You can't make this stuff up

[bobby b.]

48 minutes ago, BrowningCollector.com said:

An excellent example.  More laws without enforcing current law. Put a "no wake sign on your dock" new law in place, but not enforce the law after it has been implemented. How many fisherman this summer had boats run too close, according to current law, but the boater was never pulled over.  In the case of Bobby b....... with the wakeboard boat running at night between him and the bank while fishing.  Current law states the boater was wrong, but the waterpatrol cannot be every where. Same as having a buoy. When the waterpatrol isn't available, then the buoy assists law enforcement.  Unfortunately, the waterpatrol and now the corp doesn't see it that way.  They are listening to the wakeboard boat captains, tuna rig captains and the ocean going vessel captains complain about buoys.

If breaking the waterway laws could be made into a Profit Center for the MHP they would be all over it with lots more cops on the water - like the use of the radar gun which makes money for the County and State.

[cbass12]

4 hours ago, Larry Eby said:

Last time I had seen WP out of cape fair was in the spring a few months after the govna's decree was in place.

 

1 hour ago, BrowningCollector.com said:

but the waterpatrol cannot be every where.

Off topic but I saw Water Patrol probably 8-10 times during our week down there from 8/13-8/20. It was encouraging to see them having a presence on the water. This was in the KC area.

[garyw]

would a gopro stand up in court?

 

[MOPanfisher]

I don't know if a distance could be proved on a gopro footage or not.   suppose if it was silly close and they could easily show it was within the 100 feet maybe.   The loss of the old WP guys left a big  "knowledge hole" in the troopers ability to get to the best location to launch etc.  And while they are spending time on the water I don't believe it is nearly as much time. 

[skeeter]

There was an Aunts Creek resident recently on another local Board complaining about the noise and reckless water traffic in front of his place over the Labor Day weekend.  Seems there was some nut-job with a very loud, heavily-modified and large outboard on some kind of performance style type of boat running up and down the same piece of Lake until 11 P.M. three nights in a row and the usual Wake-boat inconsiderates blasting their unwanted rap-crap music over their Gigawatt speaker systems until all hours as well as during daylight. 

I told him the next time that happened to call MSHP in Springfield and ask for the Water Division.  He called them to check things out and they told him that they had no Officers on the Lake at the time !!!? 

I naively thought there was supposed to be a Patrolman available at each major reservoir at all times....not actually in his vessel and on the water but available.  Guess I am mistaken.  Anyone know ?

[MOPanfisher]

I think they are available/on call for things like accidents or drownings. I am surprised they didn't have an officer on evenings though.  

[GoggleEYE]

On 9/1/2016 at 6:51 AM, BrowningCollector.com said:

An excellent example.  More laws without enforcing current law. Put a "no wake sign on your dock" new law in place, but not enforce the law after it has been implemented. How many fisherman this summer had boats run too close, according to current law, but the boater was never pulled over.  In the case of Bobby b....... with the wakeboard boat running at night between him and the bank while fishing.  Current law states the boater was wrong, but the waterpatrol cannot be every where. Same as having a buoy. When the waterpatrol isn't available, then the buoy assists law enforcement.  Unfortunately, the waterpatrol and now the corp doesn't see it that way.  They are listening to the wakeboard boat captains, tuna rig captains and the ocean going vessel captains complain about buoys.

I don't post on here much, but have been reading up on these posts. I am by no means defending the wake boats because I hate them as much as the next guy. I know several of the local water officers on table Rock , and know they have their hands full most days and they work hard. What I was questioning was the people saying it was illegal for the wake boat in Bobby b instance to pass so close.

Missouri law states it is illegal to operate a vessel or pwc above idle speed within 100 feet of a pier or dock as several members have discussed in this thread. I get this and agree it is a problem. It also says it is illegal to operate a motorboat within 100 feet of an occupied, anchored vessel. As bass fisherman I doubt most of you use an anchor while fishing and are most likely on the troller, I may be wrong. I also read where it is illegal for a pwc to operate above idle speed within 50 feet of any boat, swimmer, etc. regardless if it's anchored or not.

So is the water patrol to blame on these stupid wake boats not getting stopped, I don't think so. Unless your fishing anchored there is no law that I see, as to how far away other boats (not pwcs) must stay from you on or off plane.  Is it extremely inconsiderate, yes. But illegal, no. 

Now if it was a pwc, with more specific laws in place, then yes. As soon as they get within 50 feet of you while fishing at any time they are in violation, which everyone of us has encountered. But the rest of the boats have no such restrictions. In short, I'm not aware of what law quoted above made this situation wrong other than the dumb wake boat keeping his docking/ headlights on the whole time. Looks to me like it's more of a lack of common courtesy/ common sense among the pleasure boaters. 

[tapout]

6 hours ago, GoggleEYE said:

 Is it extremely inconsiderate, yes. But illegal, no. 

Quote

Very nice post GoggleEYE. I wanted to say it, but was too afraid to poke the bear.

 

[Browning Guy]

Buoy vs. No buoy.  Tested the waterpatrol's idea to remove buoys from Tablerock.  I had a sign made using the template suggested by the waterpatrol and put it on our dock.  I pulled the buoy.  The sign we had made was 25% larger than the sign suggested by the waterpatrol and placed in the center outer section of the dock...... the trail camera on our dock tells the tale.  Game cams are not known to take great photos and ours is not the most expensive.  Clearly not having a buoy is an issue. Boaters have over 750 yards of open water to run in front of our dock, yet under 100' seems the norm for boaters. 

In fairness to fellow fisherman and unfortunately, I deleted the photos of the wake board, tuna rig and ocean going vessels from earlier in the year (while waiting to get a new buoy/without a buoy) before I discovered the waterpatrol was wanting to take the buoys. Wish I had them back to post.  I can assure you, far less fisherman run under the 100' state law than the wake boats, tuna rigs and ocean going vessels.  No buoy meant open season on running well under the 100' current law.  Signs will make little or no difference as proven in the instance below. 

[MOPanfisher]

Admittedly it's tough to tell distance from a camera, but yep it appears to be pretty close to the dock.