Boat Speed Limits-Your Opinion?

[BassChaser57]

I recently read where some lakes are thinking about imposing speed limits. Being that I am older and more prone to breakage it seems like a good idea to me. Denny Brauer had to have back sugery after a rough boat ride. What do you think?  8-)

[Guest avid]

with all the traffic on the lakes these days, it sounds like an idea who's time has come.

[John Cullum]

Depending on lake size and traffic I would have to agree the time for some speed limits have come.

Most of our lakes here in Indiana are so crowded by noon that you can go full throttle anyway but it doesn't seem to stop some people from trying.

I can't recall the last time we had a year go by that someone didn't lose thier life up here on the water. Last year around the 4th of Julty we had two kids die after being struck by a passing boat while tubing. They were seperate events but happened on the same water way just a few days apart.

I'm not sure if a speed limit would of saved thier lives but it sure couldn't hurt to impose one after all the senseless deaths we've had up here the last few years.

I have noticed a decrease in people mixing thier boating and alcohal over the last few years since the DNR has been cracking down on that. That along with a imposed speed limit will make the water ways safer for all of us.

[Matt Fly]

I might be inclined to agree if you tell me what the new speeds will be.   I'm not going back to 30mph with 200 hrs to feed.  

If the majority of the USA did also, boat makers would have a cow.   No more need for 70mph bass boats,  Profits would fall, maybe less sponsor money to be had on the fishing tour.   What about jet ski's?   Too much money to be lost if lakes adhere to new speed limit laws.

Out in San Diego Ca. ,  they have fish only days and ski only days, some of the ski only days are weekends also, they make more money on a ski boat, than a fishing boat.  Skiing requires 3 people, one to drive, one to ski, one to hold the flag up when skier is down in the water.  So, thats 1 lake permit, one launch fee, and 3 user fees.    

Don't start something you aren't ready to live with, the example of what happened to in Ca.

Imagine wanting to fish 200 yards stretch of bank no more than 200 yds from marina on the left, but due to skiing, all boat traffic goes counter-clockwise and only ccw.    Staying to the outside and slowly working your way clock wise just got you a ticket, expensive one at that.    Bouys are set up for you to travel ccw, yes you can get into a creek arm and escape, but main lake points and areas are effected.

Every one has equal rights to fish or ski.   Best we educate our selves before the local government put their .02 cents in.

[Captain Cali]

My home lake, Castaic, California has a 35mph speed limit and a seperate area for PWC. Both areas are counter clockwise only but you can cut through the middle if you do it safely. Most Southern California lakes are like this. The part outside the PWC area is 2 arms. 1 arm is the ski arm and the other is the fishing arm. Fishing is allowed in the ski arm but no waterskis in the fishing arm. The speed limit is not really enforced for boaters as much as PWC. PWC have a much smaller area bouyed off. It's funny because a bass boat doing 60 wont get hassled but a speed boat or PWC doing 60 will get lit up right away, especially if you are racing.

Castaic Lagoon is limited to non-powered watercraft and trolling motors only. You can take a gas boat on the lagoon but the motor has to be up and not running of course. Same counter clockwise rule but not enforced as much as the main lake.

[BassChaser57]

This is some great input guys. The limits I saw being contemplated were 55mph. This allows for the bass and ski boats to get on plane and handle nicely yet provide a better margin of safety (so they say.) 8-)

[DDbasser]

Just my opinion, but they can pass all the laws they want and it still want make a hill a beans to some yahoo that wants to get lit and show off his brand new 90 mph boat.

We have a ton of traffic laws and still accidents are too frequent.

Yes it would keep those of us that respect the rights of others and the law safe from each other( but since we are already watching out for ourselves and those around us we don't need any more laws or restrictions) but not from those that don't care.  

[George Welcome]

DD has got it. You can't get people to pay attention to traffic laws on the road. You can't get boaters to pay attention to no wake areas. How are you going to get people to pay attention to speed limits on the water with no way for the boater to accurately know how fast they are going?

It would be just another way for the Government to have their fingers in what they can't control or enforce.

Great idea, but too many gaping holes in it.

[GobbleDog]

The only new law I'd be in favor of is BANNING jetskies. Those $%#@#'s have no business being on the water.  >

[topwtr81]

you know it's a slippery slope where would it end? the biggest problem i see is enforcement

and for the most part tourney guy's at least truly know how to drive there rig's at speed

my concern is if they passed it ok we would abide. the go fast's ciggarette's jet ski's not a chance would abide and how many law enforcement unit's would it take to enforce? more than anyone

would be willing to pay for. What we should do is enforce what's already there. they should make example's of some of the reckless one's hammer anyone boating while drunk( boy they do here)

let's not rush to limit's

[ball_coach_1]

Agreed...outlaw the jetski.  At worst, 4 mph speed limits, only allowed on 'water' between

December 1st and February 28th in North Dakota.

[John Cullum]

I have an example of a lake that is in need of a speed limit.

The DNR has a certain acherage a lake has to be before it has a "no speed" limit law. We have a lake here in Indinana that is well above that number. But there is a huge problem. There are 3 bridges that cut the lake into 3 smaller sections. But the DNR laws still don't take that into consideration. So we have a bunch of people flying around each little lake part at however fast they wanna go. The DNR posted a 10MPH speed limit but could never inforce it because of the wording in the speed limits law. So you can either follow the posted 10mph speed limit or if your from the area and know the DNR can't ticket you, you may go as fast as you want.

The sign is now gone and more and more people are going to the lake. It won't be long before there will be some accidents out there that could of be avoided by a speed limit.

I'm not talking about an across the board law for how fast you can go on any given body of water I'm talking about common sense. If there are supporting facts about how unsafe the lake is and how congested it is put in a speed limit try to inforce it.

[FL_fisher]

The jetskis dont bother me as mush as the air boats. > For some reason 95% of them think the have to ride 10ft by my boat.

[Captain Cali]

:

Be careful what you guys have to say. You never know who might be reading this. So much for respecting others sports I guess. >

Just like there are idiot jetskiers on the water there are idiot fishermen and other boaters also. By the way, they are Personal Watercraft (PWC) not jetskies. Don't lump all people who enjoy PWC in the same group, please. And yes I do own and ride PWC so consider me one of those $%#@#'s if you want. But I can guarantee you one thing...with 16 years of experience riding and racing PWC I'm a lot safer on the water than most boaters I see, maybe even you.

So please don't disrespect other watersports because I can go off on how some fishermen/boaters act.

[paparock]

Things could end up a lot like it is in some saltwater fishing areas. There is the Coast Guard and Sheriff's Department boats patrolling the areas where most problems happen . They will pull up and do a safety check for all mandated safety equipment and like a traffic stop check your license and registration. A lot of people don't know it but operating a boat while "intoxicated" is a crime for which they can fine you and even take away your regular vehicle drivers license. Of course there takes only a few idiots to mess up everyone else like some Scarab twin turbo on 454 engines doing over 100MPH swamping others and causing mayhem to cause calls for controls add alcohol and like on Clear Lake in Texas where such a boat ran through a houseboat killing the two people on board. It got so bad you had to slow down and make a minimum wake because the jet ski types would jump your wake and when some got hurt they sued the boat owner you made the wake. Unfortunately limits will come because some just can't or will not use common sense in boating just like some don't on the roadways.

[GobbleDog]

Just like there are idiot jetskiers on the water there are idiot fishermen and other boaters also. By the way, they are Personal Watercraft (PWC) not jetskies. Don't lump all people who enjoy PWC in the same group, please. And yes I do own and ride PWC so consider me one of those $%#@#'s if you want.  

Even safe JETSKIES are the most annoying machines on the planet. Engine throttle up - engine throttle down. Then back up - then down again.  OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER .....  all over the lake.

The whole time the driver is screaming "WEEEEEE, look at meeee! I have no reason to be on the water!!!! I'm just a jerkkkkk! WEEEEEE!"

I love jetskiers. Who wouldn't want to listen to that all day?  

[Captain Cali]

Just like there are idiot jetskiers on the water there are idiot fishermen and other boaters also. By the way, they are Personal Watercraft (PWC) not jetskies. Don't lump all people who enjoy PWC in the same group, please. And yes I do own and ride PWC so consider me one of those $%#@#'s if you want.  

Even safe JETSKIES are the most annoying machines on the planet. Engine throttle up - engine throttle down. Then back up - then down again.  OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER .....  all over the lake.

The whole time the driver is screaming "WEEEEEE, look at meeee! I have no reason to be on the water!!!! I'm just a jerkkkkk! WEEEEEE!"

I love jetskiers. Who wouldn't want to listen to that all day?  

Like I said, don't lump us all into one group. When I have the throttle "UP" it's staying up for a long time because I go fast, no in betweens for me. I don't scream while I'm on the water but who cares if someone else is. Just because they are having fun you want to rain on them? Sounds like you had a bad encounter. That is unfortunate because all we want to do is enjoy the water just like you. I have pulled out fishing line from my PWC's intake countless times but have never disrespected a fishermen because of it. I just cut the line and be on my way. Do you want me to count how many rusty hooks I've almost stepped on while walking a bank?? Again, countless so not all fishermen are the little angels you might think.

It is what it is dude. If it means that much to you, do what Castaic Lake has done and give the PWC a little corner of the lake and be done with it. But even then some would complain because they can't fish that 1/10th of the lake. :

[GobbleDog]

The jetskie was invented by Satan.  

[Captain Cali]

Whatever...you win.

[commish24]

IMO, Here in Southern California, I'd like to see a standard 35 MPH limit for all watercraft. I believe most Lakes have this already, however it's like most here say, it's rarely if ever enforced. Guys are always complaining about shelling out 15-20.00 to get on the water, well try routinely handing out 250.00 fines for speeding and see how quickly the word gets out and the nonsense stops. Whether your on a jet boat, jet ski, bass boat or float tube it shouldnt matter. I dont want to hear it, that the boat manufacturers will have a cow. A speed limit hasnt hurt Porche sales. Besides, everyone knows that a 60+ mph boat is over kill and basically like with fast cars, a staus thing! "Hey look at me go, weee"...LOL .

Profesional tournaments should be the exception, like with Nascar, time equals money, but for amateur and recreational boaters a speed limt is necessary and should be enforced. All this said, If Baseball's sacred records had never been broken, there would never be steroid enforcement. Thus, until someone noteworthy gets killed because of excessive speed in a boat, again there wont be any enforcement.

[KYbass1276]

IMO you can put speed limits on public waters and it ain't going to be much different Look at our roadways for everyday travel that have speed limits I would be willing to bet that 19 out of 20 cars are going over the speed limit. You have to take into consideration resources that go into enforcing the law. Most states have a hard enough time keeping up with motor vehichle laws let alone boating laws.  Fish and wildlife resources would suffer alot look at the money they would have to take away from conservation project's just to be able to  try. And we know that  fish and wildlife funds are limited in most states. You would have to spend alot of money for more patrol boats, hire and pay more officers to patrol the waters even if it is the local police's responsabilty its alot of money. But on the other hand if they was able to really enforce the boating laws I'm sure there would be alot of income there too. IMO it boils down to something alot of people don't have anymore and that is common sense and respect for others. But unfortunatly people don't care about how there actions effect others so we will always have issue's such as this.

[RoLo]

I like the idea very much, because the ecosystem can only benefit.

As fishermen we welcome a challenge...Right?

Lower horsepowers and slower speeds simply enhance the challenge.

As long as it applies to everyone, it maintains a level playing field.

I began with a 10-ft rowboat and a set of wooden oars. If need be,

it wouldn't break my heart to go full circle, as long as I could still fish.

Yah, I could probably retire in Belize on the money I've wasted on boats,

nevertheless, I've never forgotten that boating is merely a facet of fishing.

[Siebert Outdoors]

:

Be careful what you guys have to say. You never know who might be reading this. So much for respecting others sports I guess. >

Just like there are idiot jetskiers on the water there are idiot fishermen and other boaters also. By the way, they are Personal Watercraft (PWC) not jetskies. Don't lump all people who enjoy PWC in the same group, please. And yes I do own and ride PWC so consider me one of those $%#@#'s if you want. But I can guarantee you one thing...with 16 years of experience riding and racing PWC I'm a lot safer on the water than most boaters I see, maybe even you.

So please don't disrespect other watersports because I can go off on how some fishermen/boaters act.

I am going to side with Roger on this very touchy issue.  Its just not the pwc and big boats.  Yes they can be annoying to someone fishing.

My issues are on boat driver safety, judgement, control, and fundementals of boat driving.  Doesnt matter what kind of boat you are in just use some curtousey and common sense.  A big scarab running next to a 20' bass boat by a dock is going to get swamped and push the boat up on the dock. been there done that too many times.  A boat going south and a little left heading towards a boat going north a little to the right doesnt turn left in front of the guy heading south a little to the left he turns right instead of cutting in front of him.

Some of the lakes around here like kinkaid or Lake of the ozarks have speed limits permenant or during night on them.

[stratoscaster]

Horsepower limits.  Problem solved.  Does anyone really need 200 plus hp?

[Captain Cali]

Horsepower limits.  Problem solved.  Does anyone really need 200 plus hp?

Yeah...especially PWC. Have to seen some of the new stuff they have? 215 ponies in a PWC?!?!? \

I'd love to ride one though.  8-)