Jetboat Pros And Cons

[ColdWaterFshr]

Those videos are very disturbing. Running up water that small. The tacky 70's rock pretty much defines the demographic. There's gotta be some way or ruining the intake on one of those, or where can I get some WWII floating mines?

[Mitch f]

Those videos are very disturbing. Running up water that small. The tacky 70's rock pretty much defines the demographic. There's gotta be some way or ruining the intake on one of those, or where can I get some WWII floating mines?

Even the lower stretches of the Meramec you sometimes have water that's like that in the winter.

[Stoneroller]

That's what it looks like pretty much every time I go out on the river before I get to my fishing spot.

take me, take me!!

[ColdWaterFshr]

I was gonna say, it almost looks like the middle Meramec. Still, that kind've boat could run up just about anything and the only thing stopping them would be a large deadfall across the whole creek.

[Al Agnew]

Actually, I once thought of a way to really control where they can run, but it would cost a lot of money and would probably even tick off some environmentalists...

Pour concrete pilings across the river just above and below all public accesses. The pilings would be like square pillars a few feet wide each, spaced about 30 inches apart, with the tops about a foot above the water surface at normal river level. That way, since most jetboats are more than 36 inches wide, they couldn't fit between them. If the river rose high enough to put enough water over the pillars to run a jetboat over them, it would probably be high enough that they wouldn't do much damage anyway. Put a little path on dry land around the pillars for canoes and kayaks that wouldn't fit between them.

About the PWCs...the second most obnoxious thing I ever encountered on an Ozark stream (the big boat with the auto engine was the first) was some doofus who had put a jet ski engine in one of those Coleman Crawdad things, and was mindlessly running up and down the river, over and over and over and over again as I floated along. He must have passed me five or six times both ways. He seemed real proud of himself.

[gotmuddy]

Good thing we are free to share our opinion. I dont run any other rivers in MO other than the 11pt(yet) so I dont know about the pressure ya'll do. The way everyone talks the bank erosion is caused totaly by jet boats, and rainfall has nothing to do with erosion. My boat throws about a 4-6" wake while on plane. I just have a 1448 with a 25hp merc.

I will admit that I get a thrill running up shoals and close to big rocks in my little boat. I don't just run around in creeks and rivers just to do it.

[fishinwrench]

Running a jet through tricky spots, or running as far up a creek as your balls will let you is a cool rush, just like hill climbing on dirt bikes or mud-running in a badass 4x4. Nobody but a total candyass can resist pushing it to the limit, especially when the fishing is slow.

[Wayne SW/MO]

The way everyone talks the bank erosion is caused totaly by jet boats, and rainfall has nothing to do with erosion.

Erosion from rainfall goes in one direction, downriver. Tree roots and other hard substances are generaly supported on the down stream side by the softer bank material and in turn protect the soft material from erosion. Enter the jet boat and the wave running upstream and hitting the bank, I.E. the softer material, from the other direction where nature hasn't deposited any protection. Rivers have been flooding long before any of us were born and they naturally set up for it. Bring in construction and jet boats and before long the rivers get wider and more shallow and lack the protection to grow decent size fish.

I think your figures are off Al. I doubt there are many jets 36" or less, but a lot of canoes are close.

[Mitch f]

Erosion from rainfall goes in one direction, downriver. Tree roots and other hard substances are generaly supported on the down stream side by the softer bank material and in turn protect the soft material from erosion. Enter the jet boat and the wave running upstream and hitting the bank, I.E. the softer material, from the other direction where nature hasn't deposited any protection. Rivers have been flooding long before any of us were born and they naturally set up for it. Bring in construction and jet boats and before long the rivers get wider and more shallow and lack the protection to grow decent size fish.

I think your figures are off Al. I doubt there are many jets 36" or less, but a lot of canoes are close.

That's his point, jets can't go thru

[Wayne SW/MO]

That's his point, jets can't go thru

And neither can most canoes or kayaks, that's my point.