I'd be willing to bet there are ALOT more boating wrecks caused by non bass boats than are caused by bass boats. EZ keeps throwing this boat on pad thing out there, well every boat going over 20 is pretty much on pad. Some don't truly have a pad but whatever.

The OP said "whites of their eyes". That's total BS unless he has superman vision. How far is that 30'? Maybe 50'? It's the boater, not the boat and speed doesn't have anything to do with it.


EZ, did you read that thread? Several said the same as I, "a smaller wake is make by a bassboat on pad". Now as mentioned by another member here Lunds & such are a different scenerio; but you keep throwing out the word "bassboat". Also what lake exactly do you fish where everybody only fishes close to shore?

Yes, I read the thread and the recommendation that people start making videos of boats that come too close. If this happens it will solve this issue.

And in this thread I stated I didn't care what type of boat it was, if it was being operated in an irresponsible manner.

Yes, owners of bass boats claim they do not create a dangerous wake when they are on pad passing another boat. But I have been fishing using my trolling motor when bass boats on pad created enough of a wake to shove my boat sideways. A smaller wake does not mean a wake large enough to cause problems to the boat being passed was not generated by the passing boat.

So I know this claim to be a myth of bass boat owners, trying to justify their need for speed. I don't have a problem with speed as long as it does not endanger other boaters or people using the lake.

I have owned three bass boats in my younger days. And each time I bought the biggest engine I could afford to finance with the boat. So I understand this attitude. But fortunately I received a wake up call before something serious happened in a boat I was operating.

Yes, in my experience most of the boats that are generating wave problems are boats running on pad too close to other boats on the lake. And most of them are running close to shore instead of out on the open water of the lake. I don't care what type of boats they are, if they generate a wake that might cause injury or damage as they pass another boat, they are operating the boat irresponsibly.

And sorry, speed has everything to do with it. The faster the boat is going the less control the boat operator has over it if a problem occurs.

It is a waste of my time to continue to debate this. Those who want to operate their boat in a manner that generates wake that disturbs or endangers other users of the water will continue to do so. Nothing I can say will convince them to change. It would not have convinced me years ago. It took seeing what could happen to a boat and its riders when something went wrong at high speed to change my mind.

I can only recommend that all lake users start taking videos of anybody they see operating their boats in what they think a reckless manner. Make sure to get the boat registration number in the video. Then turn the video into the local lake authorities and file a complaint against the boat operator.

It may take being fined to convince some to change their ways. But being fined is a better way to change a boater's attitude than them hitting something at high speed, or even worse, hitting and killing somebody while they operate their boat in a reckless manner.

Lol, yeah EZ every bassboat goes 100mph and has the largest engine in the world. I guess you are a kayaker.

I said I would not add to this thread but I can't leave your question unanswered. You could also get the answer by reading what I wrote, in this thread and other threads.

So, no I am not a kayaker. I've never used a kayak nor the float tubes with flippers, which I now regret. They look like fun but I'm too old and worn out to use them now. I did use a two man rubber raft when I fished the mountain lakes of New Mexico for Rainbow Trout. That was fun but I could not do it now.

My current boat is a pontoon with a 60 hp engine on it. I bought it last August. My wife has Parkinson Disease now so I had to go to the pontoon so she could still fish with me. She wanted the Nitro Z9 but she can no longer get in and out of this type boat. So I am now stuck with using a pontoon if I want her fishing with me. It broke her heart when I bought the pontoon and she still has not forgiven me for buying it instead of the Z9.

My previous boat was a 26' Center Console with twin Yamaha 150's on it. We used this boat to fish the Gulf since we lived in the New Orleans area. We did not fish fresh water while we lived there so we needed a bigger boat. I sold it before we moved back to Texas a few years ago, planning on buying a smaller fishing boat here. But after moving here my wife developed the Parkinson, which killed those plans.

I've been fishing for 64 years. My grandfather started me fishing with him in the wooden boat he built when I was six years old. So I have owned or had a large number of different boats over the past 64 years, including three bass boats.

The speed of the bass boat depends on the age of the boat and the size of the engine. I would guess that most ran between 50mph and 75mph. There are some that will go faster but you are talking big bucks there. The Z9 I looked at would go between 60-75 mph, depending on the engine selected.

That was a beautiful fishing rig.

But the max speed only matters when you encounter a problem while running WOT. It does not require running at max speed to go on plane or pad as it is now apparently called.

My pontoon with it's 60 HP engine develops a wake when I run it, which could endanger other boats if I run too close to them when I pass them. So I stay away from anchored boats or boats running a trolling motor. I simply move out toward the middle of the lake when I see them ahead.

It takes me some extra time but I am fishing, not racing, so the time does not matter to me.

Just keep it simple if you have room to create distance do it if not do your best to avoid throwing a wake, the latter would be more on the anchored boat than on the passing boat. Chopping throttle does throw a bigger wake than just easing by on plane.

well� my location to be exact was west on 922 in the upper end of an arm. West of 377 on 922, 922 actually goes over 4 arms of R. Roberts. From east going west, on 922 from 377, I was in the second arm. I was sitting in 7 ft of water off of a rock point that was off the west bank and I could see and hear the bank fisherman on the 922 bridge. In Ray Roberts most everyone knows that there are several large areas that, I assume, were agriculture fields and are for the most part clear of timber. These areas are not large by any means but they do offer a person to get up on plane and cover a small distance a bit quicker.

Now if I were in a boat lane or off on some main lake area, I would have never posted this thread. I wasn't. I was in the back of an arm of Ray roberts.

I'll just say that it seems that the number of accidents and people killed, especially kids gets larger every year. Lot's of idiots out there driving everything from quarter million dollar Donzi's to Sunfish. Be careful and whatever you think is a safe distance if room allows, double it as a courtesy.

+1

Common Sense is something that is not taught in school and many people lack it. The law may state you are responsible for your wake, but the law must have never been to lakes like Texoma, L'Ville, and Joe Pool. Have you ever been on Texoma fishing a point and have some of those 3-4 foot rollers sneak up behind and almost push you 10feet ashore. Those big cruisers put off a wave that travel miles... Same thing with the wake boarders/ski boats and other at Joe Pool, L'viile and any other pleasure boaters lake.

Numbers of boating accidents and death are going down. They have been for years.

I'm not going to try to defend the guy because I wasn't there, but there are places where some of us are running now that it isn't safe to come off plane. It is possible that somebody could get in a pickle and have to run by you once they realize you are there.

From the OP's description he was in Indian. I don't know how people are running around by the 922 bridge in Indian anyway.

Common sense works both way. Tying up a couple feet from the only 'cut' in the trees leading to the major spawning creeks during the spawn is asking for people to run by you on pad. I'm not saying that is what the OP was doing, but people are doing it.