Safe Wakes for Small Lakes group

I’m not normally for creating more government involvement, but if people have to get a license to drive a car and can be ticketed for some manners that are simply being stupid or annoying (loud vehicle, reckless driving) maybe there should be something similar on the water. Some common sense would be needed the young buck learning how to drive a 14’ with a 9.9 wouldn’t be included. Maybe any boat 17’ or longer you need to have completed a course which includes landing and water etiquette. Just like on the road if your minding your business you wouldn’t be hassled if your flying around like an idiot they’ll check you. New people to boats driving giant machines is not a good recipe without some instruction.
Til then I’ll just keep giving the annoying wake boats (not all just the putzs) the stare.

If I knew who to create memes I would make: if you have a lifted white Silverado, a wake boat, and are wearing jeans with designs on the back pockets you are not nearly as cool as you think you are.

matt wrote:

I wonder how much shoreline loss and damage there would be if trees and other native vegitation wasnt removed to make way for homes,cabins,boathouses,docks,sand beaches,firepits,patios.If the shorelines were left alone in the first place we may have never even heard of terrible shoreline destruction at all.

OR how little damage there would be if we didn’t have 20’+ boats designed for the sole purpose of creating the largest wake possible by adding huge water bags for additional weight to really get the full force of that shovel hull into the water…all for the enjoyment of getting a few seconds of riding a 3′ wave before they fall into the water and the cycle repeats itself several times before the boats needs to refill it’s 50 gallon gas tank…

How would folks who don’t have a problem with this feel if somebody did doughnuts in front of your house for 30 minutes at a time all weekend?

Again my point isn’t that Wakesurfing should be outlawed, my point is that you shouldn’t stay in the same spot of the lake doing circle after circle…

slipbob_nick wrote:

I’m not normally for creating more government involvement, but if people have to get a license to drive a car and can be ticketed for some manners that are simply being stupid or annoying (loud vehicle, reckless driving) maybe there should be something similar on the water. Some common sense would be needed the young buck learning how to drive a 14’ with a 9.9 wouldn’t be included. Maybe any boat 17’ or longer you need to have completed a course which includes landing and water etiquette. Just like on the road if your minding your business you wouldn’t be hassled if your flying around like an idiot they’ll check you. New people to boats driving giant machines is not a good recipe without some instruction.
Til then I’ll just keep giving the annoying wake boats (not all just the putzs) the stare.

+1

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tangler wrote:</div>
Honestly I just learned about it as well. Looks FUN without the rope. 1,000 pounds of ballast and then add on one of those “surf shaper” doo-hickies Yowza.

It is a lot of fun, and it’s a lot easier on the body. I love to slalom ski, too, but as I get older, my body can’t take too much of it, yet we can surf for a long time. Oh, and 1000 pounds of ballast is nothing.

Again, courtesy goes a long ways. I can see getting frustrated with some of the d-bags out there, but it’s not wakesurfing that is the issue, it’s disrespectful boat drivers.

I’ll crawl back into my hole now.

I totally agree here. I had never really taken part in any of the water sports until I met my wife, as her family is really big into slalom skiing. Her cousin has a large wake boat, and we usually get together for a couple weekends each year to surf, and I have to say that it might be one of my favorite things to do on a hot summer day. Especially after I figured out I could drink a beer and surf at the same time!

That being said, he is pretty darn aware of where other boats are on the lake, and does his best to give fisherman a wide enough margin.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

How would folks who don’t have a problem with this feel if somebody did doughnuts in front of your house for 30 minutes at a time all weekend?

My parents live at the lake and they have people doing that all day long, every weekend. And it’s not really a big deal imo or their opinion. They enjoy the peace and quite all week, and realize for many people this is one of the few times they have an opportunity to enjoy it, so go ahead. It’s really no worse than the jetski’s, pontoons or yes fishing boats that buzz the shore. We certainly don’t need more gov’t regulation, when the existing water laws are barely enforced, and we DEFINITELY don’t need to encourage people to find stuff to get upset about there’s already plenty of that. You’re at the lake, relax and enjoy it whether it’s wavy or not.

Jeezus. Typical MN. Pandering to the vocal minority to create more laws. I feel like im taking crazy pills. Everyone needs to relax and not get so g-dang triggered.

Id be more concerned with those big ballast boats transporting zeebs and what not than making some waves that get your dock wet.

waldo9190 wrote:

Especially after I figured out I could drink a beer and surf at the same time!

Definite benefit!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

…all for the enjoyment of getting a few seconds of riding a 3′ wave before they fall into the water and the cycle repeats itself several times before the boats needs to refill it’s 50 gallon gas tank…
Again my point isn’t that Wakesurfing should be outlawed, my point is that you shouldn’t stay in the same spot of the lake doing circle after circle…

You have some crappy surfers/idiot drivers on your bay. I get that. It would be annoying. There’s no reason for that.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Again my point isn’t that Wakesurfing should be outlawed, my point is that you shouldn’t stay in the same spot of the lake doing circle after circle…

If you don’t like where you live. Move. I have zero sympathy.

Let me know if grumbling improves anything….

Your going to be upset for many years if you cannot tolerate the activities legally happening on the water your land butts up to.

On the surface it seems like a well intentioned initiative. They claim to not want to ban wakesurfing but but the people behind this are certainly on a small lake. So that in essence is banning it on “their” lake.

The problem I have is that they already acknowledge laws in place to protect other boaters and shorelines but they still want to ban it. I’m sensing a little selfishness here. Next thing you’ll see is banning fishing within 100’ of their dock or shoreline.

I smell a rat.

Wakes that erode shorelines and harass others are illegal in Minnesota. At Safe Wakes, we are working to promote sensible wakes on Minnesota’s smaller lakes.

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ajw wrote:

Jeezus. Typical MN. Pandering to the vocal minority to create more laws. I feel like im taking crazy pills. Everyone needs to relax and not get so g-dang triggered.

Id be more concerned with those big ballast boats transporting zeebs and what not than making some waves that get your dock wet.

I agree with the transporting invasive species. Fishermen always get the short end of the stick there. Imagine it this way. You’re deer hunting, a 4 wheeler drives by, sees you, then drives all around you really close making a lot of noise not paying you any respect.

Does that make it seem a little worse? It wouldn’t be so bad if they even kept 100ft away. But they don’t. They don’t know the rules, they don’t respect anyone else on the lake. They have the mentality that their boat is bigger so they’ll just do what they want. (Again, not everyone is like this. Just the majority of them). I’m sick of them coming and driving circles by me and sending these big a$$ waves at me. I don’t go to where they’re sitting on the beach and cast at them. So why can’t they respect fishermen?

Not to mention that they’re always the slowest boats to launch or load at an access.

biggill wrote:

On the surface it seems like a well intentioned initiative. They claim to not want to ban wakesurfing but but the people behind this are certainly on a small lake. So that in essence is banning it on “their” lake.

The problem I have is that they already acknowledge laws in place to protect other boaters and shorelines but they still want to ban it. I’m sensing a little selfishness here. Next thing you’ll see is banning fishing within 100’ of their dock or shoreline.

I smell a rat.

Wakes that erode shorelines and harass others are illegal in Minnesota. At Safe Wakes, we are working to promote sensible wakes on Minnesota’s smaller lakes.

Agreed.

Not totally against common sense laws to address safety issues and concerns.

But how much control do we give lake home owners? I get it they have a vested issue in protecting their property, but…it’s not their lake, they just own property on it. The lake itself is a public resource.

For me personally have seen some pretty bold steps by property owners to put structures on/in public waters. The shoe needs to be on both feet. Am totally for more concern for habitat destruction caused by property owners on lakes and the growing manipulation of their right to a public resource. Have no problem with docks or swim platforms, they can and do make for some great fishing opportunities. But where’s the line or reg’s for a more natural, less intrusive footprint?

Have seen a lot of property owners be just as much of a problem to wakes and not adhering to reg’s as Joe public recreating.

It basically goes back to whose ox is being gored.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Again my point isn’t that Wakesurfing should be outlawed, my point is that you shouldn’t stay in the same spot of the lake doing circle after circle…

If you don’t like where you live. Move. I have zero sympathy.

Let me know if grumbling improves anything….

Your going to be upset for many years if you cannot tolerate the activities legally happening on the water your land butts up to.

lol

Bearcat89 wrote:

I dont think we should have the right to say hey yeah I can run my 300 hp on my bass boat at 60mph to that spot and fish but you cant make wake on a wake boat.

The size of the motor have little bearing on the size of the wake. Its the boat design. a 300 HP bass boat going full speed created almost no Wake. Smaller boats with much much less HP make a bigger wake. Pontoons regardless of motor size also makes some big wakes.

rjthehunter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ajw wrote:</div>
Jeezus. Typical MN. Pandering to the vocal minority to create more laws. I feel like im taking crazy pills. Everyone needs to relax and not get so g-dang triggered.

Id be more concerned with those big ballast boats transporting zeebs and what not than making some waves that get your dock wet.

I agree with the transporting invasive species. Fishermen always get the short end of the stick there. Imagine it this way. You’re deer hunting, a 4 wheeler drives by, sees you, then drives all around you really close making a lot of noise not paying you any respect.

Does that make it seem a little worse? It wouldn’t be so bad if they even kept 100ft away. But they don’t. They don’t know the rules, they don’t respect anyone else on the lake. They have the mentality that their boat is bigger so they’ll just do what they want. (Again, not everyone is like this. Just the majority of them). I’m sick of them coming and driving circles by me and sending these big a$$ waves at me. I don’t go to where they’re sitting on the beach and cast at them. So why can’t they respect fishermen?

You’re killing your own credibility by saying it’s the majority of them that do this. I’m on metro lakes all the time and most of the wake boats, and pleasure boats in general, are courteous and just out to have a good time. It’s pretty obvious you have an axe to grind based upon your comments.

You’re completely entitled to your opinion but just like mine it’s a sample of n=1.

Agree! Courtesy and common sense would go a long way, but unfortunately we see less and less of that these days.
I happen to know the woman in the article and sadly, she was not being overly dramatic. They were tying their boat off to the side so work could be done on their boat lift. His arm was in a sling from days old elbow surgery and he got knocked in between the dock and the boat. Bruised a couple ribs, his leg, and re injured his elbow. Not to mention, the incision wasn’t supposed to get wet.

The lake is only 240 acres, with narrow sections of 500 feet, so there is just not enough room. The city did not go to a slow no-wake during the high water, and that exacerbated the shoreline damage, and this little lake became a destination. There are even businesses running lessons out there https://jsaw.org/wake/

We stopped driving with spiked tires because it ruined our roads. This is no different. The activity just needs to be enjoyed on lakes that have enough room for the wake to dissipate.

Makes me think of the expression, “watch what you leave in your wake”.
Anyway, these are good people, so let’s be nice on here.
Just saying

As the discussion continues it seems there is a correlation no matter the side of the fence a guys on it seems the guys that hate them are seeing the action on small lakes and the guys that don’t mind them are on large lakes.

There’s no wake when waters high. On a large lake the wake would diminish by the time it hits shore, but it doesn’t on a small lake. They may have a point??

Regarding dock fishing I’d say they’re not one in the same. You have to use common sense when dock fishing. If you damaged property or injured someone whipping a spinner bait there would be an issue. There should be common sense used on both matters.

Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>rjthehunter wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ajw wrote:</div>
Jeezus. Typical MN. Pandering to the vocal minority to create more laws. I feel like im taking crazy pills. Everyone needs to relax and not get so g-dang triggered.

Id be more concerned with those big ballast boats transporting zeebs and what not than making some waves that get your dock wet.

I agree with the transporting invasive species. Fishermen always get the short end of the stick there. Imagine it this way. You’re deer hunting, a 4 wheeler drives by, sees you, then drives all around you really close making a lot of noise not paying you any respect.

Does that make it seem a little worse? It wouldn’t be so bad if they even kept 100ft away. But they don’t. They don’t know the rules, they don’t respect anyone else on the lake. They have the mentality that their boat is bigger so they’ll just do what they want. (Again, not everyone is like this. Just the majority of them). I’m sick of them coming and driving circles by me and sending these big a$$ waves at me. I don’t go to where they’re sitting on the beach and cast at them. So why can’t they respect fishermen?

You’re killing your own credibility by saying it’s the majority of them that do this. I’m on metro lakes all the time and most of the wake boats, and pleasure boats in general, are courteous and just out to have a good time. It’s pretty obvious you have an axe to grind based upon your comments.

You’re completely entitled to your opinion but just like mine it’s a sample of n=1.

I’m killing my own credibility by stating my experiences with them? Not quite sure how that happens. You might have different experiences than I do with them. But that does nothing to my credibility. It might change YOUR opinion of me but how would that bother me? I fish large and small lakes, and I promise if you hear a lot of noise and there’s big waves, the culprit is those wake boats. It’s as simple as that.

I’m killing my own credibility by stating my experiences with them? Not quite sure how that happens. You might have different experiences than I do with them. But that does nothing to my credibility. It might change YOUR opinion of me but how would that bother me? I fish large and small lakes, and I promise if you hear a lot of noise and there’s big waves, the culprit is those wake boats. It’s as simple as that.
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I see pontoons making big waves and pulling tubers and playing loud music.
We should totally ban them. It annoys me when I’m fishing. But for some reason it doesn’t bother me when I’m on the pontoon ?

DCatch wrote:

Anyway, these are good people, so let’s be nice on here.
Just saying

If that’s the case then why not state their whole story on their site? My guess is because they are thinking bigger picture. Seems to me that the shoreline erosion would have been addressed by a no wake period until the water resided. Pretty basic and common restrictions across the entire state.

I’ll admit it’s a pretty unfortunate accident and a large wake was the main factor behind the accident. Was the wake surfing boat acting unlawfully already? Seems to me they were. What’s another law going to do? What are they going to do when someone goes wake surfing unlawfully and gets hurt again?

Again, laws exist already. Maybe they need some tweaking, but by no means do I believe wake surfing should be prohibited without an analysis on the shoreline and what it’s capable of handling. If the body of water is soo small that it inherently prohibits wake surfing altogether because of the distance from shore rule, then so be it.

For those docking their boat, watch out for waves. It’s been discussed already in this thread that there should be a boaters test to drive a boat. How about waiting for safe conditions to dock a bout to prevent injury?

Isn’t there a law for a no-wake zone like 150 feet from shore already? I glanced thru the reg’s but couldn’t find it…Lotus Lake is a skinny lake so I can see the frustration a little, but seems like a conversation with that company would be easier than a state-wide law. Still seems a little NIMBY to me.

I live on a lake. The water was really high this spring and the DNR posted no wake signs. No one cared, people would fly all over the lake. No one around to enforce it. Why make more laws that won’t be enforced?

I live on a lake. The water was really high this spring and the DNR posted no wake signs. No one cared, people would fly all over the lake. No one around to enforce it. Why make more laws that won’t be enforced?

BigWerm wrote:

Isn’t there a law for a no-wake zone like 150 feet from shore already?

mn-z wrote:

I live on a lake. The water was really high this spring and the DNR posted no wake signs. No one cared, people would fly all over the lake. No one around to enforce it. Why make more laws that won’t be enforced?

This is what it boils down to for me. There is literally no point in making any new rules with such sporadic enforcement of the existing ones.

tangler wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
Isn’t there a law for a no-wake zone like 150 feet from shore already?

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>MN Z wrote:</div>
I live on a lake. The water was really high this spring and the DNR posted no wake signs. No one cared, people would fly all over the lake. No one around to enforce it. Why make more laws that won’t be enforced?

This is what it boils down to for me. There is literally no point in making any new rules with such sporadic enforcement of the existing ones.

By this logic we should do away with speed limits, bag limits, littering laws, etc, etc. There will never be enough law enforcement and DNR folks to enforce all the rules but you still need them.

Call the local sheriff or DNR if you see that stuff…..that’s better than doing nothing or not even having the law.

fishthumper wrote:

The size of the motor have little bearing on the size of the wake.

If they make it electric trolling motor only = no wake. I don’t see this as a problem an any lake 200 acres or less.

-J.

Another power-grab by wealthy lakeshore property owners trying to invent “safety” reasons for keeping other users off “their” lake.

Want to prevent damage to shorelines? Lakshore property owners are the #1, #2, and #3 destroyer of shoreline habitat including the illegal destruction of in-water habitat.

Best way to preserve shorelines from erosion and habitat destruction would be to institute a 20 foot buffer from the normal wateline and ban lakeshore owners from touching ANYTHING within that buffer strip. $10,000 fine for first offense. No cutting down trees to “improve” the view, no planting grass to the water’s edge and then fertilizing, mowing, and watering it. No artificial sand beaches. No mini-marina dock structures.

Get lakeshore owners back under control with big fines and hard oversight and watch the lake quality improve.

Grouse

Completely agree with Grouse….look at only local lake or lake in a popular area and the majority of the shorelines are completely gone. Grass right down to a narrow strip of sand. A day of hard wind blowing into those non-existent shorelines does as much damage as a boat wake.

My folks live on a lake in the north metro and you’ll see people with sickles out cutting down all the reeds along their shores. It’s completely illegal and rarely enforced. If that natural shoreline is there the wakes never even reach it.