ARTICLES

Public Access - A Quick Article On An Issue That Affects Us All
Article by Matt Grady
Added on February 14, 2008

Posted Sign

It's happened to most of us. You get down to a launch or fishing spot that you fished in years past and you're greeted by a new gate and a dozen signs like the one pictured above. It happens mostly on smaller ponds that don't have any real public access but it CAN happen anywhere. Private spots that might have been nothing more than one spot to park a truck and launch a small boat, still gave you access to the pond. Landowners never seemed to mind that the fisherman used it as long as they kept it clean. Most fishermen know a handful of these spots. I could probably name a few dozen.

Its no secret that our area is being rapidly developed. Property values are high and people are either building houses on every available piece of land or tacking up posted signs. I attribute most of the problem to over-development and over-population.

Lake associations made up of waterfront property owners are forming on ponds as small as 40 to 50 acres in size. Unfortunately, the emerging trend in the last few years is for these associations to close down every available access point in order to keep their lake/pond private. Not only that but if they can't close down the access they'll try to regulate the fishermen to death with regulations on everything from fishing hours to how many spots we can use on the boat ramp. Over the last few years I've been approached and harassed by lakefront property owners countless times. I'm going to write about an encounter that took place on New Year's Day this year. I think there's a pretty good lesson in it.

The Scene: New Year's Day on small pond on the Cape. My friend Brian and I got down to the pond around 11am and launched my 17-foot Tracker on a small dirt ramp. The spot was nothing more than a small dirt spot big enough to park MAYBE 3 trucks. The pond was about 60 acres and access is less than ideal. I have fished this pond once before with my Jon boat but never with my Tracker. With the pond being only 60 acres I kept my gas motor trimmed up as there was no need for a gas motor on such a small lake.

I parked my truck and got about 50 yards off the ramp and I heard a door slam at the house closest to the ramp. I saw a guy come out onto his porch and he yelled, "There are no gas engines allowed on this lake, you cannot use that boat here". I politely told him that I had no intentions of using my gas motor and we would only use the trolling motor. He then yelled, "It doesn't matter, you can't even have a gas motor on your boat. You either get that boat off this lake or I'm calling the cops and the Game Warden". My response to him was, "Go right ahead, we're not going anywhere". At this point I was getting pissed. I had just drove an hour to get here and all we wanted to do was fish and now we had to deal with all this bullshit. So I got out my cell phone and called the cops and then the Game Warden. The Game Warden informed me that we were 100% legal and that the gas motor restriction on that lake was only good for summer months (even if it wasn't we were still legal because we had it trimmed out of the water) and that "you could be out there with a 200HP outboard doing doughnuts in front of that guy's house if you wanted to". He also told us that he would pay the guy a visit and I gave him directions to his house. Meanwhile, we went up to the other end of the pond and went fishing. About an hour later the Game Warden called me back on my cell phone to tell me that he and a town police officer had gone to the guy's house to physically hand him a copy of the town regulations that said we were legal and that we COULD in fact use our gas motor if we wanted to. They also handed him a copy of the fisherman/hunter harassment law that states "no person shall: block, follow, impede or otherwise harass another who is engaged in the lawful taking of fish or wildlife". After the guy stopped whining they informed him that if he so much as yelled at us again they would be back to "drag him off to jail". I was very impressed with the level of cooperation we received from the officers and I expressed my gratitude. He informed me that they have been receiving more and more calls similar to this in the last couple years and they want to get the word out that just because these people own waterfront property doesn't mean they own the pond. I thanked him again and we went back to fishing.

The reason I'm writing this piece is to make readers aware of the following. If I had not questioned the guy, if I had believed the line of bullshit he was handing me and put my boat back on the trailer and left he would have won and I would have lost a great fishing spot. I'd bet if he spews his BS regulations to eight fisherman at least six of them will just leave and not question the man. Now if that happens he is creating a private pond for himself and the pond association and we as fishermen lose the access.

The answer to this problem is to be educated and question these people whenever you are confronted like we were in the above situation. Print out the fisherman harassment law and carry it with you. Don't be afraid to call the authorities if you feel you're in the right and don't let these people push you around. The worst that can happen is that you find out you're wrong and you'll be told to leave. At least you'll know that its the truth and not a fabricated regulation made up by a waterfront property owner in an effort to make a public pond private.

I'll wrap things up by saying that, unfortunately, I feel that problems like these will be more common in the future. With more people and less land in our area, problems like these will continue to effect fishermen and hunters as well. Be educated, be legal and call the authorities to find out the truth.



Back to main Articles page

Site Map  l  Terms of Use