Navitable water ways
 

What is you opinion on entering private marsh areas and getting ran out of them by land owners are people that lease the land? Is it right, do you leave when told to leave are tell them to call the law. Louisiana has strict tresspassing laws that take up for land owners you dont even have to post your land and you can be ticketed are arrested for tresspassing.

I agree 100% with our laws.

If you don't know don't go!! Cameron parish is really funny bout this...they not gonna play wit cha.

What is the exact law. Can you be in a marsh that's private but got there by boat. For instance black lake lodge. I know you can get there by boat but you will be run off. I have permission to fish there from Kurt but don't bc I don't want to be harassed by his guys.

No signs needed. I know if we catch anyone in our marsh, we are told to get boat numbers and report them.

the law kinda sucks as far as if your not on main river boundries can get confuseing but it also helps out if its you property since now you dont have to fight posted signs being torn down

Being I live on a private canal, off the main river.

When people get smart with me saying," Its a navigable water way and all that b.s."

I say run through those culverts full speed, you will hit 1 foot of water, and thats not navigable according to the law, so get off of my culverts. You can not safely navigate through the culverts, so they are private.

Boatdriver let's not get into another fight again, we are cool now. ;)

I grew up fishing in Grand Isle and only started fishing biglake three years ago. When my family and I decided to to buy land in the BigLake area I started booking trips with guides to learn the area. In a two year period I spent over 10K, I was serioius about learning how to fish the area and I still am.
A guide took me and my family to a spot on black lake that was very productive and he told me to go back to the spot anytime unless he was already there with a customer. I started fishing this spot off and on probably at least once a month. About a year and half ago I went back to this spot and a man on an airboat flew up to our boat nearly full throttle and almost knocked my then 3 year old and 6 year old boys in the water, my wife was terrified. The airboat had three grown men and I am sure all three were packing heat. They ordered me off of their land immediately and ran circles around my boat. I gladly moved, I had no idea I was on his land, the area I was in was a hugeseveral hundred yards flat.

Louisiana is one of if not the only state in country to have this law and no I do not agree with it. That being said, some people make honest mistakes and acting like a fool on the water being a tough guy v/s someone and their children is not the right way to do things.

Also fool I mean no disrespect to you but you need to be careful how you talk to people. While you may be a great fishermen and are well liked here, the fact is you are still a kid. You need to learn about treating people how you want to be treated and telling someone to "GTFO" would not be the way I would handle things especially when dealing with grown men and perhaps their family.

Before any of you start, I own a camp on a private canal, and various tracks of land and homes from Houston to Denham Springs. I do not care if someone fishing’s in "my" canal and if someone were on my land I would nicely ask them to leave. If they refused, then I would deal with it.

Heavens no I don't open up and say that lol. I'm good. Get cocky and don't listen, we will bring law in. Usually let my neighbor handle the dirty work. I'm a firm believer in treat others how you want to be treated. I've been screwed over quiet a bit in private marshes and don't plan to let up on anyone. I have a duck boat and a river boat on ramps locked up on my canal the last thing I want is some one back there messing with them.

I am glad to hear that, look if it is your land and the law is on your side then you have to protect it I have no problem with that. Someone making a mistake in their boat while trying to fish does not include malice.

It is a slippery slope, it starts with small little tracks of land and then before you know the oil company's decide they do not want people near their land/leases and then waterways we are all accustom to fishing like maybe Joe's cove are no longer accessible. I saw it happen in Golden Meadow.

grand isle is famous for this s#$^

If yall think this law is stupid. Go look at the sabine river laws.

Folks pay good money to lease land.....often there is waters on it.....you can get to my duck lease by water, does that mean you should be there?? NO!!!

We have a camp on a private canal and I agree with the law... The truth of the matter is most people dont care about people fishing on there canals as most people are respectful and just fish and leave but its the people who try and come and hunt or outlaw in peoples property that ruin it. Its sad but its how it is in life a few bad people ruin it for everyone out there.

I agree with this... I dont see how you can distinguish private water. Especially in a tidal area. If it was a lake with no water movement then it is surrounded by private land with no accessability but it not even the same water in a marsh that was there yesterday

X3. I agree with bob and kasey on this issue.

I tried to stay out of this one but....I rented an R/V lot on Bayou Lafourche for about eight years. We were a couple miles north of Bobby Lynns and there were about 3 little runouts across form our campground. One weekend (when I wasn't there) a friend let his kids age 12 and 9 years old troll across the bayou and fish in the canals to get away from the ever present crew boat/shrimp boat traffic in the Bayou. The so called land owners ran them out and told them "Don't come back, private". These guys also had a camp on the waterfront. Right after dark every weekend ,they came easing out of the same canal with no lights or running lights,threw their ice chest in the truck and hauled arse. I'm sure they were making some major meathauls on the redfish but would not allow kids to fish. I say if fish swim into a waterway, they belong to the taxpayers of Louisiana. If it's private dam it up, don't gate it. I will add this.We were close to some duck leases so during the season we would extend the courtesy of staying out of the ponds where we knew they were hunting. That's just common sense. There were other places to fish but during the summer,c'mon.

This is a major problem in the Lafourche area, several people I know no longer fish down there because of this. I suspect several people would change their position on this site if you could no longer fish areas in Turner's bay or behind the weirs. It happened in Lafourche, it can happen in big lake.

Another unintended consequence is there are people like me that are going to fish no matter what, if I had to buy a lease for my kids to fish then I would do it and would write that check and never look back. More buyers for leases (like me and my very wealthy neighbors in my camp area) would drive prices up for the rest of the people on this site that may struggle to pay their duck lease every year. Before long, guess what they can no longer afford their lease and they are looking for public places to hunt. I suspect many would change thier position on this law.

I kinda use this analogy on the 'gated' canals. If I high fenced my 50 acres in Miss. but left the gates open all summer and put out corn and sucked all my neighbors deer inside the fence and then come October closed and locked the gates, would that be legal or ethical, hell no.

If my canal was open without culverts, it would be public. But since you have to go under the road through 2 small culverts, its Private and will remain.

I know this is farfetched and hypothetical but still food for thought. Suppose someone goes through their gate on their 'private' pond and catches a tagged redfish, should he win the truck for the STAR tournament although I didn't have a shot at that redfish?

I think the answer is yes, he would.

I will agree with you Fool on your culverts and places like that, we have fished on the river side from a boat but but no one in their right mind would try to go through and in my mind that does make that a privet area but if you look at the cannal that goes to South Park Manor it is not blocked in any way but if someone decides to fish in it or even the one by the Cal. River bridge you can be run out or get in trouble and neither have anything to block you out.

[QUOTE=weedeater;305190]I will agree with you Fool on your culverts and places like that, we have fished on the river side from a boat but but no one in their right mind would try to go through and in my mind that does make that a privet area but if you look at the cannal that goes to South Park Manor it is not blocked in any way but if someone decides to fish in it or even the one by the Cal. River bridge you can be run out or get in trouble and neither have anything to block you out.[/QUOTE]
That's exactly what I'm saying, where do you draw the line? Huge 'gray area'..

[quote=Zachary Boy;305192]What it leads to is outlaw justice, both sides think they are right and both have a point. Technically the land owner is right since the law is on his side so they go try to protect what they think they need to protect. It is impossible for the authorities to police something like this so you end up with outlaw justice. Someone will get killed in the state of Louisiana over this in the near future, it is just a matter of time. Hopefully at that point the rest of the citizens will see just how one sided this law really is.

AMEN!!! This has been my mantra for years.

POSTED SIGNS!!!!!!! I don't care what the law says. Anyone complaining about trespassing and doesn't have their area posted is either lazy or just looking for something to complain about. I don't agree with all the gates on canals but a simple posted or no trespassing sign will give you every advantage when calling the law. They can't argue when the signs are there. In my opinion this law just caused more headache and grey area than it did help.

this topic has been beat to death on other forums...:beathorse::beathorse:

Well said, had I seen a posted sign that day with my kids I sure as hell would not have went onto someone's property. I still would not have agreed with the law but I would have respected the signs and the law.

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For the record Sulphite has a duck lease and would fall in line with the landowners. I'm glad the voters and lawmakers in his great home state of Alabama do not agree with him for the sake of Alabama anglers.

I knew I should have stayed away from this political 'hot potato':pissed:

thats right...I'll spit mah' tabbacy and point mah double barrell shotgun at cha' especially LSU Fans!!!! ;)

All I am saying is that this is a very hot topic and one that has so many variables that either party has a valid arguement.

Exactly. Its all about respect of peoples property. There are and allways will be people who don't and that will be a battle forever. Good law abiding sportsman like us are not the problem. (If signs are posted) I have a deer lease in Beauregard Parish and if I didn't have posted signs up we would have people everywhere. The signs keep it to a minimum. You will never keep out the true outlaws! I got the trail camera pics to prove it lol!

Agreed on the grey area created by the law. Before it was as cut and dry as it could be.

I usually don't say much on these things, but I think it all boils down to a huge lack of common sense and lack of true consideration for others. And like someone state earlier, these laws that are usually hard to truly interpret as black and white come about because a few lawbreaking houligans that think they have a right to anything and everything cause rediculous problems for the rest of us. Most of these people should probably already be in jail for some other law they broke anyway but were let off. I agree with the posted signs being up, but that has its problems too. In the basin there is a lake called Jackass Bay. I fished and hunted it when I was younger and went about 20 years before I went back last year. On the maps, it shows as a public state controlled area. On my way back there, along most of the canal, there were posted signs on both banks. As I got closer, some other group had put posted signs referencing the canal. After getting all the way through to the bay, the state had public signs all over the lake. After checking with the WL&F and the Sherriff's Dept. they said I was ok. We have a problem with many people putting up posted signs on land that is not even theirs.

def agree with u here man..i got ran out of the marsh a few weeks ago and had no idea i was in a private area....the dude was a total douche and cussed and screamed as if he caught me with his wife....he said " im tired of people being on my land" so i told him if he wants people to know it private just put some signs up and he replied that " under state law he didn't have to" so i was like then why the **** u complaining.....looks guys i dont agree with the law as far as fishing goes but if your going to run a guy out of "your" waters then does it really hurt to ask nicely especially if its the first time you catch that individual back there? I can understand yall pay a lot of money to lease the land and would gladly leave all yall have to do is show a lil courtesy and everyone else would do the same...thanks

I have a sore spot with this subject as well, this reply is off the hip, but I'll do a little more research and get back. I was told to leave the North end of Black Lake one day by a guy in a boat because I drifted past a PVC pipe in 4' of water, that marked his claimed boundary. I Didn't leave, told the guy I'd take my chances in court.

All the court interpretations I have read state that if a water way is subject to the ebb and flow of the tide and a boat can travel that water, that water is navigable, and is public, BUT if you stop and anchor you MAY become susceptible to trespassing laws depending on how deep the water may be at the time.

I could be very wrong but i dont think the north end of black lake is private....if it is i fish there all the time :p..lol...but i think the way the law works is the area has to be off of a man made channel or it can't be private

that was marcentel (sp?) hes done that to quite a few people, you could actually drift into his marsh when the levee was broke..now there is a nice big ol'levee

yea Louisiana is really f’ed up in this issue of privatized water bottoms.

Most landowners won't mess w u as long as it's not duck season from my experience. If no signs and ur not crossing a levee r man made canal I say fish it

Sam the same thing happened to Tracey and I in the exact same spot. I have done some reserach on this and the landowner is within his right to run us off. I don't like it any more than you do. Posted signs sure would make it easier.

Yep it had to be Marcentel, dude is jerk. He sure scared the hell out of my then 6 and 3 year old, nice job. He could have driven in slowley and explained the situation to us and I would have left without incident, nope, that is not how he rolls.

Problem with southeast La is that the places that are water now were once land, so even though its wide open water, it once was land and the 'land'owner still owns the land even though its water:help:I understand this, BUT put a posted sign and don't get mad at people making an honest mistake, however the law clearly states that 'land' does not have to be clearly posted anymore, this is where the confusion comes in.

Seeing more and more of this ownership of water happen in N La as well. Some of my favorite lakes to fish on the Oua****a River now have levees and a culvert blocking them from access. These were always accessible even at pool stage, and if I had enough money I would fight the issue. Basically the landowner that owns the land around the lake placed a levee and culvert and now has his own private fishing lake.:pissed: THIS is illegal

Fool - didn't you tell a story a week or so ago about you duckhunting an area that was not posted and getting ran off by the landowner?:shaking: You can't have it both ways man. You hunted an area that was not posted knowing it was private property, BUT when someone comes into 'your' canal, you get upset!:eek:

Yet some guides have no problem tieing up to our dock in West Cove or going down our private canal to fish the cuts. Cajun Phil even shot a tv show in there without our permission. But in 30 years we have never called the law and the only time we ask people to get off the dock is so we can fish.

Fish has to be caught in public water.

i live in lake charles is there a place i can obtain a map of these areas. im not familiar with the area and am fixen to have my own boat and would save me alot of confusion.mainly the calc river

He is right on with this statement young man(Fool). If you want others to be right, then you have to conduct yourself in the same manner.
Fool when was your canal dugout? Which land owner dug the canal? I have seen you also reference the culverts as 'our' culvert. Did the land/homeowners install the big culverts or did the parish/state install the culverts under SPFR?

Kinchen, I am of the same consideration and view point as you are on majority of this.