Horsepower restrictions should be adjusted

Across West Virginia some of the best places to fish are small impoundments.   Woodrum, O’brien, Elk Fork, North Bend, Sleepy Creek, and Upper Mud River are among my favorite places to wet a line.  I’ve had some great fishing days on those waters.  However, there are drawbacks to fishing there.    Bank fishing limits your ability to really explore the potential of these waters.    A 9.9 horsepower limit limits your ability to do it effectively in a boat.

I received an email this week from a loyal radio listener.   He suggested in an e-mail to the DNR a change in the law.  I think his idea is reasonable and makes a lot of sense.  Instead of a 9.9 hp restriction, why not make the smaller impoundments unrestricted on horsepower and instead make them all no-wake zones and limit the speed limit to five or ten mph.

I like the idea, but I did some asking about where the 9.9hp restriction originated. 

DNR law enforcement didn’t really have an opinion.   Their position is they’ll enforce whatever is put in place.   Therefore, the regulation isn’t necessarily safety oriented.   

DNR warmwater fisheries Chief Brett Preston tells me there are two issues which play into the restriction.   He said one is in fact safety.   There are concerns about enforcement and the temptation to rev up the big motor on a small body of water.  Certainly doing so is dangerous, but even Preston admits it’s unlikely.

“The vast majority of anglers and boaters are conscientious,” he said. “But occasionally somebody may not utilize that correctly.”

There will also be temptation to crank the motor up when loading a heavy bass boat back on the trailer.   Such action could damage some of the smaller boat ramps at the smaller lakes.   But it doesn’t seem fair for all of us to suffer because somebody MIGHT violate the law.    The regulation leaves dedicated anglers in a quandary as my listener’s e-mail points out.

“You ever try to fish Woodrum Lake with just a trolling motor? Or fish Sutton with a 9.9hp?? Neither can get you very far from the dock.” he writes. “Im getting too old and too broke to maintain two separate water craft.. as well as my float rafts for the rivers.”

When a man has an armada like that in his garage, he’s serious about fishing.  

The other issue which guides the regulation is the owner of the lake.  Most of the smaller impoundments are under the governance of the US Army Corps of Engineers or the Natural Resources Conservation Service.  

“It’s often requested by the Corps or the NRCS to reduce erosion,” Preston tells me. “The thought was you limit the horsepower so you keep the wave action down on the lake.”

Certainly, the NRCS has a mission to prevent bank erosion, I get that.  But I hardly think a “no-wake” restriction will cause heavy damage to the bank.   Other states don’t seem to think so.   Kentucky has the 10hp/no wake restriction on some of its smaller lakes.  The listener suggests West Virginia should follow.

Fishing gear and boats cost a lot of money. It would be nice, as my listener points out, to not have to spend so much to maintain two separate fishing vessels if you want to access more water in West Virginia. 

“I don’t consider it an unreasonable request to look at it. We get that request fairly frequently,” said Preston. “Usually, it’s the owners of the lake who don’t want it–so we abide by their wishes. Some are recommendations by us, so in places where we can we might pursue that.”

I hope the DNR will consider pursuing the change.  It would open up some fantastic fishing to a lot more people who are presently handicapped by their gear.







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