COME ON, MAN!!!

I run luces alot, it depends on where in the bayou i am, and where the boats are. problem with the crappie guys in the spring is they are always in the middle of the dang bayou, i typically always come off plane when i go around people up there if i'm past the first bridge unless they are in the middle of the bayou lower than that, just not enough room to go by someone with out getting shot at lol..

i'm always nervous way up the bayou getting into a head on collision way up it but it hasn't happened in 30 years of running the bayou..

spring before last i had some guys call lake patrol on me up the east fork and tell them i had run over stumps and wrecked my boat and was driving crazy, that was an interesting conversation with lake patrol when they showed up and i was fishing and obviously hadn't hit anything....

+1

I try to ask myself how do I want to be treated? For me safety wise I would slow to a no wake idle. If I was in the other boat I would not want boats flying by me on plane 20' away. (regardless of if I am in the boat lane or fishing a brush pile in the middle of the lake)I try to treat others the way I want to be treated. So those that would fly by I can only assume they would not care if a boat passes by them on plane from 20' away.

If I were fishing in a boat lane on a stump filled reservoir like Fork , I'd make sure to use my trolling motor to keep my azz out of the way when boats were running the boat lane on plane. Its not the guys on plane's responsibility to slow down, its the guy impeding the lanes responsibility to keep out of the way. The only reason guys should come off plane is if the boat impeding the lane has a disabled motor or lacks the ability to get out of the way for another reason. I fished on Fork one time and saw the result of a guy hauling azz just outside the boat lane when his lower unit made contact with a monster stump, it was a mess, two were ejected from the boat, scary to say the least. Anyone obstructing the boat lane to fish is being inconsiderate and asking for trouble IMO,if they have a trolling motor they are more than capable of staying out of the path of moving boats.

If you can stay casting distance away safely, stay on plane. Any closer slow idle. You are responsible for your wake regardless of where your at on the lake. Boat lanes are marked for boater SAFETY and safe passage when conditions permit. Doing things that create unsafe conditions is nonsense. Boat lanes are not marked for fish safety zones.

One thing to consider is that it is not so plainly obvious as you may think just where the boat lanes are located? I know many of you fish the same lakes for years or know the boat lanes like the back of your hands even without buoys.
When I was new to Lake Fork and had never seen any boat lanes, I had read that some of the buoys were off and that you need to purchase the Lake Fork boat lanes chip. I purchased the chip and had it in my boat but not installed because my Insight map showed the boat lanes perfectly.
I was running around the lake in the boat lanes per my GPS, and I was asking myself what these people were doing fishing in the middle of the boat lanes?
My point is that it may not be obvious to everyone that they are in the right of way?

If it is between FM 2946 and the 515 bridge and you blow by, you better be on the north side of the lane because it is about a foot deep very close to the markers. Blowing by anywhere on Fork isn't too safe these days.

How close was Swindle when he got DQ'd from the classic? If you can run past me safe on plane then do it...I could care less about how big your wake is when you are off plane or on plane...it's the fiberglass and steel coming at me at 70 mph that makes me nervous.

Alot of those people are fishing a creek channel or bend in the creek that just so happens it was there before the boat lane. Takes a real jerk to think its ok to blow some one out because he is fishing "the boat lane". How would yall react if you were fishing up in maybe 2 - 3' of water on a flat and a duck hunter with a shallow drive ran past you wide open at about 20'? I bet there would be a post on here about the rude duck hunter's and how they almost ran you over.

How about this - NO fishing within 25 yards of the center of the boat lane? Geez, if I feel forced to fish THAT close to the center of a boat lane, I probably need to improve my fish finding skills. They don't allow non motorized vehicles or pedestrians on freeways - do they?

I will usually slow to an idle as I pass, aknowledge their presence with a nod or a wave - and remind them - THEY ARE FISHING IN THE MIDDLE OF A BOAT LANE (which to me is a lane designated for the use of HIGH SPEED BOATS) DUH!!!!

I remember when I first started fishing back in '05, I was on Lake Livingston when a boat buzzed by me twice throwing his hands up in the air & yelling something I couldn't understand. Anyway, thought the guy was being an arshole, and he was, but what I didn't know was that I was in a boat lane, lol. Anyway, if he just would have slowed down and said "Hey dude, you know you're in a boat lane", I would probably asked "What in the heck is a boat lane", then understood & moved.