Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Knowing that the max speed on inland lakes is 55 is it worth getting a 200HP outboard if I cannot legally use it. Don't want to be disqualified for not follow the Michigan rules?

But on Lake St. Clair and any other great lakes waters you can go as fast as you want.  Plus... unless you get a ticket I don't know any bass club that will DQ you for going fast.  How would they prove it anyway, no one I know owns a radar gun (well that's not true but those guys run over 100 mph in their go fast boats!!).

Go big or go home!  You'll also find that the 200 will get you on plane a lot easier than a lesser HP motor, especially with full livewells.  No one ever wishes they had less HP.

Also, just because you CAN go faster than 55 MPH doesn't mean you have to, but it's nice knowing that you can.  I rarely go over 40 in my boat because the gas monster is thirsty, but sometimes it's fun to go 60+.  Some guys on this board go 80+ and that's a different kind of fun.

Every Sheriff boat has a radar gun. I was even told by a local sheriff(west side of the state) that they are stepping up checks because of the easy prey boaters are.

I honestly think you're making an issue out of something that has been a non-issue for anyone I know (and in my business I know a LOT of boaters, literally thousands).  Not one of the Kent County boats has a radar gun.  Those guys are in my store all the time and I know most of them well.

Radar guns don't work well if a boat is rocking up and down and moving with the waves.  Unreliable at best.  They need to be fairly stationary to work well on the water.  In fact, they will often read the wave tops.  Now laser... that's a different story.

I wouldn't put it past the LEO's on Hardy Pond to have a radar gun though since that seems to be a place where guys like to bring their go-fast boats.  Plus, I do not know a single bass fisherman who has ever even been approached by a LEO about speed.  On a lake like Wabasis that has a 35 mph speed limit at all times it's pretty easy to tell if someone is speeding, and Kent County patrols it on a daily basis.  But I do not believe they have every actually issued a speeding ticket out there, at least none of the officers have ever told me about writing one.