Two Killed And A Couple Injured

[Seth]

Maybe you shouldn't run your jet boat when there is only one little chute open. Wait for me and my PADDLE to move through the rapid. It cracks my up how cool these guys with there 40 horse jets are. So your saying , when I hear the jet heading my way, to get out of the canoe start to drag it across this little "chute", while your going balls out in 5 inches of water. That makes perfect sense. See a group of people scrambling to run through a river just because the water is too low for you to come off pad. Thats is unrealistic IMO.

My favorite run in with local jet boat guy happend a couple weeks ago on the eleven point river. There is spot where the current sweeps you into a root wad. Jet boat guy parks his boats in the eddie where you have to take the current and indefinatly flip. This being jet boat guys main objective, and his weekend entertainment, and possibly a lucrative buisness picking up what others loose. Me being the guy I am, with all my gear for a two day float crashes into your blazer, doesn't flip anything besides the bird.

I could say the same thing that maybe floaters should find waters with less jet boat traffic. I know I can take a canoe in areas I would never take a jet boat and enjoy the day. Floaters should know that if they float certain stretches of water, they will get pounded by jet boat traffic. When the rivers get as low as they have been, they are putting themselves in danger. That sounds selfish, but realize that a jet boat has to be on plane to get through these shallow areas. There is no way I would be floating anywhere below Jerome during the summertime when I could easily go much farther up the Gasconade and get away from a lot of the jet boat traffic.

That jet boater parking in the eddy sounds as bright as somebody who canoes on the middle Gasconade on a summer weekend and crying about the jet boats.

[Seth]

Seriously Seth? The river revolves around the jet boat? Everyone in canoes or tubes should work around them?

Jerry, I totally agree with you. The jets should be banned on 1) crowded rivers and 2) smaller rivers that leave little room to maneuver. I've posted it before, those things are just a blight on the rivers. Wakes, the obnoxious sound, the exhaust, the churning of the waters. Just no place on what are supposedly wilderness streams.

Keep them on the lower parts where the rivers get enough size tro handle them.

So are we supposed to only run the Missouri or what? I run the Gasconade which is PLENTY big but it does have a few narrow spots. That is on a stretch of river 50-60 miles long. Why should a guy with a jet boat be banned because of a few floaters who weren't bright enough to go farther up river where the jet boat traffic is very light? That just seems like a better decision for both parties. Heck there are spots on the Osage River when the water is off that could be dangerous if you met a group of floaters. Does that mean jet boats should be banned from there too because of a handful of spots on a 70 mile stretch of water?

I have nothing against floaters. If I meet up with some and the water is deep enough, I always slow down and try to be courteous. The river doesn't belong to jet boaters OR floaters. Some of you seem to think you can call me out for being selfish and hogging the waterways, but yet you turn right around and say all jet boats should be banned so the floaters can have the entire thing to themselves. How is that not the pot calling the kettle black especially when 99% of the water is big enough for 10 boats to run up side by side?

If you want to float, go above Boiling Springs on the Gasconade or stick to the Meramec. I have no experience on other rivers so I can't comment on those situations.

[Seth]

I will side with you anti jet boat folks when it comes to the pleasure jetters. Most folks who just run the river for fun are running souped up inboards. Getting hit with waves from them all day while I am trying to fish gets old in a hurry. At least when I am fishing I am running from one spot to the next and spending the majority of my time on the trolling motor, not constantly running back and forth.

[Al Agnew]

It's a classic conflict of river users. Each causes problems for the other, and neither is all right or wrong.

Like Mitch and Greasy, I'd give up mine with no problems if they were ever banned, but of course it ain't happening. If anybody in MDC or the legislature would have had any foresight, they should have been banned or limited when they first came onto the scene. Now it's way too late.

Seth, from my canoeist standpoint...why should I be limited to only the streams too small to jetboat? There are some very cool sections of the Gasconade and other streams that I would not like to be barred from floating because they are "reserved" for jetboats.

Of course, I'm fortunate to be able to float and fish during the week, but even then there are streams that I used to love that I have no desire to float because even during the week I'll probably run into a few jetboats.

As a jetboat owner, I can't remember the last time I used mine between the months of April and late October. Mine is almost entirely a winter fishing craft. I'd just as soon not be on any of the jetboatable streams in the summer, partly to avoid the possibility of having an accident with a paddler, tuber, or swimmer, partly because I don't like the crowds and the fishing isn't as good.

[Seth]

I understand the canoeist point of view and I do agree with it. Boaters shouldn't be thrown under the bus either just because a few floaters are unhappy. I am sure we can agree that the guy running the river to a fishing hole isn't the issue anyways. The hundreds of folks ripping back and forth all day long and just burning gas are the ones we have issues with.

I agree with you about the summertime not being worth it. The fishing sucks and there is way too many pleasure jetters. Bring on the fall and winter months so I can fish in peace, not have a heat stroke and actually catch some fish!

[Seth]

I don't think I could give up my jet boat. It is way too handy of a fishing tool for me on the Gasconade and Osage. If I had to down size to a 60/40 setup like on the current river, I would have no issues at all with that.

[SmallyWally]

Two cents worth. I have been a member for a few years here and have seen the decline either with my eyes or ears, of our rivers. To many people, taking to many fishes, to much trash, to many jet boats, to few conservation/police/patrol, to many cows, to much trespassing, to much silting, to many deaths, to little respect, to many opinions, to LITTLE leadership, to few enforced laws, to little action of protection and to many LAZY politicians. Jerry was right about the jet boats, they offer the state more $money$ thru taxes, gas-license-sales=$$$. Al, your correct, they let the genie out of the bottle, without initial stipulations on where a jet could go. Whomever, is letting our river(s) resource (Jefferson City) lose ground should be canned or worse. We were blessed to have these opportunities within our state but we have to remember that the bottom line to our state is that green back. Natural resources generates $$$$$$$$$$$$, which Missouri wants......NO MATTER HOW THEY GET IT!!!! I know there is enough people to make a difference in helping our streams survive much less thrive, but we better get it together and stop trusting in the bureaucracy.

[Flysmallie]

Jerry was right about the jet boats, they offer the state more $money$ thru taxes, gas-license-sales=$$$.

This is where I think you guys are wrong. There are too many canoe outfitters out there putting thousands of canoes on the rivers almost everyday in the summer. The floaters buy gas, food, drinks, etc. And the outfitters buy gas, pay property taxes, shuttle vehicles, land, income, employment taxes, the purchase of new canoes and rafts. That one time tax on a 20K is nothing compared to what the outfitters are paying year after year.

[Seth]

This is where I think you guys are wrong. There are too many canoe outfitters out there putting thousands of canoes on the rivers almost everyday in the summer. The floaters buy gas, food, drinks, etc. And the outfitters buy gas, pay property taxes, shuttle vehicles, land, income, employment taxes, the purchase of new canoes and rafts. That one time tax on a 20K is nothing compared to what the outfitters are paying year after year.

Last time I checked, my boat doesn't run on free gas. Your average jet boater is probably burning 30-40 bucks a day in fuel every time they hit the water. Multiple that by the hundreds or even thousands of boats on the rivers throughout the state and that's a lot of fuel tax money. The pleasure jetters usually have a cooler full of food and beverages on board that would sink a canoe as well. I'd sure save A LOT of money if I just used my canoe instead of my jet boat.

[Flysmallie]

I never said that a boat runs on free gas. I used to fish out of a bass boat all the time so I know that it gets expensive, probably more than the 30 to 40 bucks that you said. But most of the people in canoes out there have dropped 40 bucks on a canoe rental and there are a lot more canoes out there.

But I'm not against the fisherman like you Seth. Most of the time they are very courteous. The ones that drive me crazy are the pleasure jetters that just run back and forth up and down the river. I guess they are having fun but it looks boring as hell to me.

But guess what, I just don't float where a lot of jet boats will be. I love the Gasconade but there is a lot of water above jet territory. And I absolutely refuse to ever go on the Current again. That's the only place that I have ever had a real problem with jets.