A lot depends on the situation. If I think I might have to do a lot of manueving, turns, I will definetely slow down. But I don't blame myself for making the wake, it's just part of fishing life in the river. Everyone has their safe distance and confidence in their boat and driving abilities. I'd rather error on the side of caution and slow down, then risk killing someone or yourself for a few wake waves.
If a boat is in the channel and I have some room to manuever around them, I'll stay on plane. Of course it works both ways, even the boat not on power and fishing. As someone that is near or in the channel, you have to be respectul of a boat on power that is navigating the channel. The worst thing to do is change your coarse. You see this all the time when coming head on the river...you turn one way, the other boat turn another, so you both have to slow down to figure out who's doing what. The worst part is at the top of Spirit Lake when it gets thick there. Coming around the bend going up river is a mad house sometimes. That is about the only place I see fishing the channel the worst. And you don't want to go off the side of the channel to far or risk hitting bottom. When I'm fishing near the channel or in it, it just expect boats to come close by, slow or fast it doesn't matter to me unless it's putting people at risk.
It comes down to common sense.
When boats are in the channel fishing they should expect traffic.I feel that you should always make a Judgement call when driving in traffic. The channel it is a travel route along the river not a fishing route.If there was a big barge coming thru, the boats in the channel must move by law.
If the boaters dont like it tell thet shouldhave went to the boundry waters for a peaceful fishing trip!