch more fish no matter what I'm fishing out of, silly.

Seriously, it depends on the water. Most of my waters are too skinny most of the year for jet boats, although every spring there are quite a few on the lower parts of the James. I never see those guys catch a fish, though.

[hank franklin]

Al, a solo canoe no doubt is more agile than my 17-footer. I can't handle that Meramec bend in my 17-footer and get anything more than a few fly-bys. If I'm strictly controlling the boat then yes the bow guy will get some good looks but in my experience that bend needs to be fished slow and deep and I haven't found the mojo. We hit that in the jet earlier this summer however and had some hot action. Love that spot.

What I liked about the kayak was its ability to get into the middle of brush, downed trees etc. That's an area in my 17-footer that I really can't touch.

[Gatorjet]

I sense a war developing.... Wish long ago MDC had put a 40 hp limit on all streams except the MO and 'Sippi.

You mean I've got 335 HP too much?

I never go much above Lookout on Taney when they aren't running water out of respect to waders in the upper area. I run the lower Gasconade, and Maramec rivers. But my boat is also idealy suited to Truman, Mark Twain, and even does as well as any fiberglass bass boat I've been in on Lake of the Ozarks. That's why I say I catch more fish from my Gator. A boat for all waters. I've even used it in very small lakes and ponds with just the trolling motor for a comfortable day of fishing.