Motor Restrictions

[fishingwhitemike]

can a person launch there boat and not use the motor at springfield lake. seen a sign that said 6hp limit. watched a guy with a 200hp fishing but not motoring around the lake. some lakes up north you can launch your boat but only motor at an idle speed. any info on this would appreciated...

[Dutch]

My understanding of the current rules is if you are on the water and have a motor larger than 6hp attached to your boat, you can get a ticket.

[smallmouth man]

The limit was 5hp. If it is 6hp, then it has been recently updated. Now, years ago you could put a big bass rig in the lake but you had to idle the entire time you were on the lake. Some people were too impatient, and put the throttle down to run down the lake. As a result you can no longer do that. Your hp must be at or below the limit. One pretty big reason for the hp limit is that the lake has very little depth. The deepest spot is only 18 ft deep. That lake is made up of the river channel and big flats on both sides. I would say because of those flats 80% of that lake is less than 10 feet deep. There are countless places with underwater stumps, brush, and rocks wear you can easily hit your motor on the bottom. If you are going 60 mph and hit that stump, it will do a lot more damage than is you are going 5 mph. Also the lake just is not very big and big boats would crowd it up quickly. does that answer your question?