We have a similar situation at Blue Grass Fish & Wild Area's three main lakes. Bluegrass Pit, Loon Pit and Otter Pit were all electric motor only when BG first opened up. But last year the Manager allowed gas motors at Idle Speed ONLY on these three larger pits.
Most folks abide by the IDLE SPEED ONLY rule. Once in a while I see some going about 4 to 5 mph which is slightly faster than my boat at idle speed.
But for the most part everyone has been following the rules. Believe me if I see someone out their water skiing and breaking the rules I'll have my cam corder out and record the violation and turn them in. All it takes is for a few to ruin the lake for everyone else, and I won't let that happen if I can do something to prevent it.
I'd rather see the one or two violators get banned from the area than to have everyone punished by the property manager changing the rules back to electric motor only.
I can't get my boat back onto the trailer easily without using the gas motor so I would take it personal if someone went water skiing and got the rules changed. So you water skiers are all for-warned.
Actually my neighbor went to Bluegrass Pit one time and they took their jet ski too. But when they arrived in the parking lot at Bluegrass Pit they saw the signs and I heard them talking about going to the Ohio River.
PS: I want to fish Hovey Lake for those big crappie someday. Right now the lake is too big for my boat's when I can only use the electric trolling motor. So I am hoping that the IDNR property manager at Hovey's lake will see that Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife's Property Manager was OK in letting Gas motors to be used at Idle Speed Only. So I am hoping that some day they will allow us to use our larger bass boats at Hoveys if we keep them at idle speed only. That's my wish! Please don't mess it up guys and gals.
Like I said the vast majority have been abiding by the rules. That's shows me that most fisherman are good honest people.
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Originally Posted by idbefishing
When the sign at the top of the boat ramp say "Idle Only" it mean that you have to idle while underway. It doesn't matter what size of motor you have, 5hp or 250hp, it's all the same. If anyone that ignored the rule, you know who you are, STOP IT! or know someone who ignored the rule, PLEASE PASS ON THE WORD. The reason that Summit lake is such a paradise for fisherman is that there are no pleasure boaters because IT'S AN IDLE ONLY LAKE. The DNR might make it electric only or patrol the heck out of it if this behavior keep up. Don't ruin it for everyone. I was out there this past weekend and it was ridiculous. 9 out of 10 of these Jon boats and deep v aluminums with small motor were totally ignored the rule, running at half throttle to wide open all over the place. There were bigger motor boats on the lake too but they were all idling. Now, you might think that I'm making a stereotypical judgment against small boats but I'm not. I am on this lake a lot and have seen it too many times over the years and it's getting progressively worst. Just because you have a 10hp motor doesn't mean you don't have to follow the rules. Rant over, Sorry!
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