Dock fishing upsetting owners

[LightningBG]

you can legally walk on the dock/raft. You could fish from it even not that I would. You could pull up on the beach and go for a swim.

You cant actually pull up on the beach. That would be trespassing.

I agree with everything Larson15 said.

[Ufatz]

I would be real careful about advising people to walk on, crawl on or trespass on private property.

If you are professionally familiar with MN statutes regarding trespass and private property you might advise your clients as you wish. Then you can also defend them in court.

Of course, if they are found walking around on the wrong guys swim float or dock you may have to work with your client while he/she recovers in the nearest hospital!

Careful.

[crappiegetter]

I can't remember what year the rule changed but it used to be in an emergency you could pull ashore or to a dock to fix something or needed help. Now in the rule book it states that going ashore on private property is trespassing, and confirmed by a DNR officer to me when I asked, a dock is an extension of private property as well. I wouldn't advise people to trespass.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Man, I thought this post would get ugly, its been pretty tame.. People have opinions, yet have keep it civil.. very cool.

I used to be one of the biggest dock rats on the plant.. as many have said.. Do what you can to get your lure out if you get hung up.. Nobody wants to step on a hook...

Here is my take. We are all anglers.. As others have said, its all about respect.. There are bad shore owners, there are bad anglers..

I live my life(I hope) as a guy whom when I pass people say.. "that Deitz guy.. he was a good dude." Have I made mistakes, for sure.. .have I made people mad.. You bet.. And I am sorry.. but when it all comes down to it.. I do my best to make sure other people are happy...

Since we are telling stories.. I may have told this before, but its worth telling again.. I was fishing a tournament on N/S Center, not a whole lot of time left and needed one more decent fish. Was fishing a dock where we had caught a decent fish earlier in the night.. 5 mins to go till check in.. I skip under a dock and get bit......... NET!!!!!!! Partner comes running from the back of the boat and grabs the net, (which was tangled in a Cumara/Stradic combo).. fish comes near boat, Rod/Reel goes over board.. I lift my rod to scoop fish and lean to catch the one falling overboard. If you know me, I aint light, I aing going to admit that I am FAT on hso, but pushing it.. buddie netted the fish, but I had WAAAAY to much weight on the wrong side of the gunnels. Landed head first into 2 feet of water.. FACE PLANT... A lady, whom I would probably guess as 70 years old comes running out of her house.. Asks very nicely " are you o.k.?".. Which I was.. I say yup(sand in my hair, sore back from the face plant, and now cold(fall tournament)... Once I said, "yes" this nice ole lady falls on the ground and starts laughing. To the point I almost thought we had to beach it to help her..She starts saying she wish the camera was rolling as it was the funniest thing she had ever seen..

To make matters worse.. I think I got 2nd in the event.. Thanks Bullwinkle(HSO memeber) Who risked boat damage to win.. Deserved..

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ok, that was a long post.. my worst dock exp was on Tonka. I had a guy shoot at me with a bb gun.. he was not a happy dude. We shared words. I lost.. I left..

[crappiegetter]

I had a guy shoot at me with a bb gun.. he was not a happy dude.

I have heard of homeowners doing this before, now I keep a CO2 handgun in the boat to target shoot with them if I ever get the chance. Don't find It much fair not getting to have fun with them!!!

[RumRiverRat]

I have heard of homeowners doing this before, now I keep a CO2 handgun in the boat to target shoot with them if I ever get the chance. Don't find It much fair not getting to have fun with them!!!

That does not sound very smart.

[RumRiverRat]

Quote:

Pardon Me Myth!

Who Owns the Lake Bed?

By Dave Milles

Nature is fickle! Last year at this time some of you were wondering how to get the lake

out of your living room. This year you may be planning a Labor Day barbecue on the thirty feet

of dry lakebed in front of your cabin. The question is, when you’re grilling “name-brand Brats”

on the lakebed, can you exclude the general public and your neighbors from your party? The

issue of who owns the lakebed has placed the Division of Waters in the middle of neighborhood

disputes more than once in the past.

Lake levels and the weather have a

lot more in common than simple cause and

effect. You’ve heard the old adage

“everybody talks about the weather, but

nobody does anything about it”. Well, in

Minnesota “everybody talks about water

levels, but everybody knows everything

about it”. In fact, many Minnesotans have

collectively assembled this knowledge and

created their own water law mythology.

One of the best- known myths holds that the

State owns a definable strip of land

(commonly accepted to be 10 feet wide)

around every lake and along every stream.

Another mythical law says that the State owns all the land under all of the lakes. Consequently,

when a lake level drops, the exposed bed is public land available for use by anyone. Pardon me

myth, but these things just aren’t true!

Who owns the land under Minnesota’s lakes and what rights, if any, does the general

public have to use the dry beds or shorelines of our lakes? As with most “legal” questions, there

is no simple answer. A very general “rule of thumb” is that the shoreline property owner’s rights

follow the water level up and down. In other words, the public normally has no right to use the

shoreline or dry lake bed unless the adjoining shoreline is already in public ownership (i.e. the

shoreline is already part of a public park, beach area, access site, etc.). This does not mean that a

landowner can fill, grade, build structures and otherwise alter the topography of his dry lakebed.

This type of activity is strictly regulated through the Division of Waters permit program.

Naturally, there are a few exceptions to this “rule of thumb”, but it works 99 percent of the time.

For the purist who wants to know what happens the remaining one percent of time, the

answer gets a bit more technical. First, we have to distinguish between three “legal” categories

“One of the best known myths holds that the State owns a definable strip of land (commonly

accepted to be10 feet wide) around every lake and along every stream… Pardon me myth, but

these things just aren’t true!”

PDF compression, OCR, web-optimization with CVISION's PdfCompressor

of water. These are: 1) “navigable” lakes and streams, 2) “meandered” lakes and streams and

3) “non-meandered” lakes and streams.

“Navigable” waters are those lakes and streams that were used (or were susceptible of

being used) as highways for commerce at the time Minnesota became a state. This is often times

referred to as “the federal test of navigability.” These highways of commerce included most of

our major rivers (the Mississippi, Minnesota, Rainy, Red River of the North, St. Croix, St. Louis,

etc.) and many of our large lakes (Superior, Leech, Cass, Mille Lacs, etc.). Navigability of a

water body has usually been determined by the courts by applying the federal test. The United

States Army Corps of Engineers has several publications available which show most, but not all,

of our navigable waters on a map. Surprisingly, very few of our 11,842 lakes and 5,564 streams

are considered “navigable” waters. This does not rule out the possibility that a water body now

considered to be “not navigable” could in the future be determined to be navigable.

When Minnesota became a state in 1858 the federal government gave the ownership of

the beds of all “Navigable” waters to the State. In particular, the State of Minnesota owns the

bed of all navigable waters below a point called the “natural ordinary low water level”. In

most cases, a detailed survey would be needed to establish this level. However, it is clear that if

Lake Superior (or any other “navigable” water) were to completely dry up, the land under the

lake would be public property.

“Meandered” waters are the lakes and streams that were surveyed and plotted

(meandered) on the original Government Land Office surveys of Minnesota. These surveys were

done primarily in the mid 1800’s. There are 5,480 “meandered” lakes shown on these surveys.

The lands surrounding these “meandered” lakes and streams may be in private or public

ownership. However, the land inside the “meander line” of the lake or stream (the boundary

shown on the original survey) has not been assigned to a particular owner. Consequently, the

lake bed is jointly owned by all of the landowners surrounding the lake. If a lake has been

drained or goes dry permanently, the owners may go to court to subdivide the land within the

meander line and show the portion they own on their deeds. In the past, this process has led to

some interesting property boundary configurations. All the remaining lakes and streams (those

that are not “Navigable” or “Meandered “) are considered “Non-meandered” waters. Since

these waters were not surveyed in the mid 1800’s they did not show up on the Government Land

Office’s maps. The land under these lakes and streams belongs to whomever holds the deed(s)

to the lands that surround them. In fact, many people who own the beds of non-meandered lakes

pay nominal property taxes on their lake beds. Since they have always held title to the land under

the lake, there is no question as to their ownership if the lake dries up.

Keep in mind that most of our lakes and streams are not “meandered” or “navigable”

waters. Consequently, whoever owns the shoreline also owns the land under the water. While a

boater may run watercraft over the entire surface of the water body, when the bed is dry…keep

off. Sorry myth, but that’s the way it is!

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[MinnesnowtaWild]

I fish Tonka and I mind my own business and don't get close to docks at all. I will fish out in front of peoples docks along weedlines and such but I will never throw a lure near someones dock. Maybe it is because I don't get off catching Bass...

If I lived on the lake I would definitely get irritated by people hitting my dock, boat, etc and causing potential damage. Can you blame these people? Again, maybe it comes back to the fact that 90% of Bass fisherman annoy me beyond belief.

Also, I would highly advise AGAINST bringing a BB gun out in your boat for the purpose of firing back at angry land owners. Not a good idea, at all.

[thatoneguy]

You know 90% of bass fishermen? Whoa...you must have a bajillion friends on Facebook.

[RumRiverRat]

Can you blame these people? Again, maybe it comes back to the fact that 90% of Bass fisherman annoy me beyond belief.

You cannot be serious?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[CAMAN]

maybe it comes back to the fact that 90% of Bass fisherman annoy me beyond belief.

Then why are you coming in the BASS forum?

You'll save yourself a lot of headaches in life if you just ignore the people who annoy you....

But a little birdy in my ear thinks there's something more to that comment....

[Basschaser]

Ripped boat seats and torn boat lift canopies comes with the territory of living on a lake and I can live with that. What bothers me is people going on my dock or into my boat to retrieve their 50 cent senko. It's a shame that something as simple as this would upset lake home owners but it does. Lake home owners are extremely vulnerable to property damage and theft. Over the past 20 years, I have lived on three lakes and have experienced theft on all three. Twice I have had my boats completely stripped down with nothing left in them or on them. I now take everything out of my boat when I come back to the dock which sort of defeats the purpose of purchasing a home on a lake. I am not blaming fisherman for my troubles but like it or not, there are a lot of fisherman out there that just don't care.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Sorry, didnt realize this thread was in the Bass section. Just saw it in the new posts. Just my observation from the many annoying encounters on Minnetonka.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I would never leave my elections or equipment on my boat in my driveway. Why should I feel bad that someone had stuff stolen from a docked boat? Common sense, you got to keep people honest yourself these days, it's the world we live

I think it's been made obvious we try our best to respect lake shore property but we have a right to fish it.

[LightningBG]

I would never leave my elections or equipment on my boat in my driveway. Why should I feel bad that someone had stuff stolen from a docked boat? Common sense, you got to keep people honest yourself these days, it's the world we live

I think it's been made obvious we try our best to respect lake shore property but we have a right to fish it.

You should feel bad when anyone gets anything stolen from anywhere, dock or driveway. Not to say that common sense shouldn't play a role for the owner. But its not exactly feasible to pull the engine off your boat every time you come in for dinner.

Right to fish doesn't equal right to damage property. Just try to keep the lures in the water and not in the boats and everyone (almost) will be happy.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

youre right, I shouldn't have said that, it does stink to hear about theft, I've been on the receiving end too. But really you got to expect its gonna happen leaving valuables out with easy access.

Trust me we try our hardest to keep our lures in the water where the fish are.

I think walleye or cat guys need to ask thselves, if docks were a very viable piece of cover would you pass them up?

[Friar_Tuck]

i don't understand why someone would get upset over fisherman only going on whomever's dock to unsnag and retrieve a lure etc? one thats simply caught on the dock and not talking about being snagged in a canopy or boat seat.

what could a person possibly do via standing on someones dock for X amount of seconds to get his lure? is it a neanderthal ego thing that this is "MY DOCK" and i am "MAN" as he beats his chest? lol

also what damage does a lure do to a wooden, metal or composite dock when it gets hit besides make noise?

i wouldn't have any issues if it were my dock and folks did that. rather that than stepping on that unforeseen hook as mentioned previously...

[LightningBG]

also what damage does a lure do to a wooden, metal or composite dock when it gets hit besides make noise?

I wouldn't be upset if someone crawled on my dock to get a hook.

Wood and metal probably wouldn't sustain much damage at all. Composite gets dinged up pretty easy. Just built a composite deck and I'm not too impressed with the scratch resistance. I think the biggest concern is dinging fiberglass boats.

[Aaron Carrell]

After reading this thread, hearing some of the stories and knowing some of my own personal experience with homeowners, I'd have to say that if I ever lived on a lake and had a dock in the water I would make a fun little permanent sign/plaque to put out on the end of my dock. It would probably say something to at least get the fisherman to laugh and appreciate the sign; something like: "I hope you catch a monster under my dock, but please do everything you can to remove any hooks if you happen to catch the large, wooden one instead!"

I honestly think of these situations alot like the old "_OOL : Notice there is no P in our pool. Please keep it that way!" sign. Just respect the property, but if something happens, clean your mess up!

[crappiegetter]

That does not sound very smart.

Probably not smart but its unloaded and cased so im legal.Besides why should any fisherman be shot at bb gun or not while they are trying to get in an evening of relaxing fishing.

[walleye365]

Shot at with a bb gun really that could of got the shooter prison time and just because someone was fishing his dock now thats not very smart. I mean theres 100s of what if's that could of went with that and the water patrol would of got a call. That would of been funny to see when they come walking up his dock think he would of shot at them.

[RumRiverRat]

Probably not smart but its unloaded and cased so im legal.Besides why should any fisherman be shot at bb gun or not while they are trying to get in an evening of relaxing fishing.

So what is the point of having it in the boat?

If this actually happened a phone call to 911 and the problem would have been solved.

Instead you choose have a CO2 pistol unloaded in a case in your boat, makes perfect sense to me.

[Hester]

Yes, seams very odd. I be the one to call [PoorWordUsage] on that one.

[gritsnham]

Getting a little confused from the various post now...what is the rule for going onto someones dock to retrieve a lure and instantly exiting after that? Is that considered trespassing?