Lake Conroe death

News reporting 3 people in boat capsized due to another boat pushing a large wave. 1 person has drowned. As bad as it is I knew it was bound to happen eventually. The boats and waves they create on Conroe are dangerous and destructive.

That's a shame.

That sucks. I sure don’t miss fishing that rough a$$ Lake

That's sad, prayers to all involved!

"The boats and waves they create on Conroe are dangerous and destructive"

This a very true statement! I can show you boat sitting in a slip in front of someones house that has Furuno Radar, give you an idea of what size this boat is, at least 10' sticks out from the back of the slip, something you would see at the coast to head offshore in. Blows me away!

Like a lot of popular lakes

We saw the ambulance and fire truck down by the water and figured somebody had drowned

A boater is responsible for their wake

All these damn surf boats that are all the rage are designed to go slow and create a huge a huge wake. It’s only going to get worse on the more heavily used lakes.

Those wake boats with the bladders that fill full of water to push the boat down and create larger wakes are super dangerous for other boats. I've had to get down on all 4s a couple of times on Travis and Austin to avoid getting launched into the water.

I Was at grapevine four or five years ago and got shot out of seat about four foot. Boat took on two giant waves. I have never been back there to fish.

Conroe and Lewisville are both dangerous WEEKEND lakes. Both have large party boats and party they do without any consideration for fishing boats. All 3 men wore wearing PFD's but unfortunately one became distressed ( maybe panicked ). Shame on someone.

that is what wakes boats are made to do. Create a big wake. I hate them..

When is Conroe not dangerous?

So why is okay for these boats to go around drowning folks. How do we work to stop this nonsense?

The quickest way to stop them is to prove the bladders don't get empty or dry so they transport all kinds of invasive species. The biggest issue is the big money that really controls what goes on around these lakes all have kids that love those boats so they get a pass.

I fish Conroe out of a kayak. Pretty interesting when the wake boats go by . I don’t really like fishing out of stubblefield, but the dang wake boats go all they way up to Cagle now. Guess I need to find another go to sport till this fall.

When it’s 30 degrees in the dead of winter

Sad deal. I live on the lake and those large boats are every where and there are some that think they are the only ones on the lake. To be honest I'm surprised there aren't more deaths on Conroe.

Conroe also has some of the worst rebound waves of any lake I've ever fished, taken a couple over the bow without the help of the wake boats.

Very sad. Prayers for all involved. We were out there this morning and off the lake by 11. The wakes some of those boats throw is insane. I also can't believe the size of some of the boats on Conroe either.

We always hear that boaters are responsible for their wakes, and yet we have boats cruising around on our lakes that are designed to throw the biggest wake possible.

Why is that okay?

I’ve seen the wake boat guys laugh while they watch their wake slam into smaller boats at Alan Henry. I had a visit with some wake guys one day. I was not happy. They couldn’t care less.

The guy that was died was a coach from the Channelview area

I’ve taken waves over the bow of my 22’ bayboat on Alan Henry on several occasions from these Wake Setter boats. I’m sorry but I believe that is excessive for an inland lake. I’d hate to regulate taking away anyone’s fun, but I know there are a lot of boats smaller than mine on the lake. Are we just supposed to tell everyone they should buy a 30 footer if they want to be safe?

Prayers for the mans family and friends.

Always hate news like this. Prayers up for family and friends of the victim! The Lord Jesus Christ has control.

We always hear that boaters are responsible for their wakes because everyone repeats it as a blanket statement. Just as the officer said, the boat that made the wake was outside the 100 ft range. If one of these wake boat passes you dock within the 100 ft range and the wake causes damage the are responsible. If they are outside the 100 ft range, it is too bad so sad.

Prayers go up for families & friends of these victims. It is sad indeed. A family with a loved one lost. .


They ARE victims. Not just drowning victims. There,apparently, is a direct CAUSE for the incident even occurring. IF that CAUSE could be "proven" in the death of a human as a direct result of a persons actions,it can & SHOULD be prosecuted as such. Im sure there are no shortage of witnesses during a day on Lake Conroe. Will the County Attorney OR State AG's office even pursue it? Probably not. SHOULD they. Most DEFINATELY YES!!! If for the only reason being as a possible deterrent to hopefully prevent another fatal loss.


As far as a boaters wake responsibilities, a boater is responsible for damage caused by his wake,BUT, ONLY if theyre less than 100' away from when & where damage occurred? Thats the stupidest excuse ive ever heard. of!!! It was still DIRECTLY attributed to another boaters wake causing the incident to occur. That makes no sense at all. Tragedies such as this are manmade from start to finish, plain & simple & sad but true.

The laws will change because of the boats and drivers .

Was the 100’ wake law put into effect before the wake boat craze came into play? If so, I think they need to revisit this law. When they were determining safe distances for a “normal size wake” to dissipate enough as not to cause damage, I don’t think they were calculating on a 3 to 4 foot tall wake. And where are the environmentalists on this issue, what about erosion to the shorelines?

This will never get fixed though, way too much $$ at play. What county would ever impose restrictions on or ban wakeboard boats?

I highly doubt it

They will impose speed limits due to the bass boats before they impose stricter wake limits on wake boats even though the wakes are more of a danger.

The 100' law has to be very old because it is at least as old as Lake Conroe. There are many boats on the lake that put out much larger wakes than the wake boats. If you see one of the 40' - 50' cruisers going down the lake you better keep your eyes open. They have wakes that will flip a 20' bass boat if you are not careful.
Making the entire lake a no wake zone is not going to happen.

They will never impose wake limits, go to Lake Texoma and fish the rocks by a marina, they have huge boats on that lake and they make massive waves.

If your on a boat you need to keep alert.

I have never had any issues with the wakeboard boats. Now those big off shore cabin cruisers that people feel the need to put on a lake are a huge hazard!! I have run into a few wakes from those boats long after the boats are gone and its amazing how tall and wide those wakes are but you cant even see them until the last second. If we are going to start restricting water displacement that's where it needs to start. Those boats aint even designed for lakes much less busy urban lakes.

I grew up in the day when skiing was in. You tried to run a pattern to keep the water smooth as possible so you could ski and not ruin it for other boaters/skiers. Now the bigger the wake the better and some are inconsiderate buffoons don't care if they ruin the water for everyone else as long as they create a wake large enough to get their own air or hang ten.

I get a kick out of them thinking they are surfers after they master riding a 3 foot wake 3 feet behind a boat towed by a rope.

100 feet or even 1000 feet is mostly a meaningless law. No jury would likely convict.

I had my 19 foot fiberglass bass boat totaled/destroyed by a single huge wave I correctly crossed as taught..... bow approach was almost but not fully head on at lake Amistad. If I approached it less head on, our boat would have easily rolled and been flipped.

My boat on crossing the wave crest suspended and then crashed falling into the huge trough..... that broke my boat in half separating just about where our feet rested seated at the steering wheel driving the boat. We suspect someone earlier had been moving/tugging a floating boathouse perhaps miles away.

Case in point! According to my google earth measuring stick, this boat is 50' long, and they're many more like it on Conroe!

Had to put my old Blazer boat in the fiberglass shot because of a wakeboard boat on Conroe. Banged it into the side of a bulkhead in a no wake zone.

Even in a no wake zone those boats make a large wake.

I like lakes with lots of stumps, the more stumps, the less wakeboarders and skiers.

Yeah their was a wake board boat trying to launch on waxahachie yesterday the thing was huge way to big for that lake . Must have been a 25 ft boat or more .
J D

Bank erroder

It's the giant yacht type boats that are truly bad, the wake boats wakes dissipate pretty quickly, the 40+ foot plus cruiser types will send 3+ foot rollers a 1/2 mile plus

I think that used to be the case and in large part it is. These surf boats are getting upwards of thirty foot now.

I also don’t think they rate these boats for capacity at the factory with ballast tanks even in the boat. I believe they are rated and then they put them in.

It’s also the biggest thing going in recreational boating. Everyone is trying to create the biggest wave possible.

It’s why I don’t go to local lakes on the weekends.

It’s a recipe for disaster with all these people that don’t even bother to learn laws regarding boating and no one enforcing the laws cause they are too busy rescuing people.

Haha....I passed that boat on the way out....all I could do was shake my head.

A couple of years ago I was fishing Cedar Creek and a wake boat went by over 1/4 mile from me. I didn't pay any attention to it until a cast or two later I looked up and saw several gigantic waves about to hit. The second one sent a wave shin high through the boat and the second and third did the same. Later that day I took a wave over the side from one of them.

I think if you move to Cypress Springs and don't have a boat that almost sinks everyone you pass they give you one with the instruction to drive it as close as possible to every fishing boat you see.

The officer stated that pfd's do save lives. I guess it's 2 out of 3 lives in this case. Prayers up to the family and friends of those 3 men.

Ever been to lake of the ozarks ? There’s a boat size limit in the summer. I have friends that were in a 38ft Baja bit a wave so big they came down and both broke there backs.

I bet the one who died had a heart attack or some other medical event that caused it

Like someone posted above, how far/long does this have to go before we take action?

I also don't want to limit someones fun, unnecessarily, but it sounds like the tide has turned and no one is taking this issue on.

TPWD? TABC?

You can bet if it was some poor guy in a John boat that had a couple of beers and did this there would be an outcry for justice. A rich guy gets a pass.

Went and fished naconiche last summer and on the way out met typical big jackup up truck pulling a Moomba, with the racks loaded with boards. Sure was glad I was on the way out.

This is a sad deal, them big offshore boats do not belong on a lake, Prayers for the guys friends and family.

According to the officer their is no criminal violation by the driver of the boat pushing the big wave. However, I would like to see the family of the deceased file a criminal lawsuit on the bases that the driver of the bigger boat caused the death. It would be interesting to see if a jury would hold the driver responsible.

You are so right leethefishking. There should be some responsibility, and accountability, in situations such as these. No different than wreckless endangerment when driving a vehicle on our streets and highways. Peeps on the big craft may not have been aware of the hazards their big boat can create for other boaters. They may have been under the influence of; ( YOU KNOW )

Yes, RKT the driver is responsible for the actions of his water craft.

Only if a court holds them responsible.

100' radius or not, I would think a good litigator could make a case if the offending boat was specially modified to produce an unnatural wake and the victims were unable to prepare themselves adequately.

I recall this site getting trolled from performance boater types when the bass boat hit the pleasure boat or pontoon boat after dark.

I'm not the trolling type, but I bet someone trolls the wakeboard sites/forums after this.

that's no joke. you come across one the outer wake is not significantly higher than the water outside it, but the trough behind it could be 8'

Limit the big pleasure boats to below the 1097 bridge.

Does anyone know what kind of boat that the 3 guys was in? Looked like a fiberglass v hull boat

http://montgomerycountypolicereporter.com/death-on-lake-conroe/

All three in the capsized boat were wearing life vests. The boat that created the wake was more than 100' away. Sounds like the death was due to a medical emergency, not drowning.

Way to much money behind the craze for anything to be done. The erosion deal along with the ballast tanks transporting invasive species is plenty and if it was another boat crowd it probably would get action.

Best idea I have heard of in a while. Problem is, it's too EZ and makes too much sense.

Then how do the owners of big boats that live N of 1097 get their boats on the lake? Most don't own trailers. I can't stand the big boats on Conroe, either. But I will promise you they outnumber bass boats by at least 10:1 on that lake.

My guess is this is the same thing they say on a wake boat forum about us driving around the lake at 75MPH. Not a fan of the wake boats, I hit a huge rouge wave last year on Lewisville that sacred the crud out of me. Having said that, the lakes are for everyone, each of us on both sides of the argument should do the best we can to boat safely. Not a fan of govt. fixing things, it never works!

The wake boat agruement is the same as the large truck/suv versus compact car involved accidents. The bigger vehicle always gets blamed and then there's talk of why one needs such a vehicle. For the record I don't like wake boats either and don't fish that lake on summer weekends.

It's a free country until a law is broken. My good friends Jason and Sara were killed on Conroe last July 11 by a bass boat. Life happens and sometimes it ain't pretty or the result you want.

Sorry about Jason and Sara, skeeterk. I hope their kids are doing well. Hope Bob's doing ok, too. I can't even imagine.

There were two of those boats and two jet skis on Waxahachie at the same time last year and none of them had a care in the world about anybody else on the lake. They ran up and down the lake all day with those jet skis buzzing around them like little flies. It is amazing how stupid some people are.

I'm not a fan of over regulation either.

A bass boat can travel at 75 mph safely and not negatively affect other users of the lake.

A big SUV can be used on the highway safely without affecting those in a Prius.

The same cannot be said for these Wake Setters.

We arent talking about acts of negligence. We are talking about situations where everyone wa within the law and yet a boat capsized and a man lost his life.

The lake is for everyone, but when these boats get on the lake it is difficult to do anything else and enjoy yourself.

I dont mind the tubers, skiers, jet skiers, etc. Everyone out having fun. But these boats plowing through the water creating as big of a wave as possible negatively effects everyone else on the lake even when they are following the law.

That is exactly the point. People are driving around in boats that are designed for the sole purpose of making the biggest wakes possible. That negatively impacts every other person on the lake.

Really sad to hear about this... :-(

I've only been out on Conroe twice and only once south of the bridge. Even in a pontoon boat "anchored" out away from any open water stuff(was on the leeward side of some bird island back towards the shore in 12 FOW)had numerous boats drive all around you and near you and then look at you weird if you pointed at the anchor and gave a "what are you doing??" post. If this is how the pleasure boaters act down there all the time surprising that more people aren't seriously hurt/killed. That pontoon boat was pitching back and forth like crazy! And yes there were some big cruiser type boats not just the wake boarders. We have all these "boating safety rules" and I swear only bass fishermen seem to follow them!

These people really are idiots!

"gangster wake, by that logic, fisherman cannot fill their livewells. Make a point to mention this next time you get pulled.

That door swings both ways.... "


"Take 4" PVC pipes 3-4 feet long put screw on caps at the end then fill them full of lead and label them fishing rods or tackle or something fishing related and put them on the ski locker, side lockers or where ever. Make one PVC pipe that actually does have fishing tackle open it up and show it to the water cops when they ask."


http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?p=403276&sid=0f34bd42684604ea64fd958d57f11f1d

Lots of places around the country have banned ballast boats. Conroe is somewhat sheltered because of the sea way that wraps around most of the lake. I'm not sure who exactly makes the regulations for specific lakes in Texas, but if someone made a strong structured push I'd bet a prohibition on them could be achieved.

SJRA makes the rules for Conroe. Look at the prices of lake front homes all around that lake. $$$ always win at Conroe and it's not the bass fishermen with all those $$$. My rule of thumb is to stay off that lake as soon as it gets nice out. Anytime after 10 am on a weekend is a madhouse and very dangerous.

I would like to be able to fish during the week and stay away from lakes on the weekends, but unfortunately work gets in the way.

Even the biggest fishing boats out there don’t compete with 1000-4000 pounds of water. I don’t understand your point

Oh I see now

361V,

Click the link he posted, you'll understand!

How about this quote!

"We are wakeboarders and our culture is advanced beyond all that you can possibly comprehend with one hundred percent of your brain"

Honestly though, there is no magic bullet to solve all of this, like Fouzman stated earlier, it's all about the money when it comes to Conroe, there are some folks that own a large marina on the lake (I won't mention names) that is a very large influence when it comes to changes being made to the lake, they also happen to be the only people that have wet slips that will accommodate 50-60' boats, i can promise you, they start talking about restricting the size of the boats allowed on Lake Conroe, these folks will get involved, and they will get their way!