I know I am gonna get BLASTED with this but I was wondering how many of you would go along with a horsepower limit on outboard motors on the Mississippi river. Say 100 hp? I have heard it suggested at as low as 25 hp. 
This would seriously upset some of those guys in the battleship galactica lunds and rangers. Wouldn’t bother me in the least, I feel a 100hp would be a good limit. 
Might even clean up the environment a little. 
Oh please!!! lets worry about the tuna boats and all the harm they do to the shore line. If the boats are to fast for you then stay on the small lakes
Dan,
You hit the nail on the head. Most (and I use the term loosely) people that run the larger Lunds and Rangers like you said are experienced drivers and know how to handle 200 horses. Some knob who just dropped 100 g’s on some yacht and has never driven a boat in his life is the one that should be restricted.
Just my quick thought
This is got nothing to do with them being too fast…too irresponsible is more like it. There are more (edited for pg rating) holes with boats that are too big for the river…tuna boats included. You must be one of those with the mega motor who has the “I’ll be damned if I will give up my monster motor, I paid for it, I intend on using it!” attitude. If you wanna go 90 mph…go to Lake Mich, or Millac’s. Somewhere that has room for it.
I am with you on this one Fishahollik. This is jsut my opinoin and focus more toward the incosiderate ones on the river. Well here it goes, 95 % of fisherman on the river are fishing for the fun of it “right”. Some are doing it for a job. In other words these guys are saying that that one minute they got there faster, the more fish they catch, well it it takes them one minute and me two, I do not suppose that many fish are being caught in that one minute. Well if them guys got there act together and left a little earlier they wouldn’t need that 200 hp. I personally think 40 mph is plenty fast enough and you ought to get that out of any 100 hp motor. So maybe they need to lean towards a speed limit. If 70 is speeding on the road don’t you think it is a little fast on the water to.
Just another opinion of another user and don’t mean to open a can of worms over this topic. Other members post will be interesting.
i guess i wasnt aware that having 200 horsepower made you irresponsible. Yes im one of the mega motor guys and your right i did pay for it. Your a wise man if you can tell all about someone by the size of his motor so we wont get into my attitude, you seem to have the answers already. Wasnt there a song or something about judging someone from the color of the skin? Same difference right? Mine wont go 90 but it will do 70 although i usually run around 45. I have found that most guys with the big boats and motors have been around for awhile and know how to handle it. I would be more concerned with the new guys that have the 100 and dont know what a boat will do
My boats only got a 65hp. I like to fish lake Pepin, and thats plenty big for whatever they run on it, IMP. I don’t recall ever having a problem because of someone going to fast out there. If anything should be done, maybe make drivers of large boats & motors test like they do for motorcycles…Even that won’t stop people from being idiots on the water. Just look at the people in cars. I don’t think we need a hp restriction.
Sorry Fish,
I’m on Dan’s side on this one. My Ranger or any other 200hp Bass Boat or lund at full throttle creates minimal wake compared to those tuna guys at low speeds. If anything, the TUNA boats belong on Lake Mich, or Millac’s.
Motor size has nothing to do with anything here. Especially the newer motors, they are probably more economically efficient than our cars.
Might as well not make cars/trucks that can go over 55 either. 
There are more pressing issue’s that motor size..that’s all
I’m with Dan and Slop on this one also. I’ve often said that they should make people who buy a sports car take an IQ test. Size doesn’t matter. (At least I hope not). What matters is how you handle your boat. If you are a considerate safe boat operator, you’ll not have any problems. I see many more problems caused by a 35 ft ChrisCraft at 5 MPH, than I do with my 19 ft Ranger at 60 MPH. Don’t blame my motor if I operate my boat poorly. Blame me. If 40 MPH is good enough for you great! I respect that. I won’t run you over. I’ll give wide berth, or if I can’t give enough room, I’ll slow down, so not to cause you too much consternation.
Being fairly new here I try to stick with the fishing discussions and out of the controversial ones. However on this issue I can speak with some experience. The greatest danger of imposing limits of any kind, is that once they start they don’t stop.
Lets say they do impose a 100 hp limit. I will gaurantee you that some group will come along and say 100hp is to much how about 50. Or that there’s just to much fishing pressure how about permits. I live this issue every day and it just never ends. 
Forget about to large of motor on the back of ranger, worry about the dang shore wreckers that run at about half throttle and damn near swamp you when they go by 
they do more damage to a shoreline in one day then i do in a whole year in my 18′ tuffy, bad enough half the dang river in pool 4 by red wing is No Wake zone ,
Fish, I hear your point but don’t agree either. As far as the one or two minutes that the quicker boat gets, its not about the extra time to fish, its about the place they are competing to get to that holds the fish. The mississippi of all places should hold the largest hp limit if any because of the distances one can cover.
Now I do agree with all about the tuna boat idiots and their care for no one boat wake. I don’t know if you had a bad experience with a “fast” boat, but like everyones been saying, the guys running the faster boats have a pretty good handle on what they are doing. Like Slop said, between the four strokes out there and the new E-tecs and that technology coming out, there is minimal enviromental effects in comparison to a 20 year old 25 hp or the big tuna boats burning a couple hundred gallons of fuel a weekend.
ERonningen said it well, the fast fishing boat give an edge to the tourny fisher that can get to the honey hole the fastest.
Gunflint pointed out the reason for the 9.9 hp motors. 10 hp motors were baned from (some of the boundary waters), the manufacturer came out with basicly the same motor and called it a 9.9.
The one thing I noticed about myself is…when a “tuna” boat is coming by an area I’m fishing…they really don’t have to do anything…to get a frown on my face. I’m not talking about the guy the cuts your line off..or throws a 3 foot wake in the no wake zone…I’m talking about a large boat just putting by. It’s almost like I’m waiting for him to infrige on my rights…so I can yell at him.
Believe it or not…there are some good guys out there in the biguns…it’s just that the bad ones stick out like a sore thumb.
Let’em buy the 200 or bigger motors…I can’t afford it…but someone has to get the economy going!
As far as the inconsiderats…most of the time…they just don’t know any better. Heck, just last fall I and a freind cut into a fishing spot someone esle was fishing…I never gave it a thought until a day or two later…If I wasn’t called inconsiderate…I should have been!
‘Course there’s alway one 
out there…that is in the dog house with his wife and takes it out on everyone they can.
Personally, I think all new boaters should come with training collars. They do something stupid…four levels of ZAP! With the light zap for little things…no life jacket on the kid, taking 20 minutes at the launch…and the #4 high power Zap! for the endangering live of others….cutting someone off, throwing a large wake around fishing boats ect…. Oh yeah…everyone would have a transmitter and the new boater couldn’t take it off until he hadn’t been zapped for 40 consectuive hours boating….
Look out Pulenty….I’m running for govener…Putz? You up to Ltn?
I run a 70 HP on my boat and don’t intend on getting anything bigger.
I feel that we have enough restrictions on our lives. Lets not add another one.
JIM
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Oh please!!! lets worry about the tuna boats and all the harm they do to the shore line. If the boats are to fast for you then stay on the small lakes
Dan, your the one who threw the ‘tude. By your reply I was correct in assuming you were a mega motor guy. as for your overall responsibility I do not assume to know anything except as you have reply’d. What I do know is that the majority (thats all it takes in a democracy to decide something right?) of boats that I have encountered with the monster motors on the back, be they walleye or bass boats have little or no respect for the guys with smaller boats/motors. If you are the patron saint of 150+ hp boats then my hat is off to you. 
I havent had a citation against my driving record in over 15 years…does that mean that I should be able to drive a car on the roads of wisconsin with say…a 1000 hp engine just cause I can afford it?
The rest of you seem to be stuck on the “tourney” aspect. If everyone you fished against had the same restrictions (100hp for example) wouldn’t matter who could get there a minute or two ahead of the others…maybe fishing skills, presentations, and knowledge of the river would actually decide, not speed.
I like the shock collar idea…maybe that would be better than the HP restriction.
Fish,
What would be the benefits be from the ie.100hp restriction in your mind? 
Its the big boats like tuna boats and big cruisers that send the most wake which harms the shorelines and rocks the hec out of the guy fishing an area with their wake. The walleye and bass rigs with the higher horse power leave little wakes due to most of the boat is up out of the water when they are running the river. Take half the horse power away and then they too are added to the big wake boat problems as they can’t get the boat up out of the water also. I only have a 90 hp motor on my bigger boat [16 1/2 ft.] and a 9.9 hp on my jon boat so I’m not one of the big hp guys.
Thanks, Bill
Man am I glad I only put a 90 on my 10ft john boat.
I have been on the river for three years now. In that time I have always been running a 25hp motor on a small lund. Its not very fast, 25mph is tops. I see many people with big motors and yea they do pass me but I have never seen anyone being careless or even come close to me while passing. My point is that from my perspective I don’t see a misuse of the power/speed capibilities.
So why the limit? If your worried about the environment why not go after the the ton of boats out there that drink gallons per mile and not miles per gallon? We have enough laws!
[quote
What I do know is that the majority (thats all it takes in a democracy to decide something right?) of boats that I have encountered with the monster motors on the back, be they walleye or bass boats have little or no respect for the guys with smaller boats/motors.
I completly disagree with the above. Its just not true.
I think that the Coast Guard regulates how much horsepower each type of boat can handle. Just because they say your boat can have a 225 hp motor doesn’t mean that it is safe to have that large of a motor. It all depends on how safely the boat is operated. State and local governments have created laws to regulate how a boat is operated. There are no wake areas, lakes with horsepower limits, fines for such things as going too-fast and too-close to other boats not under power, etc… There are more than enough regulations as there is. I would like to see more enforcement of the laws we already have. Then maybe we would see a little more common courtesy out on the water.
There is a new “regulation” in place that should cut the number of tuna boats, jet skis and higher-horsepower boats this summer. It is called gas in excess of $2.20 a gallon.
Eyehunter
My canoe is powered by a 13 year old with youthful exuberance and a 47 year old with an attitude. How do I convert that to a horsepower rating?? 
Good one Rock….I have a tough time believing that the gas prices are gonna keep the pesky people away. If they can afford the boat they can unfortunately afford the gas. I have only had a couple of run ins with the high powered boats. One situation was taken care of and they other his brother yelled at him…made me feel better anyway. The problem isn’t the horsepower it is how you drive/operate it. A row boat on my local river is a problem for someone in a 10′ jon boat with a 9.9 on it. I guess if you can’t handle the boat traffic fish on a pond or somewhere else…I was told this right after I started boating and fishing on the Mississippi. They were right. If you can get rid of anything get rid of the weekend Destroyers. I run a 14′ boat with a 25hp motor on it and I have no problem with the guys with the 225hp motors. Less wake for me and less time I have to alter fishing. Just my 2 cents.
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What I do know is that the majority (thats all it takes in a democracy to decide something right?) of boats that I have encountered with the monster motors on the back, be they walleye or bass boats have little or no respect for the guys with smaller boats/motors. If you are the patron saint of 150+ hp boats then my hat is off to you.
Where did you get the statistics to support you “majority”? I would doubt the accuracy of this statement until you can prove this. This is sounding more and more of an argument based out of sour grapes. Did someone, not in a tourney, pass you and when you got there were they on your spot? I’ve fished pool 4 this spring a few times so far, and I’ve noticed the 25hp jon boats acting just as inconsiderate as the 200hp Rangers. It’s making a stereotype statement like this that is inconsiderate. Show me facts, and I’ll change my tune. Until then I’ll continue to drive my big Ranger at full throttle, and do it with consideration for others in the forefront of my mind while kicking up less wake then the big cabin cruisers at 5MPH.
PS. I don’t think Dan said anything about being the Patron Saint of 150HP+ boats. I think the ‘tude’ you described was your own emphasis.
I don’t know how to do the “qoute thing”, but what you all are qouting from Fishaholik….He is off base with that assumption.
I know I have pissed guys in smaller boats off before…Why??? Because they were sitting in the middle of a cut or a chute where everyone runs and they expect people to not run by them. Thats the only instance I’ve seen. Is that inconsiderate?? I don’t think so. In other places where it is not such a runway I shut her down and give way. Canoes I always set down for because I don’t want to upset their craft and cause a problem for them.
I just feel that general assumption of all boaters with big engines are inconsiderate is bs. As far as limiting it to 100hp for all and then we would all be the same in a tourney…Why? If there is a jerk out there, he is going to urine you off whether he has a 100 or 300 hp boat.
As far as the boats being overrated on their hp rating, I think they are pretty conservative really. Most boats could handle another 25hp to make them really perform but then they would be too much for the inexperienced in a bind.
I agree with you MDP. I am on the river every weekend be it night or day. The leaste of my worries is another fishing dude. I don’t care if he has a 300hp he is the leaste of my problems. I know there my be a hand full at the most that cause problems but to say the majority is out in left field.
I am a small boat guy; a 90 HP on a Fish Hawk and a flat with a 25HP Merc. Regarding the big rigs I have never had a problem with the Walleye guys. However, a bass guy with a Ranger and 200HP outboard has shaken me up more then once when tied to a tree in a narrow slough. That said, more problems are caused by boats at moderate speed with hugh wakes, and the most by the cruisers that run up and down the river all summer and tend to slow down just enough to cause 4 foot waves. All in all I think law enforcement needs to spend more time educating the cruiser owners and not us fisherman.
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What I do know is that the majority (thats all it takes in a democracy to decide something right?) of boats that I have encountered with the monster motors on the back, be they walleye or bass boats have little or no respect for the guys with smaller boats/motors.
I have been fishing the river for more than 15 years in a ‘smaller’ boat, and I can not support your claim. I have ecountered an equal amount of ‘bone heads’ on both sides. Whether it be a 200hp Ranger or a 15hp jon boat. 
Chad
OK, lets see if I can clear things up a bit. I will give ErRonnington an example that backs up my statement. Last fall I was fishing between genoa and victory on a wing dam when around the bend comes 19 (I counted them) Various types of Blast boats (rangers, skeeters etc..) all of them running Id say 50-60 mph…Must of all locked thru together..they were running 4-5 wide at different points as some were passing others. No courtesy for each other nor myself or the other boats that were fishing rip rap and such. Just blow by in a rush to be the first to whatever spot they were all heading for. True, on plane they make a pretty small wake compared to the “tuna boats or cruisers”. I have also had both Bass guys and Walleye guys blow by me in a slough. Can’t take a few moments to idle by? Thats what I do wether Im in my 16′ boat or my 15 flat. As for being beat to a spot in a Tourney…Sorry, thats incorrect. Hasnt happened. Besides there are many many spots to fish on the river. As for why I would like the restriction..its just something I would like to see. I would also like to see the “tuna boats” banned, and jet skiis severly fined for infractions, but none of it will probably happen. Yes, enforcement of existing laws would be the best solution, but when I turned in a jet ski for “spraying” me while I was anchored fishing (a blatent violation of staying a 100 ft away) I was told that nothing could be done unless the warden witnessed it. Even if I had video tape of it…best I could do would be to use it to sue them in small claims court cause the warden could not use the tape.
Yes, this also stems from my “sour grapes” of being nearly run over by too many mega motor boats..Wish I lived closer to nirvana where some of you guys are. I have no doubt none of you on this forum would be guilty of it, but if I see 200 bass boats or walleye rigs with the 100+ hp motors blow by me and 101 of them are inconsiderate azz holes…then I have a majority to base an opinion on.
Who pissed in your coffee Fishaholik? Just kidding. You’re right that boats coming out of a lock do go like hell for awhile till they get spread out, side by side, etc. But thats the main channel. Should we ban barges too cause they take up the whole darn channel and throw a good roller when loaded headed up stream?
Ya there is umteen million spots to fish on the river. And there are some that are a hundred times better than another, in fact so good the tourney can be won off them. And the fact is, usually there is more than one team that knows about them or it depending on circumstance. So maybe you haven’t been beaten to a “spot” but I have and it sucks when you go and weigh in and the guy that beat you there is weighing a good sack off what you had practiced too.
Anyways, not a big deal to argue about, just my opinion. You have your point, which I respect and I have mine. Later.
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