but what ever happened to curtsey on the water from fellow boaters? By that I mean, say you are fishing a hole out around some stump or such and other boaters pass so close to you (ON PLANE) that you could see the whites of their eyes.

Maybe I am just getting old and times are changing, but I was taught to show respect and curtosey to other boater not just fisherman. If you must pass that close to another boater, come off plane and idle past the other fisherman/boat so that you do not cause them to be thrown up onto a stump, cause them to be nocked out of the boat, and just simply respect that they have that area.

I was on Ray Roberts with my daughter and we were setting out off of a point around some stumps and here comes this guy in a Ranger (fishing the tournament that was held last Saturday) no more than 30 yards off my starboard side throwing us up onto a mess of stumps.

I fish tournaments as well and I understand the issue of time. I don't care if it's the B.A.S.S. Classic, we can all afford to take 30 seconds out of our time and show a little respect to other boaters and slow down. Eventually, or may have already happened, someone is going to get hurt. No amount of money, especially in the tournament held at Roberts last Saturday, is worth causing injury or damage to personal property.


So if you are reading this and you may have done this in the past, please in the future slow down. We can all spare a little time for each other.

BE SAFE!

Thank you

I doubt this will be well received. But, it seems like I see one of these posts daily and I want to comment. First let me say that for the remainder of this post when I say "you" I'm not singling you out personally but more so refering to everyone who makes these kind of posts about boats not coming off plane when they go by you. If you're sitting and fishing open water where you know boats are going to be running past then you should expect to have to deal with boat wake. You can't expect every boat to come off plane to go by you. It's just part of fishing public waters. If it bothers you then fish somewher else. I have numerous spots that I fish in open water where boats are runnig by me all day. I expect it and I deal with it if I want to fish there. I don't feel that they're being discourteous. They're just running down the lake. As long as the aren't doing it repeatedly in a harrassing manner or getting close enough to be dangerous (30 yards is plenty of room to be safe) then I don't have a problem with it. The wake would be the same for if they went by at 50 or even 100 yards, it would just take a little longer to reach me. Expecting boats to come off plane and idle by you is a bit self endulgent. At what distance should they slow down. A boat throws a much bigger wake as it comes of plane than it does when it's on plane. What if that wake hits you? Is that discourteous? On the flip side we can argue who is really being discourteous. I would contend that a fisherman is being discourteous by sitting in a spot where everyone has to slow down for you.

If a fisherman is going to fish water near where boats will be running on plane the they should not expect those boats to come off plane just to accomodate the fisherman. That expectation is just unrealistic.

Rant over.

If you run close enough to somebody for your wake to cause injury you can be prosecuted, as you are responsible for the wake your boat creates. If your wake damages property, you can be prosecuted.

I don't care where they are anchored, you are responsible for your wake.

Now you can get upset and flame all you wish. I don't care. Your attitude is not only wrong, it is very dangerous. These are public waters. You must expect inexperienced boaters, skiers and jet skis, as well as fishermen and people just anchored in the water when you operate your boat in public waters.

So it is up to you to operate your boat in a safe manner, which from your post it is apparent you do not do.

So go ahead and flame. I just hope you don't end up killing somebody with your attitude toward other boaters with which you share these public waters.

Well after that type of personal attack anything I can say in refute would be argumentative and lead the thread where it doesn't need to go. I'll just say that I don't beleive that passing an anchored boat on plane at a reasonable distance is unsafe or discourteous. I think 30 yards is okay although its probably pushing the edge of how close you want to be. Go mark of 30 yards and see just how far it really is (i did before I posted the first time). Your points about the boat operator being completely responsible for the safe operation of his/her boat are, obviously, completely right. Again I just think it's unrealistic andto expect other boats to slow down to an idle just because you're anchored 30 yards or more from where they're driving.

Im with you all the way EZ!!!! There are times when you need to show a little respect. I've had boats fly right by me and about throw me out, turned around to see that they had 200 yards of water on the other side to run in. I like fishing in the tree's, just not in the top of them.

Silly guys, a boat wake will last as long as there is water for it to travel in. So if I make a wake and it crashes a Jon boat a mile away you think they are going to be able to blame me? Also let's discuss the boat on plane vs not on plane. A bass boat on plane will make a much smaller wake than a guy who is trying to go fast slowly, obviously an idle wake is smaller but if you pass enough people in a day that gets old and you never get anywheres.

I agree someone shouldn't pass too closely but if you are fishing near a boat lane then you better just learn to deal with it.

The law does not talk about being on plane or off plane. The law talks about the boater being responsible for damaged caused by the wake created by your boat.

So if you run by somebody, creating a wake that throws them into timber, damaging their property or injuring them, you are responsible.

There were two serious accidents on Joe Pool Lake last summer. In one instance a boat on plane hit four kids being towed. In the other instance a boat on plane hit two anchored boats. In both instances people were hospitalized but fortunately not killed.

And yes, if an attorney could prove that your wake caused damage from a mile away, you could be held liable for that damage.

It wasn't intended as much a personal attack as a wake up call. Reading it I realize I was probably too strong but I did want to make the point of how dangerous such attitudes are on the water.

In the 80's I had the same attitude you expressed in your comment. I was fishing Fork at the bridge when I saw what happened to a bass boat that tried to go under the bridge on plane when either a gust of wind or the waves threw it into a bridge pillar. The after scene was not pretty.

That experienced changed the way I felt toward speed and boat safety. I stopped buying the biggest engines I could afford and I stopped going by other boats on plane if they were anchored, fishing or towing a skier.

I hope you never have to experience something similar to convince you it is not safe to pass boats while under plane, whether you are in a bass boat, a ski boat or a cabin cruiser.

I'm sure the boat operator who ran over the four kids on a tube while running on plane last summer thought he was far enough away. I'm sure the boat operator who hit the two anchored boats while running on plane last summer thought he was far enough away from them.

But a gust of wind can change everything and if you are passing on plane you can't react fast enough to keep from injuring somebody if you are lucky, or killing them if you are unlucky.

So EZ, shall we all have row boats? You seem to be missing the real problem here, it's not just guys on pad passing other boats. It's more like BOATERS NOT PAYING ATTENTION! Big difference between the 2. Who shall we sue when the wind makes waves bigger than a boat wake and it cause damage or kills somebody?

I think all that is needed is common sense. Wake is lessened by distance so if I am to pass close I slow down but at 30+ yards.....see yah. It does work both ways, I am responsible for my wake and it is also illegal to anchor up in the right of way. Common sense.

Just my two cents here but a bass boat on plane has very little wake. Now take a Lund or crestliner running the same speed and the wake is bad. What upsets me is a guy that is running at a good speed near me only to slow way down just to be courteous and in doing so it causes a big wake. Just use common sense. I have been hit by big wakes before only to look around and the boat was 500 yards away. People today are way too sensitive and are just waiting to be butt hurt at the stupidest little thing.

Let's keep this civil guys.

There are some very valid points in this thread, the most important of which is that the operator of a boat is responsible for their actions. If you pass a dock or an anchored boat while on plane, or coming off step, and your wake causes damage or injury, YOU are responsible.

Every time we take our boats out on the water, other people's lives depend on us being careful.

Maybe I'm missing something here but what does wind and chop have to do with courtesy on the water which was what the OP had to do with in the first place.

Not to single anyone out here, but everybody has an opinion on wakes and how it relates to boats who are tied up or running slow and those running on pad. Ironically enough everybody also has an excuse on who is in the right and who is in the wrong regardless of what side they happen to be on at the time. One fact in this equation which few people seem to want to discuss is that the boat on the move at the fastest speed dictates how the encounter will turn out and is holding all of the proverbial cards in his hands. Just because a boat is tied up or idling in a spot or position that is inconvenient or doesn't make sense to you in no way gives you the right to escalate the possibility of an incident on the water by spiting them or taking unnecessary chances on the water when overtaking them.

Not only are you responsible for your own wake at all times but you are also responsible for being in control of your own boat at all times. Having to explain how a boat running 40+ mph was in the right when it had an on the water incident with a boat that was tied up is going to be a tough sell legally.

No one said anything about not using power boats. My boat is not a row boat and is capable of causing damage with it's wake if I am not smart enough to operate it safely. If a boater wants to run at high speed, the boater could go to the middle of the lake instead of running close to the shore line where the boater will encounter anchored boats or boats being powered by the trolling motor.

The discussion is about being responsible when a boater passes other boats, whether they are moving at a slower speed than the passing boat or are anchored. Some states are starting to place speed limits on lakes, rivers and bayous due to the problems/damage caused by bass boats running at high speed.

Unfortunately the other person could be a stupid a**hole who is anchored, partying, and has his stereo blasting so loud that nobody within sight of him can hear other boats on the water. If the passing boat's wake causes injury to people with him or damage to his boat or equipment, the passing boater is the guilty party who is responsible because the passing boat's wake caused the problem.

The anchored boat is not required to pay attention while he is anchored while the passing boater is required to pay attention to him and everything else around that the wake of the passing boat will impact. It would be rather hard for the anchored boat to come off anchor before the passing boat was by him.

I hear the argument about bass boats being immune to causing wake damage while on plane all the time. Unfortunately it is not true but a myth argued by those who own the high speed bass boats and want to run WOT regardless of lake conditions, regardless of their location or the location of other boats on the lake. At one time I was guilty of the same thinking, until I received a wake up call and was smart enough to heed it.

I am sure the operator of the bass boat who ran over the four kids at Joe Pool last summer while running on plane thought it was safe for him to do to do what he did. And I am quite sure he wishes today that he had shown more common sense when he approached them so he did not hit those four kids.

And I sure the same thing is true for the boater who run into the two anchored boats while on pad or plane, whatever you want to call it.

The boater doing the passing must assume he is the only one paying attention and operate his boat in a safe manner so that his boat wake does not cause property damage or bodily injury. If the passing boater doesn't, the passing boater will be held liable and can argue all he/she wishes that the anchored boat or the boat being passed should have paid more attention to what the passing boat was doing as passing boat passed them on plane.

Unfortunately it is not possible to sue for Acts Of God,such as wind causing high waves or wind blowing passing boats into another boat as it passed them on pad/plane, but the passing boat operator can be sued or jailed for the results of the passing boat wake when that happens. It will be the passing boat's responsibility and the sooner everybody realizes this the safer all the other boaters sharing the lake will be.

There is another thread similar to this one in this forum. In that thread one member was told to start using cameras to record these actions. He stated he was told to try and get the boat ID member so the authorities could locate the boater.

So maybe the solution is for everybody to start carrying a video recorder and take videos of these boats who pass too close while on plane. Then file a complaint with the lake authorities, with the video as evidence.

And if an idiot is anchored in the middle of a boat lane, then make a video of that and turn it into the authorities. If it is illegal to be anchored there I am sure the authorities will take action against the anchored boat owner.

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