Ban all Bassboat's

[Johnsfolly]

They sell camo T-shirts "Carp Fisherman do it on the Bank"

[MoCarp]

1 hour ago, BilletHead said:

        Stealth technology ? Camo or submarines? 

BilletHead

lets just say look for boats with front and back power poles😉

[MoCarp]

 

Camo for carp fishermen?

 

 

http://www.rushvillerepublican.com/sports/camo-for-carp-fishermen/article_1d466970-a2f2-560d-9ec2-16e3ff2dce88.html

[Al Agnew]

To be somewhat serious for a moment...there is a question here.  I don't know of many 100 mph bass boats, but how much sense does it make to have 60-70 mph bass boats being operated by people that may or may not be proficient boat handlers in crowded waters?  

Here's the thing...having a few 70 mph boats on a lake on a given weekend is no problem.  But we all know that, over the years, there are going to be more and more boats, and probably faster and faster boats.  That's the nature of technology.  At what point DOES it get to be ridiculously unsafe?

And here's another point, which we are already seeing.  The philosophy is that as long as it's legal, everybody has a right to enjoy public waters in their own way.  But, we have already seen that on lakes like LOZ, the small boater has just about been run off the lake by all the big, high speed boats.  The unpalatable truth is that some uses tend to conflict with other uses to the extent that the other uses can't be safely practiced.  Do any of you want to take your kids with you, put everybody in kayaks, and paddle on the main lake on a weekend?  I doubt it.

And it's getting to be a similar situation on some sections of the rivers.  Put enough high speed jetboats on a river like the lower Current, and they pretty much preclude paddlers, tubers, and even swimmers from safely enjoying the river.  Maybe it hasn't gotten to that point yet, but it doesn't take too much imagination to see it happening as more and more people buy those high speed boats.

As for big tournaments, it's kinda the same thing.  The guy in his 16 ft. aluminum johnboat with 20 hp motor used to be able to fish the big lakes because he was in among a relative few other users with similar craft.  Then he became "outclassed" by the bass boats.  Now, he takes a weekend off to go to Table Rock, and there's a 500 boat tournament going on in addition to the other people using the lake.  Gonna be kinda tough to find a spot to fish.  The problem with big tournaments is that they concentrate a LOT of big boats on the same waters at the same time.

We love to think our rights to use public waters should be almost unlimited, and when there were a lot fewer of us exercising those rights with less advanced technology, there wasn't any problem.  But at some point, the number of users and the level of technology will combine to crowd out a lot of other users, not to mention possibly damaging the resource.  What was okay for 50 people to do on a given body of water may not be so okay when there are 1000 people doing it.

Just food for thought.

[MOPanfisher]

I will play along with the semi-serious note for a moment.  Let's say on Table Rock a study was conducted by a university and determined that the safe carrying capacity was 10,000 boats per day.  OK, how many stalls are in private docks, resorts and marinas docks?  How many left for other folks to launch and use?  Suppose we could know exactly how many boats wod be the safe levwl, how would it b controlled, send cops to every ramp to stop any more people from launching, stop issuing dock permits?  There is no question that boat traffic affects other users, has for years.  LOZ, Table Rock and others, fishing weekdays, early/late and earl/late season.  Unless some legislature actually imolemen's some sort of size/type/horsepower restrictions and has a way to actually enforce it, nothing is going to happen.  And nobody is going to implement anything of the sort in my lifetime on the major lakes. 

[Ketchup]

1 hour ago, Al Agnew said:

To be somewhat serious for a moment...there is a question here.  I don't know of many 100 mph bass boats, but how much sense does it make to have 60-70 mph bass boats being operated by people that may or may not be proficient boat handlers in crowded waters?  

Here's the thing...having a few 70 mph boats on a lake on a given weekend is no problem.  But we all know that, over the years, there are going to be more and more boats, and probably faster and faster boats.  That's the nature of technology.  At what point DOES it get to be ridiculously unsafe?

And here's another point, which we are already seeing.  The philosophy is that as long as it's legal, everybody has a right to enjoy public waters in their own way.  But, we have already seen that on lakes like LOZ, the small boater has just about been run off the lake by all the big, high speed boats.  The unpalatable truth is that some uses tend to conflict with other uses to the extent that the other uses can't be safely practiced.  Do any of you want to take your kids with you, put everybody in kayaks, 

As for big tournaments, it's kinda the same thing.  The guy in his 16 ft. aluminum johnboat with 20 hp motor used to be able to fish the big lakes because he was in among a relative few other users with similar craft.  Then he became "outclassed" by the bass boats.  Now, he takes a weekend off to go to Table Rock, and there's a 500 boat tournament going on in addition to the other people using the lake.  Gonna be kinda tough to find a spot to fish.  The problem with big tournaments is that they concentrate a LOT of big boats on the same waters at the same time.

Thats how i feel with my 19' boat. As far as 500 boats in a tournament, thats small numbers. I have fished Fork, Texoma, TR, Mead, Erie inlets, Kentucky, Powell, and hundreds of smaller lakes, and even with the largest of tournamets going on, have never not found a place to fish, without feeling crowded. Im not a river guy, but i could see it there, but not on a larger body of water. Maybe your idea of no fishing spot differs from mine. 

[mixermarkb]

The author of that article should take a look at the Missouri State Highway Patrol water patrol accident report website. Very, very few incidents with bass boats, nearly all the incidents involve I/O runabouts and personal watercraft.

There will always be folks with no common sense, but most bass boats I see running around busy lakes are running mid throttle, and maybe letting it rip early in the morning or later in the evening when most of the traffic is gone. The average 20' bass boat loaded with 2 people and gear is a 65-70 mph craft, and most of them I see running are cruising in the mid 50's.

That article was full of misleading, inaccurate statements, and should have been booted by an editorial fact check, IMO.

I'm not saying there is no room for increased boating regulation, including proficiency test based operators licenses for ALL boaters, more no wake areas, or reasonable speed limits in congested areas like upper ends of creek channels or areas around Marinas and popular boat ramps, but bass boats on lakes are not the major problem. More water patrol staffing, getting rid of alcohol sales by the drink on the water, enforcing open container laws and no wake laws, and limiting jet boat horsepower on the rivers would be a good start to actually making things safer. 

[mixermarkb]

5 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

 The guy in his 16 ft. aluminum johnboat with 20 hp motor used to be able to fish the big lakes because he was in among a relative few other users with similar craft.  Then he became "outclassed" by the bass boats.  Now, he takes a weekend off to go to Table Rock, and there's a 500 boat tournament going on in addition to the other people using the lake.  Gonna be kinda tough to find a spot to fish.  The problem with big tournaments is that they concentrate a LOT of big boats on the same waters at the same time

Al- 

I still see a lot of guys on Bull Shoals and Mark Twain, and even LOZ fishing out of 16' Jon boats with 15-20 horse motors. They may have to fish closer to a ramp, and may not be able to cover the water that a big bass boat does, but they fish, and catch fish, sometimes (often times?) better than the guys in the high dollar glitter sleds.

I will also take fishing a lake in early spring with a large (200-250 boats is about as big as we have in Missouri , short of hourly weigh in events) bass tournament going on, vs. the same lake in full summer wakeboard/PWC/pontoon season all day, every day.

The smaller fishing rigs aren't being "outclassed" and run off the lake by bass boats, I see them out fishing next to bass boats every spring and fall. They are being run off the water by the summer pleasure boat crowd. Most bass boaters I see around smaller craft idle past them to take off, come off plane early, or run by at full trim to leave less of a wake.

Again, a bunch of misplaced, nonsensical drivel in the original article. 

[mixermarkb]

One last thought-

IF you are on a lake with a big tourney, and want to fish most of the day in peace, fish as close to the tournament launch as possible. Most all of the bass boat guys will run to the opposite end of the lake from the launch in the morning, regardless of if the launch is right on top of good water or not. Something about having that horsepower makes humans have to use it. Derby guys idling away from takeoff and dropping the troller and fishing close just isn't a thing. 

😎

[176champion]

Well the man convinced me, im putting my boat up for sale in a couple weeks.

The biggest problem i see is common courtesy and respect has gone to the ditch.