One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest!

Saw the Bow in a couple of different ways last week......

Kev, Jason, and I spent most of Thursday on the river. The afternoon saw the emergence of March Browns and BWO's with enough fish chowing down on them to make it a pretty nice day! Biggest thing, the few boats we saw were doing their thing, catching the odd fish, having a good time, and not affecting anyones else's day.

Sunday, Maureen and I went out for the afternoon and saw a different river. Lots of Pontoon boats, drift boats, and jet boats. Now I know it's a long weekend and you say we got what we deserved but some of the things you see on the river now are mind blowing! There's not THAT many people on the river. I've seen more people on rivers in the U.S. with nowhere near the lack of consideration. I know there are

a ton of people who have new, or newer, boats that are just learning how to use them on the river but just a few (kind of common sense) practices will make for a better experience for all....

I can't believe how many drift boats floated back channels on Sunday afternoon! If you can't see the entire back channel DON"T float it! The people stopped and fishing that back channel aren`t going to like you very much when you come bobbing along over the water they`re fishing. By all means go and fish those back channels! But park on the main river channel and walk in to the back channel to fish it....

The entire concept of proximity seems to have degraded of late. If you are in a watercraft of any kind pull away from the bank if there are anglers on it. It`s not like you have to cross the river, just pull away so you aren`t affecting their angling in any way. On Sunday, I watched a drift boat float within 40 feet of the bank, right over a riffle and bucket that 3 anglers were fishing. The same boat continued on down the bank and floated over the inside of a seam where we were watching and getting ready to fish to a couple of rising fish. ?????

The debate over jet boats has been hot as of late with lots of different internet posts as to how to use them. Lots of debate over full power, idle, etc. but it's real simple.... If a jet is going upstream it has to be at full power and on step to produce the least wake. Conversely, going downstream, a jet can idle through a run and not produce any wake! At the cost of a minute or two, why not cut it back and idle as soon as you see an angler, resuming power after you're past?

Just a few ideas.....