Horsepower Limits Small Lakes - Meetings

[MrSplitshot]

Very simple...remove all horsepower restrictions and make these lakes "Idle Speed Only" for any size motor. Whether it's a 250HP Merc or a 5HP Johnson is irrelevant. My 90HP Yamaha 4-stroke is dead quiet, clean, and causes virtually no wake at idle, yet it's okay for an old 9.9HP to run wide open and throw a big wake? That makes no sense. As for speed, the speed limit on I-64 is 70MPH, whether I'm driving a Prius or a Peterbuilt. The key is enforcement. The reality is that there is no way KDFWR can be everywhere all the time, just like KSP can't be sitting on every overpass on I-64. I think most boaters would obey the law, but there are surely some that will break it too. KDFWR will have to at least be present enough at times to enforce randomly. As anglers, we should also police each other; Go remind a guy that you see running above idle that it's against the law on that lake, then call him in to KDFWR if he continues to ignore it. It's not that hard to help out like that if you are a true steward of your fishery. The "protect my fishery from extra pressure" argument is weak, in my opinion, on any public lakes. That's just life. Bigger boats with bigger motors have no business trying to run on these smaller lakes, but there is no harm in idle speed only to get around the lake. To have to fight the wind with trolling motor only in a bigger boat while a 14' jon with a 9.9 goes barreling by throwing a wake makes no logical sense to me.

[Moveon]

You will find that people with those big boats don't know what Idle Sped is. Some will go 10 mph and call that idle speed while others may go 15 mph and be ok with a that unless the see a DNR boat nearby.

I fish a small 200 acre stripper pit in Warrick County, IN. The last few years the IDNR changed the rule from electric trolling motor only to any size engine going at Idle Speed. I have U tube videos that I took and posted on U tube showing guys speeding around on this lake.

When they realize that the rules of idle speed only it not being enforced then they will all start going faster and faster. I've seen guys on our lake going over 30 mph at times on this small body of water.

There is a part of the lake at the North End that's privately owned. The State owns the majority of the land that the lake is on to the South but at the very north end there is about a 1/4 mile of lake that's owned by a private party. He or the state put out two bouys that mark the boundary line. But people still go across the boundary and fish on the private part of the water. One guy told me that there was nothing anyone could do about that. So I asked one of my game wardens about this. The game warden said that if the owner of the property complained about someone trespassing on his part of the water that the game warden would give them a ticket or arrest them for trespassing. So the guy at the ramp didn't know what the H he was talking about. He said he routinely goes into the private part of the lake. He just has not been caught by the owner or CO's yet. But he will eventually get his due when they finally catch him trespassing.

Funny thing is when the CO's are out on the water in their boat everyone of the guys in the bigger boats are going about 2 mph or less . Funny how that works. People are in too much of a hurry and will go as fast as they want when there are no CO's around.

And how do you enforce this rule of Idle speed only? What exactly is idle speed? Is it 1 mph, 1.5 mph or 3 mph? Does it depend on the boat and motor? Do the CO's need to check your speed with a radar gun or laser gun? What will the local Judge say?

It's much easier to enforce the motor size limit IMHO. But then again I'm glad that they changed the rule as now I can run my 35 HP motor to recover my boat at the end of the day. And I know that if my trolling motor stops working I can fire up the gas engine and get back to the launch ramp. It would be great if everyone followed the rules but they don't all do that. And that's the problem. We have little enforcement of the rules (Idle speed rule) that I have seen. Now the CO's do enforce other rules. They give tickets to people fishing without a fishing license and they make people wear their life jackets when they are in small boats like canoes and kayaks. Or at least they have to have the life jacket in the boat with them when they are out on the water. Which is a good thing.

When I first read about this possibility my first reaction was "great I would be able to take my boat out at a small closer lake". However now that I have had time to think about it I am against it. In theory it is wonderful and makes sense. In reality it counts on people following the rules in small lakes where there likely won't be regular enforcement present. Sadly I don't have confidence in everyone follow the rules and really it would only take one person not doing so to be an issue in some of these lakes. Like many things the majority will follow the law but there will also be that percentage that never does and ignores laws and safety. There are plenty of large bodies of water available in the state that anyone with a boat can easily find a place to go. However there are limited small bodies where both canoeists, kayakers and people in small boats can go to and not have to worry about the intrusion from larger boats. Places where a parent might be comfortable allowing a teenager to go fishing in a small boat or kayak safely without fear of being swamped by someone. I believe the law even in large lakes is that a boat is not to create a wake if a boat is still and someone is fishing from it, or something to that effect. I can say for certain that many don't follow that law, as I assume similar results would occur in the small lakes if the larger boats were allowed on it.

Leave the few smaller lakes to the people that have bought small boat to enjoy them. And if someone really wants to save on gas and fish in small lakes closer to home then they should simply buy themselves a kayak or something similar to enjoy those as well as the larger ones.

[DJD]

Very simple...remove all horsepower restrictions and make these lakes "Idle Speed Only" for any size motor. Whether it's a 250HP Merc or a 5HP Johnson is irrelevant. My 90HP Yamaha 4-stroke is dead quiet, clean, and causes virtually no wake at idle, yet it's okay for an old 9.9HP to run wide open and throw a big wake? That makes no sense. As for speed, the speed limit on I-64 is 70MPH, whether I'm driving a Prius or a Peterbuilt. The key is enforcement. The reality is that there is no way KDFWR can be everywhere all the time, just like KSP can't be sitting on every overpass on I-64. I think most boaters would obey the law, but there are surely some that will break it too. KDFWR will have to at least be present enough at times to enforce randomly. As anglers, we should also police each other; Go remind a guy that you see running above idle that it's against the law on that lake, then call him in to KDFWR if he continues to ignore it. It's not that hard to help out like that if you are a true steward of your fishery. The "protect my fishery from extra pressure" argument is weak, in my opinion, on any public lakes. That's just life. Bigger boats with bigger motors have no business trying to run on these smaller lakes, but there is no harm in idle speed only to get around the lake. To have to fight the wind with trolling motor only in a bigger boat while a 14' jon with a 9.9 goes barreling by throwing a wake makes no logical sense to me.

Excellent points....I would add that instead of signs for idle speed only it should read idle speed/no wake.....it still comes down to obeying the law or pay the fine if you get caught.
i have fished with people whose idea of idle speed was not being on plane.....some folks just don't follow laws and rules.

[RngerMac]

Excellent points....I would add that instead of signs for idle speed only it should read idle speed/no wake.....it still comes down to obeying the law or pay the fine if you get caught.
i have fished with people whose idea of idle speed was not being on plane.....some folks just don't follow laws and rules.

Place bouys down the middle of the lake reminding boaters idle speed/no wake.

[Gus]

Place bouys down the middle of the lake reminding boaters idle speed/no wake.

Lifting the restictions will greatly increase the fishing pressure on these lakes. Leave them alone!

[kyriver]

Lifting the restictions will greatly increase the fishing pressure on these lakes. Leave them alone!

This is misleading. If boater chooses to go to Beaver, Elmer, etc it means the boater won't be going to Willisburg, Stoner, Taylorsville, or the Kentucky River. Pressure increasing in one location, but decreasing in another.

[RngerMac]

The "protect my fishery from extra pressure" argument is weak, in my opinion, on any public lakes. That's just life. Bigger boats with bigger motors have no business trying to run on these smaller lakes, but there is no harm in idle speed only to get around the lake. To have to fight the wind with trolling motor only in a bigger boat while a 14' jon with a 9.9 goes barreling by throwing a wake makes no logical sense to me.

I agree

[Wormin]

Lifting the restictions will greatly increase the fishing pressure on these lakes. Leave them alone!

Most of us are there already just now we can idle with big motor.

[DJD]

This is misleading. If boater chooses to go to Beaver, Elmer, etc it means the boater won't be going to Willisburg, Stoner, Taylorsville, or the Kentucky River. Pressure increasing in one location, but decreasing in another.

^^^^^agree^^^^^ it would workout.