Survey-Horsepower Restrictions in Ohio

There's a poll over in Ohio Game Fishing General Discussions forum and alot of debate on whether horsepower limits on lakes like Acton, Cowan, Piedmont, Atwood, Leesville, and similar lakes should be eliminated and instead put in lake-wide speed limit regulations on those lakes. This would allow fishermen with larger motors to access these lakes, but still prevent the waves and other issues that occur on no-limit lakes. Right now, the leave it as it is group is winning hands-down, as they tend to be more vocal.

Personally, I'd like access to these lakes and, with speed limits, it's unlikely pleasure boaters or jet ski's would make an appearance.

Regardless of how you feel, go over and vote--just click the option you want at the top of the page. It will only allow you to vote once.

good thread....

"horse power" survey - Page 3 - Ohio Game Fishing Community

I don't really think any argument over there is going to effect the law, but I did put my 2 cents worth in, and will likely get spanked and have the thread shut down as a result. The small motor people really have no sound argument from what I have seen, it's just that they want what they want and want to use the government to get it. Statism pure and simple, no thanks!

Seems pretty simple to me. If I had a small HP motor I'd want it restricted for selfish reasons, so it kept bigger HP motors/boats off the lake and less fishing pressure for me. If I don't have the smaller HP motor then I'd want unlimited HP allowed with no-wake or 10mph enforced. For the record I don't have a smaller HP motor.

Nope. Leave them alone. Nobody obeys no wakes zones let alone speed limits. I don't have a small motor either. If you want to fish the lakes, go buy a small rig for a thousand or two.

idle only for bigger motors and if caught going faster than that give them a ticket and not allow them back on the lake.

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Originally Posted by fishinron

idle only for bigger motors and if caught going faster than that give them a ticket and not allow them back on the lake.

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I agree. Even with a monster Trolling Motor it takes too long to get where you want.
What's the rule when you gotta fire up the motor to put it on the trailer?

have any of you guys seen what a 20 foot bass boat does at a 10 miles per hour its a wake that you could surf on...
speed limit would need to be about 30 mph...

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Originally Posted by fishinron

idle only for bigger motors and if caught going faster than that give them a ticket and not allow them back on the lake.

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Thats exactly what I have been saying. Hey I got nailed at EF years ago. Hell I was looking right at ranger rick up on the ramp with the bull horn but there was just a little to much coming off the back of the boat for him. I was just a touch over idle speed but he could tell. Anyways, it was a healthy ticket and Ive never went through the no wake zones over idle since then...........

Dont see what the big argument is about. If you want to fish a lot of diffrent lakes and some of them have restricted HP, rig your boat to do so. My boat has a 90 on it. I wanted to fish Pymy so i found a used 10 hp to put next to it. Lost some speed but i can fish where i want now. Seems like guys are complaining because they dont want to lose boat speed by adding another small motor to their boat. I saw it as another price to pay to keep enjoying what i like to do.

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Originally Posted by chaunc

Dont see what the big argument is about. If you want to fish a lot of diffrent lakes and some of them have restricted HP, rig your boat to do so. My boat has a 90 on it. I wanted to fish Pymy so i found a used 10 hp to put next to it. Lost some speed but i can fish where i want now. Seems like guys are complaining because they dont want to lose boat speed by adding another small motor to their boat. I saw it as another price to pay to keep enjoying what i like to do.

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Not everyone has money trying to beat it's way out of their bank accounts. Why should they be forced by the government to buy something when they already have something sufficient for doing the job? I happen to have a 1950's something 6HP motor I COULD mount, but I'd still have to buy a mount, and on my boat which has a very odd shaped transom, I am not sure it would be easy to find one, I was unable to find a ladder for it that would not take some customization to fit. I am not sure I would want to do too much customizing to a motor mount bracket.

The bottom line is that what they claim they want can be accomplished with no wake laws. The rest is just bully tactics, plane and simple. If we are going to go by potential, than cars certainly need to be baned as they are potential weapons and have been used as such many times, they MUST be banned! Same argument, different vehicle! If it's true for boats, it's just as valid an argument for cars. This is just BS! It's government pushing around the people it's supposed to be serving. It's statism, and it's ugly.

I am shocked that they did not ban me last time, so I posted again. Again I used reason to combat "opinion". One guy was saying that since the survey went against my argument, it defeated it! I pointed out that logic is not trumped by opinion. And so it goes... People don't care about reason which is what finally got us out of the dark ages, rather they want to return to them it would seem. I just don't understand that...

You have a motor that will allow you to fish those lakes, yet you wont make the effort to use it. Talk about BS. What kind of argument is that proving. Dont have to dig deep into a bank account or maybe you will. Wont even bother to check, huh. Oh well. I got mine taken care of. I'll keep fishing these lakes and you can wait till they CHANGE the law.

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Originally Posted by chaunc

You have a motor that will allow you to fish those lakes, yet you wont make the effort to use it. Talk about BS. What kind of argument is that proving. Dont have to dig deep into a bank account or maybe you will. Wont even bother to check, huh. Oh well. I got mine taken care of. I'll keep fishing these lakes and you can wait till they CHANGE the law.

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There is NO reason to make this personal. If you want to ban cars, your argument is solid, if not, you need to get to work. It's that simple. Logic has rules, it got us out of the dark ages, and is foundational to science, reject it at your own peril, but don't talk trash about people because you have no sound argument... FYI, I have a BIG electric motor and I go where I want to using it. My argument was not really for myself, it was just a sound argument. Obviously you have issues with reason when it does not suit you, but that is no reason to insult others! Keep your personal problems to yourself please...

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Originally Posted by chaunc

You have a motor that will allow you to fish those lakes, yet you wont make the effort to use it. Talk about BS. What kind of argument is that proving. Dont have to dig deep into a bank account or maybe you will. Wont even bother to check, huh. Oh well. I got mine taken care of. I'll keep fishing these lakes and you can wait till they CHANGE the law.

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Since you had to make an issue of it, and for the benefit of those who may otherwise buy into your rant, the real reason I don't put my old 6HP motor on my boat is because I think it is irresponsible to use such an inefficent oil spewing motor. It makes FAR more sense to use the 70HP with oil injection which wastes nearly no oil, thus introduces nearly no oil into the water, than it does to use an oil gusher of a motor.

Not that it matters, but I am thinking about buying a 3.5HP 4 stroke for small lakes, as well as for trolling larger ones allowing me more battery time in coves and such. While that really is none of your business any more than the real reason I do not use my 6HP motor is, I bring it up because you completely missed the point which is that my example was about the government forcing people to waste MONEY not MY situation. I was only relating how the government would be wasting my money if I went to use the 6HP Evenrude. The bottom line, as I have been able to reasonably argue, is that there is no sound reason for motor size restriction. Motor age and type restrictions make far more sense, and are environmentally speaking more rational as well!

I was only trying to make clear to the reasonable that the government forcing people to waste money is not what governments should be doing, as well as the absurdity of opposing positions from a logical standpoint. Obviously you have no time or use for logic, that's fine, but bashing those who do does not seem to be very productive to me. YMMV.

No issue here. The law is easy to follow. And here's something for the group of speed limit lake guys. Dont know if you fish the northend of mosquito lake but they have a speed limit on that end of the lake and nobody, and i mean nobody pays attention to it. Check the regs. It's an unlimited hp lake with a speed limit north of the causeway. Even see jetskis and skiers on that end once in a while. Do you think it would be diffrent on the restricted hp waters? I hope so but i doubt it.

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Originally Posted by chaunc

No issue here. The law is easy to follow. Do you think it would be different on the restricted hp waters? I hope so but i doubt it.

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I haven't been to Mosquito but I see so many people who either ignore or are just ignorant to no wake zones they just do what they want. I got to agree with you chaunc.
I will follow with, I really don't care what the do with the restricted lakes either way. It would be nice to be able run the bigger motor but realistically I don't think folks would run at idle speed either.
Personally, I find the sail boaters to be bigger problem but I'll save that for another day.

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Originally Posted by chaunc

No issue here. The law is easy to follow. And here's something for the group of speed limit lake guys. Dont know if you fish the northend of mosquito lake but they have a speed limit on that end of the lake and nobody, and i mean nobody pays attention to it. Check the regs. It's an unlimited hp lake with a speed limit north of the causeway. Even see jetskis and skiers on that end once in a while. Do you think it would be diffrent on the restricted hp waters? I hope so but i doubt it.

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That is why a rational society punishes the guilty, not everyone. I know nothing about Mosquito Lake. I do not know if they have signs posted or if they even attempt to enforce the laws. I once had to ticket a whole mess of cars because my boss got a wild hair, the law had been ignored for years, there was no warning, just tickets. That is BS plane and simple and those who contested it in court, I intentionally made clear to the judge what had happened and those tickets were thrown out. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but irresistible ignorance is, and while that did not meet the exact definition of irresistible ignorance, it was pretty close and it was BS.

The military uses mass punishment because it can, not because it's just. The right thing to do is clearly to have and enforce no wake or speed limits. Anything else is in effect mass punishment because you MIGHT do something, which is insanity. Let's just throw everyone in jail, after all they just MAY do something wrong! The "Bazaro" world is not for me... I want the guilty punished, and those not proven so, left alone as much as possible.

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Originally Posted by crappiemax

I haven't been to Mosquito but I see so many people who either ignore or are just ignorant to no wake zones they just do what they want. I got to agree with you chaunc.
I will follow with, I really don't care what the do with the restricted lakes either way. It would be nice to be able run the bigger motor but realistically I don't think folks would run at idle speed either.
Personally, I find the sail boaters to be bigger problem but I'll save that for another day.

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You should have been at Acton today, there was a guy with a remote controlled boat that was louder than hades running it in circles endlessly like a mindless drone. How many times can you watch a remote controlled boat do circles oh mindless one? I guess a heck of a lot because mindless one was there for what seemed like hours. After running my HDS5 and 8, running the live well, etc, for about 6 hours my starting battery showed 100% charge when I got home... My 2 electric motor batteries, well they were down a bit, but I was surprised about the starting battery still being at 100% according to my charger. Those Lowrance units don't seem to be too hungry. So that I am not completely off topic here, HP limits to me make less sense than age or hours run limits to keep the motors on the lakes from polluting. Added just to not be completely off topic you understand! :)