Quote Originally Posted by SLP View Post
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.
So if you are against this because you are worried people won't follow the rules, then what is keeping those same people from running their +10HP motors right now? If the rule is currently that you can launch but can't run your motor as opposed to you can launch and idle only I don't see what is stopping those "rule breakers" from just launching and running as they please. However, I don't see any of that going on when I go to these restricted lakes. The current rules still count on people obeying them, a change in the rule doesn't alleviate that same requirement, there are still rules that are supposed to be followed just as before.