Lake Macbride should have no-wake rule

Can anybody give local fishermen one legitimate reason why Lake Macbride continues to have an unfair 9.9 maximum horsepower regulation instead of a year-round “no wake” regulation? Excuse the cliche, but even a caveman knows that a boat powered by a 9.9 horsepower motor is capable of generating much more wake and resulting shore erosion than a 260 horsepower motor running at “no wake” speed.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars during the past several years improving the fishing quality at Lake Macbride, yet the vast majority of boat-owning fishermen in nearby counties are not allowed to fish the lake during the summer.

Lake Macbride is much larger than overfished and under-maintained Pleasant Creek outside Palo, yet Pleasant Creek has the more popular and fairer “no wake” rule. It appears to me that it's time for someone to seriously take up the cause on behalf of all local fishermen and get the Macbride rules changed.

Mike Schlegel

Cedar Rapids