horsepower restricted lakes

[CodyPomeroy]

I know of one lake in my area that is hp restricted and another that is "no wake" with no motor size restriction, and they will ticket you if you violate. I have a friend that got ticket in his 12' with a 5.5hp for going to fast.

 

[MRichardson]

Pretty hard to evade with a 5.5!

 

[JasonLester]

I actually like the HP restricted lakes. The one I am seting up my boat for is a great little lake (700acre) its fun with the Kayak as you don't get ran over by the big boat boys. Some of the big lakes around get so churned up by the big boats there is no way I would go on them with my Kayak. Now its still yet to see with my new tin I guess. My guess is I will do better than the guys I saw on there in a 10-12 footer that looked like a 6 inch wave could have sent them down.

I'm not usually in a hurry when fishing. I will probably run my 2.5 for a while. Got to come up with a tank and fuel line somewhere for the 9.8

 

[Hanr3]

I hear ya. I bought my boat because most of the lakes I fish are hp restricted. 10hp and 25hp. I agree about the unrestricted lakes, they get a lot of pleasure boaters, jet skis, etc. Granted the scenery changes frequently with the pleasure boaters, however their wake usually rocks me back to reality. :lol:

I did have a nice conversation with a DNR biologist about hp restrictions. Around here the local biologist sets the restrictions, provided its a DNR lake and not a state or county run lake. He did change a small lake to no wake for boats with over a 10hp motor. The biggest concern he heard prior to making hte change was fishing pressure would increase. His reply, control the amount of trailer parking and ticket those who dont park in the trailer spots. This way you control the pressure and allow those with larger boats access. I like that philosophy and the logic behind the decission. Seems like a great approach. Sure would be nice if we could make a concerted effort to get the policies changed.

 

[baseball_guy_99]

A guy I used to work with fished Cedar Lake a lot (10hp restriction). He has a 16/48 Jon boat. It used to have a 25hp Merc with 9.9 decals. He ran it until just last year when they started cracking down on that. So he went out and bought a brand new Honda 9.9 4 stroke. That motor does not have enough Umph to get his boat up on plane. So he actually throws a bigger wake with the smaller motor.

The locals have been petitioning to get it raised to a 25hp limit.

 

[JasonLester]

I would probably be ok with a no wake lake... mine is only around 700 acres if I remember right. But I think it would be fished more with it being no wake. And it would seem they would have to patrol it more.

 

[Trouble]

Unfortunately, most of the lakes around here (Huntington, WV) are 9.9 lakes. They will definitely nail you if you are over 9.9. One of the lakes is absolutely ridiculous. If you fish it without getting checked, you are lucky.

I also fish the HP restricted lakes here in West Virginia and have seen guys with Trackers with 40hp running wide open. I wish they would get busted!

 

[Brian B.]

I can make much less impact throwing the boat up on plane with the 35 at Pyramid SP(10 limit) than I do with my 10, also pass fishing boaters more quickly and throw no wake what so ever.

You can always tell a new boater- you are fishing your spot- here comes Skippy on plane, fairly quiet, flat running... He gets 50 yards away, drops off plane and runs nose high full wake.. "Hey thanks Skippy"... Helps no one.

The hp restrictions are rediculous, no one pays any attention to the at Pyramid, and everyone is respectful of one another. (Now if we could get the locals to stop parking their truck/trailer on the ramp.. That would be awesome, but that would require more intelligence than a bag of hair too..)

 

[acwd]

We was down at Pyramid a week ago. Too windy! Didnt take the boat.

Steve

 

[BassBlaster]

We have a 10hp limit lake that is highly enforced. Our rivers have a speed limit that is enforced. Our electric only lake I have seem outboards running and no enforcememt. I guess it just depends who is in charge of the enforcing. The ones that are enforced are controlled by the city. The others are state.

 

[rickybobbybend]

We have a number of lakes in Oregon that are SPEED restricted to 10 MPH rather than being hp restricted. A couple that I fish are 1000 acres plus. The system seems to work well (but it can take a while to get from one end to the other). Haven't seen anyone getting a citation for speeding, but lots of license verifications, of course.