I take my big boat all over and run just above idle on restriction lakes. Those 25 hp guys have given me looks but I pay my taxes and will enjoy the pathetic fishing sites Illinois has to offer just like anyone else.
I take my big boat all over and run just above idle on restriction lakes. Those 25 hp guys have given me looks but I pay my taxes and will enjoy the pathetic fishing sites Illinois has to offer just like anyone else.
My vote leave it as it is. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
2016 Tuffy X-190
Yamaha F175, Mercury 9.9
Motorguide 80 lb Xi5
Garmim/Humminbird graphs and Talon
Please release me,let me go.
I’m a rule follower most of the time but all I’m doing is fishing on property that most of us pay taxes for. I didn’t say I blow up and down a lake and I have spoke with several DNR who haven’t had an issue. Enjoying the great outdoors is all I’m doing. I’m guessing you don’t speed, roll a stop sign, talk on your phone, or change lanes without signaling 100 feet before your turn do you? Come on, putting around a public lake can’t be any worse.
I'm not innocent, of some of the things you referenced, by any stretch of the imagination.
Some of us have purposely bought 25hp, so we can run around. If the rules read, "you could idle with any size engine", I would not have bought the 25hp. Would have kept the bigger engine. If the state changes said law, fine.
2016 Tuffy X-190
Yamaha F175, Mercury 9.9
Motorguide 80 lb Xi5
Garmim/Humminbird graphs and Talon
From what I have read and been told the power companies own the lakes . The dnr just manages them . Our tax money shouldn't have any influence on those lakes .
Do you drive 70 mph in the middle of town ? Pretty much the same thing right ? Laws are laws man .
I’m so glad you two admitted the real underlying reason a lot of HP restricted folks throw a fit about this subject. You threw good money into a nice fishing boat with a 25 HP motor on it and now that you did so, anyone else that has a big boat on your lake it’s a tragedy. I really have probably “idled” around a HP restricted lake 10 times over the last ten years (none on Newton). I have seen these topics come up over and over on this site and it never fails, the guys that spent big bucks on a boat/motor that wouldn’t be safe on Kentucky Lake get offended when guys like me say they take their bigger boat and idle around. Please don’t compare idling on a 1000 plus acre lake as the same as driving 70 through the city. Ultimately, all I am doing is enjoying the great outdoors with family/friends and I know I’m not hurting a thing. And....I haven’t even brought up how many HP guys are using 30 hp motors or running old Nissan/Tohatsu motors and running 35+ mph all over the lake. Enjoy the outdoors fellas, lots more to worry about in Illinois than Sunday morning idlers.
Bsly67 - you might want to re-read post #26 (your words, not mine), in regards to you commenting/ comparing speeding while driving a vehicle.
So much more to say about this, but, like you said - so much more to worry about.
To the OP - my apologies if I derailed the thread.
Here's my take on this. This year, we moved to a waterfront home on Lake of Egypt. I joined a couple of the HOA's and it was a good way to meet people. Egypt water is owned by SPIC and they have some restrictions. One is that you cannot cast within 10' of someones dock. Since I fish tournaments locally, I did not put a "No Fishing" sign on my dock. I can understand some of the reasons people put up no fishing signs, especially when idiots try to throw a crankbait around them and end up ripping holes in the covers on their boats. I came to realize that one of the HOAs aren't fond of bass fisherman. Some have the feeling that "we" interfere with their pleasure boating. Needless to say; it's easier for me to change their mind, by staying in the HOA instead of telling them "what for".
All of that brings me to this. I have a Deck Boat for pleasure, a Bass Tracker for small lakes and a Phoenix for large lakes. I've fished the Phoenix in small hp lakes at idle speed when I thought it was the best rig to be in. I wouldn't dare take it to Devils Kitchen and therefore use the Bass Tracker for DK and Cedar Lake. As long as the rules are followed, why all the gripping. Make too much ruckus and who knows; they may decide all those lakes should be turned over to pleasure boaters and eliminate bass fishing and their tournaments. If other boaters or fisherman aren't bothering you; leave it alone. And I do agree, some of these 9.9 rigs push a hard wake almost as bad as some of the larger rigs.
I hope that Ameren closes the HP restricted lakes to the public, to reduce pressure on the lake...
With all the coal fired power plants closing, what will your electric bills be?
That's going to be a good question for some.
Start with rolling blackouts?
Another question - where was this power going?
I'm about 45 minutes from the plant. Our power doesn't come from their. Same thing with some of the windmill farms in northern Illinois, that power goes to part of Indiana.