"Wake Enhancement Prohibited"

Hopefully this catches on at other lakes.
I saw this on the Keep Austin Fishing facebook group. Evidently It's in Sandy Creek arm of Lake Travis.

I don't think many people realize how much damage these wake boats do to the banks of lakes. Lake Austin banks are super eroded right now ever since all the grass was killed

Actually heard of some people trying to get that passed a few years ago as a state law on public waters, due to the damage to property and environmental concerns.

Only one problem with what I see. It says wake "enhancement" prohibited yet they limit the speed to 5 mph. If you produce a normal "un-enhanced" wake you should be able to go any speed.

I was there yesterday and it doesn't stop much when you have 25ft+ cruisers everywhere. I had a couple pass pretty close and the wave was as big as a wake boat full of water

That lake in particular is just ridiculous! They need to impose a lot of restrictions on it. I'm really surprised it even holds fish .... and big fish.

Conroe is the exact same way!

So I guess this is aimed at the wakeboard boats that take on ballast to make their wake larger?

Probably....every other boat in a dock is a wake boat. But you add in all the giant cruisers and it doesn't matter on a Saturday. It all mixes together. I even had a plane take off from the water next to me. I heard this roar coming and thought it sounded strange for a V8 and turned to see one of those amphibious planes come by then take off.

heh yeah I took a day off from work and went fishing on Travis to avoid all the party boats and a freaking airplane lands near me on the water

Im never surprised these days at what I see on these pleasure boater lakes. Makes we not even want to bother fishing them during the summer

I live on Lake Travis and I agree completely.

The start of restrictions will not bode well for bass boats.

Exactly, next it will be nothing more than 9.9hp on a fishing boat.

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Conroe is the exact same way! [/quote]

Yeah, it was unbearable by 11 o’clock yesterday morning. I felt sorry for those that had to fish until 3 o’clock in a tournament yesterday

can they be used as a ski boat,with out the wake.

Here's the actual ordinance for those interested https://www.jonestown.org/vertical/sites/%7B98C21F63-2E84-4B40-8ABA-9BA38620A6EC%7D/uploads/2018-O-529.pdf

I feel for ya.I hate wake boats

Not surprising with the damage they can cause and one capsized that fishing boat on conroe and one individual drowned.

i hate the huge wakes, but it is their right to enjoy the water just as much as mine. my ultrex makes it slightly more tolerable now. Cypress SPrings is horrible on the weekends. I really enjoy fishing during the weekdays now! I see why my dad never fishes on weekends now!

Enjoying water yes. Damaging property and taking lives like the incident on Conroe. No. Conroe is absolutely horrible during the summer. The most unsafe lake in texas. Numerous drownings and boat wrecks every year. Boats on that lake that belong in the ocean.

Monday - Thursday is when I’m fishing , retired 7 years ago .

I'm all for reducing these wakes. However, I advise to be careful how you push the "city ordinance" angle on this. I can't find the copy I had now, but I remember there was an attorney general opinion years ago addressing the "no fishing by city ordinance" signs on the Ray Hubbard marinas. That opinion pretty much said that state laws overrode the city ordinance and boaters could not be restricted from public navigable waters in that case. I suspect the wake boarders could latch on to this same idea.

I only mention it so we don't look like hypocrites as a group by trying to play both sides on the ordinance angle. As mentioned above, a state law is needed to really have any teeth, but maybe that sign scares a few of them that won't do any digging.

I need it to get cold again so I can get back out to Conroe, haven't fished is since right before summer began when all the pleasure and ski boats came out of hibernation. It will just wear you out and it can get pretty dangerous.

Ya I'm not sure more government is the best solution here. But not to worry there is no way with the amount of money involved in the large marinas, ski boats and yachts that they pass any legit laws to keep them out of certain lakes. As is always the case the all mighty dollar wins

My son and I fished a Saturday tournament on Conroe a couple of weeks ago. We started out up north by Cagle and around noon ran south. We got south of the 1097 bridge and turned right around it was so rough. Bad part is the wakeboard boats now hang out right in the middle of the boat lane running north before you cross over to the east towards Cagle. One gave me the finger as I went by him but the lane is pretty narrow so there's not a lot of options. They were wake boarding in the lane all day and started very early.