Question: How many of you have seen the big boats throwing a big wave filled with people? Yep. I thought so. You are probably mumbling unkind things under your breath right now. Well, let me tell you something. Wake boats and wake surfing aren’t going anywhere anytime soon except up!
Why? Because it’s low impact, it’s safer than skiing or tubing and it is downright fun.
Now, before you write me off or think I have lost my mind, let me explain something. Yes, I sell boats. I work for The Boat Shops at Lake Oconee/Lake Lanier in their Oconee location.
Yes, my introduction to wake surfing came with my hiring by them. However, what I have learned is this: folks, it’s just good clean fun. These people are just trying to enjoy the water as we all do. Yes, they like loud music. So do I. Yes, they run about the lake and causing wakes.
So do bass fishermen, skiers, wakeboarders, tubers, pleasure boaters, pontoons, and cabin cruisers. I promise to not get started on the houseboat craze-up at Lanier.
I mean, if you think a 24-foot wake boat is bad, you ain’t seen a 40-foot houseboat coming out of Port Royale. That wave probably took down Edmund Fitzgerald.
Here’s the point.
Like my past columns about boating etiquette and sharing the water, I want to encourage everyone to be polite. Pay attention to your wake. Watch where you are. Hey, I myself am learning. Recently, I messed up and waked a boat that I really didn’t mean to. There are lots of places we can surf and not be in anyone’s way, just like there are lots of places to cruise and fish, swim, and raft.
Lake Country is a wonderful place with lots of room. Just pay attention and remember the Golden Rule.
By the way, would you like to learn to surf? Well, guess what? You can.
Easily.
We are offering you the opportunity to learn from some experienced teachers up at Lake Lanier on June 14. Reach out to me at jameskpressley@gmail.com, and I will make sure you are in the loop.
If enough of you sign up, The Boat Shops will provide a bus for everyone to leave our Oconee location and go up there.
Folks, this is a great opportunity at no cost for you to learn an awesome new sport.
Keep an eye out on my social media pages (SouthernBorn Gentleman) and The Boat Shop at Lake Oconee as well as we are starting weekly surf meet-ups at Lake Oconee this summer. I’d love to expand those to Sinclair as well. But, we need your support. Y
es, I am still a guide and avid fisherman, but I have embraced the surf lifestyle and am having a ball. Come join this long-haired old guy and get your kicks in, too.
To bring this full circle, let’s talk about an event that unfolded on Memorial Day in front of my buddy, Jim Lumpkin’s, dock on Sinclair.
Jim heard a loud commotion coming from the dock across the cove from him and looked up to see a few guys and a young lady making a ruckus around a residential boat ramp.
All of a sudden, this group is holding up a huge flathead catfish. They come over to Jim’s dock, and he helps them weigh a 43.4 lb. flathead. That exceeds the lake record by several pounds. The last official record was from July 2022 at 39 lbs. What a catch by these young folks, and how awesome is it that they were all out enjoying our great outdoors?