Waunakee School District, ank you for your time.

>> Thank you, thank you.

Appreciate it.

>> Labor day marks the unofficial end to the 2025 boating season in Wisconsin.

But what isn't ending is the controversy over whether wake surfing and wake boats should be allowed on some lakes.

Tonight, Murv Seymour tells us why this battle is likely to carry over into next season.

>> Rain or shine, big and small Wisconsin lakes are a state and national treasure.

>> It's a critical resource to the state of Wisconsin.

>> Especially during summer.

>> When I came up here, I fell in love with the place.

>> This place Jeff Meessmann speaks of is Natural Lakes, a 380 home lake community in the Northwoods of Vilas County.

>> It has one of the highest concentrations of freshwater lakes in the world.

one of them, 220 acre McCullough Lake in Presque Isle, where street names reflect some of the rich wildlife seen along these winding rural roads.

>> We see bear here.

We see wolves here.

Coyotes.

>> Jeff Meessmann loves McCullough Lake and the lakes of Wisconsin.

It's why he moved here.

>> We're an advocate for the protection of our lakes.

>> Guided by his boat with a bucket of gadgets.

>> Normally, what we do is we take samples in the deep hole.

ad 300ft from shore to the deepest part of McCullough Lake.

hor in, and we should be about 26ft.

oes on three other lakes, he voluntarily grabs water samples on behalf of the Department of Natural Resources.

He tells me the lake data dates back more than 20 years.

>> So I'm going to be recording the temperature.

>> He checks the temperature in depth of the water.

e top of the surface of the water, all the way down to 15ft was very consistent.

>> He also checks water clarity with this Black and white patterned tool called a Secchi disk.

>> So I'm going to pull it up to where I can just see it, which is right there.

>> Finally, using a six foot pole made of PVC, he lls a water sample from six feet under.

It's then sent to the DNR for testing.

While you'll see loons, bald eagles and massive fish on McCullough Lake.

One thing you won't see is wake surfers and most likely wake boats.

>> They're wrecking our lakes and wake surfing needs to be regulated to the proper size lake.

>> Jeff Meessmann and other like minded lake stewards believe wakesurfing wrecks.

Water quality produces too big of a wake, and they believe the boats destroy the bottom of smaller lakes and erodes shorelines.

Most importantly to Jeff, he believes wake boats increase the risks and spread of invasive species from lake to lake.

Meessmann has led the way, banning wake surfing on McCullough and more than 60 other lake communities statewide.

>> It's going to stop a lot of paddlers and kayakers and just people on on pleasure cruises, on pontoon boats from enjoying the lakes.

We saw one wake boat on our lake four years ago, and I took it into action right away and we stopped it.

Now, Presque Isle for the last year has had an ordinance in place and it doesn't ban wake boats.

It bans the activity of wake surfing.

>> 240 miles away in southern Wisconsin, you'll find Redline Watersports Redline Watersports.

is Mars.

>> And a totally different opinion.

of the story.

>> When you step into redline.

Owner Paul Virtucci says.

g to get slapped in the face with the active water sports lifestyle.

We've got gear, water, skis, wakeboards.

We also saw pontoons.

>> More importantly than all of that, Paul Virtucci tells me he sells bringing families together through water sports.

Inside his office, he has family pictures in the window, on the wall, on his desk.

He even has a family picture stuck to his computer.

But for him, one particular picture says it all.

>> I think I was probably 3 or 4 years old as my father and I.

It was the first family boat.

It's been in my blood ever since.

>> Like Jeff Meessmann Paul Virtucci loves Wisconsin s and fun on the water.

>> It's what my family did growing up.

God gave us these beautiful lakes, and if we don't enjoy them, it's our fault.

And if we don't take care of them, it's our fault.

t the Marshall Park boat launch in Middleton.

Once he arrives in the desired spot with a couple of touches to the screen, this high powered boat transforms itself, sucking in as much as 3,300 pounds of lake water into its ballast system.

>> Ready now.

Here we go.

For the sport of wakeboarding, we just.

>> Use the center plate.

And that kind of helps us get up on top of the water with.

oes.

Three generations of watersports enthusiasts on this afternoon run on Lake Mendota.

>> Johnny Z.

Over here.

Mid 30 seconds.

Outstanding athlete.

ld Kyle Polster, who has been on the water with family for a long time.

s like six months old, I've been out on the water.

I learned to ski when I was 2 or 3.

>> And then Joe D'Amato, who is on the other end of things.

>> Actually started a little later in life on the water sports.

>> To be able to do this well into your 60s and 70s.

>> One by one they ski water board and wakesurf, which requires the boat to produce the largest wake artificially.

>> So right now, through all the engineering, we've just created this beautiful wake from the running surface of the boat and the devices, and we're going t 11.3, 11.3 miles an hour and just cruising down a lake.

glide on water?

y freedom.

Hopefully, the camera picked up the big smile on my face and I wanted to shout out, to be honest with you, but it just felt so good for my age at 67.

It's just it's just a great sport.

>> Unlike Jeff Meessmann, Paul Virtucci and his crew believe banning work surfing wrongfully punishes families because of a few bad boaters.

>> It's so easy just to say that's bad, that's bad without really getting all the facts and understanding who you're affecting.

>> It was more the fact that it was something that we could all do.

I want to have the opportunity to do this my whole life, and I want to be able to have my grandkids or great grandkids out on the water.

It hurts.

>> The access for people who might own a house there, or that's where they grew up vacationing, or it's the closest lake that they have available to them.

>> While most only see the beauty in the surface of the lake, Jeff Meessmann cares about what's happening all the way to the bottom, which is why he worries about the potential damage wake boats can do.

Both sides believe it's time for state lawmakers or the Department of Natural Resources to step in to create a statewide standard on where wake surfing is allowed.

Paul Virtucci believes 200 to 250ft from shore, in a minimum of 20ft of water, is far and deep enough to protect the environment and others on the water.

Jeff Meessmann wants three times that distance in a minimum of 30ft of water, on lakes, 1500 acres and larger.

In a written statement, the DNR tells me the department is actively reviewing the latest science and will continue to review and consider any new information.

They recommend that all interested stakeholders keep up with upcoming meetings of the Natural Resources Board for future updates.

Back on the water.

Both sides believe they're scientists and not the others.

>> Wake surfing is scientifically proven to damage the bottom to beyond 20ft deep damage the shorelines make the lake dangerous for everyone else to use.

om I've spoken with, all are under the same belief that if we operate these boats in a little deeper water, we're fine.

Every boat that runs around the lake is going to create a wake, and it's going to disturb the lake and make it rougher.

>> The battle over wake boats and wake surfing reminds Paul Virtucci of another battle on the water.

He thinks both sides can find a compromise if they simply talk and not go off the deep end with each other.

, Jet Skis came out, and one of the big issues with them is that they didn't have good muffler systems on, so they were very.

>> Rah rah rah rah.

You can hear them.

the lake.

>> I'm a fisherman, I water ski, I enjoy all the water sports.

I'm not.

After trying to stop somebody from fishing or enjoying the activities, the only activity that I don't agree with is wake surfing.

>> Which represents family and community to so many of those who do it.

>> I don't know if I'd come out on the water if I wasn't able to wake, surf and wakeboard.

and wakeboard.