Don,
I will probably get slammed for this, but everyone has an opinion...
I grew up on the Pearl between lowhead dam and the 43 bridge. I can honestly say that that stretch of the Pearl river is one of the most scenic waterways in the state of Mississippi.
Back in the early 70's, the only boats up in that stretch of the river were fishermen and a few skiiers and campers. We would go up on a Friday evening, grab a sandbar, put up a tent, gather some wood, get a fire going, burn a few steaks and then put out and run trotlines until we were all exhausted. The next day would start with bass fishing up and down the river until mid-morning and then we would start waterskiing. You might see a dozen boats all day long. The winding nature of that stretch of the river didn't really lend itself too well to skiing so most waterskiiers stayed down river. But the narrow river combined with all the trees provided a glass-smooth water surface for waterskiing. It's where I learned to slolam and barefoot ski. It was truly wonderful.
I recently returned and discovered that the rest of humanity seems to have found my little piece of paradise. It was so crowded that with bass-boats, ski-boats and jet-skis, that to even attempt to waterski was unthinkable. The few fishermen that I did see that day were constantly being bounced up and down due to the wakes of the ever passing boats. I did see a few people trying to waterski and I also saw many, many different jet-ski's jumping the wake of every boat they encountered, even those towing skiiers. That looked like a disaster just waiting to happen.
To me it was a sad sight to see as the relatively docile environment had turned into some kind of spring-break drink till you puke summer festival...
So here's where I get slammed...
I would give anything if that entire stretch of the river would become a no-wake zone. I know it sounds hypocritical to want to stop others from doing what I was able to do, but things have changed and the population that is utilizing that resource has increased exponentially. Or maybe even make the no-wake rule apply only during the weekend or week days so that the waterskiiers and jetskiers and the other joyriders in their maxed out bassboats and cruisers could control the river some too.
I'm sure it will never happen, but it sure would be nice if it did so that some tranquility could return to that waterway if only for a short time.