Any game wardens/lawyers in the house?

[Wingnutt]

Im an avid outdoorsman, I hunt, fish, kayak, hike.. etc etc you get the picture..

My main "stomping ground" is the guadalupe river, I kayak down and fish in it quite a bit.

Often I take a folding chair with me on my kayak, and when I find a good spot, I pull up on the bank and fish from the bank.

I have never had any issues with this in terms of "tresspassing" as I have always been taught that private property on the banks of a river, do not include the river bed..

sooo..

what is the boundary line between the private property and the rive bed?

according to TPWS:

The boundary line is a gradient of the flowing water in the river. It is located midway between the lower level of the flowing water that just reaches the cut bank, and the higher level of it that just does not overtop the cut bank.


Now I never got a ruler and tried to mince words, Ive just always stayed RIGHT AT the waters edge.. I.E. within 2 feet of the water.. and have never had a problem..

well today some old guy perhaps in his mid 80s came blundering down off a bluff down to where I was fishing, and told me I was tresspassing..  He wasnt overly rude, and despite feeling I was in the right, I agreed to leave.

I would like to locate a black and white copy of the legal info regarding this, I plan to laminate it and keep it on my kayak, that way If I ever have this issue again, I can show the person the LEGAL defination of what and what is not "theirs"

[Wingnutt]

oh yea:



before I was so RUDELY interrupted..

Gave it away to some folks fishing under the bridge where I put in.

[rogwar]

You were not tresspassing. Should have asked him nicely to please call the sheriff or game warden. The game warden could actually cite him for bothering you fishing. However, you probably did the right thing by moving on...you would not want to be dead right.

Post your question in the Open Water section at www.texasfishingforum.com

This has been discussed before.

Forum attorneys of the AH BB might not be of much help because Texas can be a little in terms of land law and such.

Or call your local game warden and ask him.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/warden/find_warden/

Check the bottom one out...

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/boat/paddlingtrails/faq/

[maddafinga]

Hey, mostly off topic but when I was a kid we used to go to New Braunfels in the summer and float the Guadalupe in innertubes.  They had some man made rapids that was fun, and the general beauty of the river was great.  I don't know what part of it you kayak on but the part of it that I knew as a kid was wonderful. 

My home river was the Brazos, and absolutely no way would I float that thing in an innertube, or swim in it either for that matter. 

Thanks for bringing up a nice memory for me!

Also, nice catfish.

[Wingnutt]

Hey, mostly off topic but when I was a kid we used to go to New Braunfels in the summer and float the Guadalupe in innertubes.  They had some man made rapids that was fun, and the general beauty of the river was great.  I don't know what part of it you kayak on but the part of it that I knew as a kid was wonderful. 

My home river was the Brazos, and absolutely no way would I float that thing in an innertube, or swim in it either for that matter. 

Thanks for bringing up a nice memory for me!

Also, nice catfish.

the river is not as clear down here as it is up there, but the fishing is pretty decent.

the spot in the picture is near the warm water discharge of a power plant, I actually fish for alligator gar there, not catfish, I just happened to catch the cat today (nice little bonus)  2 weekends ago I latched on to something.. hopefully a gar, I hate to think it was a cat and I lost it..  at any rate I use a Shimano TLD15 with 50 pound braided line, and... whatever.. I hooked pulled around 200 yards of line off before I set the drag so tight and mashed my thumb so hard on the spool that I broke the line..   I could feel the massive pulsing of "its" tail through the line, and it never slowed down, the tighter I set the drag, the faster it stripped line off.   

Ive caught several gar in the 6 foot range there, they put up a pretty massive fight, but nothing like this..  this was a tremendous fish whatever it was.

Tomorrow Im trying a different spot I just found (I search for fishing spots with Google Earth LOL) 



Oh yea, I did call the local game warden, he stated to me, that the propertly line/river bed is 1/2 the height of the "cut" of the river..  I.E. from the top of the bank in feet from the current water leve, divided by 2, there is a VERY steep bank where I was fishing so that number is probably around 7ft, so according to "the man"  I was well within my rights to be there. 

I will probably call the people tommorrow, and talk to them a bit and get their "ok" to fish there, even though I could without it I prefer to make friends, not enemies whenever possible.   if they say no, and give me a bunch of crap,  well I will just sit in the kayak 3 feet off the bank and they can kiss my ass.

[morfiend]

I will probably call the people tommorrow, and talk to them a bit and get their "ok" to fish there, even though I could without it I prefer to make friends, not enemies whenever possible.   if they say no, and give me a bunch of crap,  well I will just sit in the kayak 3 feet off the bank and they can kiss my ass.

 A little common courtesy goes a long way!  I've had access to private lands many times by simply asking the landowner if he'd mind me fishing the river on his stretch of land.Bring out any garbage you might find and you'll quickly find most land owners will not only let you fish but even tell you some good spots.

[Shuffler]

I too love to kayak the guadalupe. I have only fished there when camping. There are a lot of rules fishing that river as to what lure types you can use. Many sections you can't fish with live or dead bait.

I'll be up there 4th of july weekend. Kayaking between the tubes. Will be interesting to see what kind of effect the newer laws on liquor have on the crowd. We rented a house on the river... usually we pull the 32 footer up there.


Dagger Charleston

[CAP1]

Im an avid outdoorsman, I hunt, fish, kayak, hike.. etc etc you get the picture..

My main "stomping ground" is the guadalupe river, I kayak down and fish in it quite a bit.

Often I take a folding chair with me on my kayak, and when I find a good spot, I pull up on the bank and fish from the bank.

I have never had any issues with this in terms of "tresspassing" as I have always been taught that private property on the banks of a river, do not include the river bed..

sooo..

what is the boundary line between the private property and the rive bed?

according to TPWS:

The boundary line is a gradient of the flowing water in the river. It is located midway between the lower level of the flowing water that just reaches the cut bank, and the higher level of it that just does not overtop the cut bank.


Now I never got a ruler and tried to mince words, Ive just always stayed RIGHT AT the waters edge.. I.E. within 2 feet of the water.. and have never had a problem..

well today some old guy perhaps in his mid 80s came blundering down off a bluff down to where I was fishing, and told me I was tresspassing..  He wasnt overly rude, and despite feeling I was in the right, I agreed to leave.

I would like to locate a black and white copy of the legal info regarding this, I plan to laminate it and keep it on my kayak, that way If I ever have this issue again, I can show the person the LEGAL defination of what and what is not "theirs"

i don't know how it is in other places, but i live on a small lake in new jersey. my deed reads "to the high water mark, be that what it may" concerning the rear property line.

 so at least in that instance, i know my property goes right to the waters edge.

[ink]

the river is not as clear down here as it is up there, but the fishing is pretty decent.

the spot in the picture is near the warm water discharge of a power plant, I actually fish for alligator gar there, not catfish, I just happened to catch the cat today (nice little bonus)  2 weekends ago I latched on to something.. hopefully a gar, I hate to think it was a cat and I lost it..  at any rate I use a Shimano TLD15 with 50 pound braided line, and... whatever.. I hooked pulled around 200 yards of line off before I set the drag so tight and mashed my thumb so hard on the spool that I broke the line..   I could feel the massive pulsing of "its" tail through the line, and it never slowed down, the tighter I set the drag, the faster it stripped line off.   

Ive caught several gar in the 6 foot range there, they put up a pretty massive fight, but nothing like this..  this was a tremendous fish whatever it was.

Tomorrow Im trying a different spot I just found (I search for fishing spots with Google Earth LOL) 



Oh yea, I did call the local game warden, he stated to me, that the propertly line/river bed is 1/2 the height of the "cut" of the river..  I.E. from the top of the bank in feet from the current water leve, divided by 2, there is a VERY steep bank where I was fishing so that number is probably around 7ft, so according to "the man"  I was well within my rights to be there. 

I will probably call the people tommorrow, and talk to them a bit and get their "ok" to fish there, even though I could without it I prefer to make friends, not enemies whenever possible.   if they say no, and give me a bunch of crap,  well I will just sit in the kayak 3 feet off the bank and they can kiss my ass.

LOL I used to own "alligator Gars"   awesome fish, and if you have caught only 6 foot range, keep at it they get over 10 feet long. imagine what kind of fight a 10 footer would put up  Woooo-hoooo.

[Terror]

i don't know how it is in other places, but i live on a small lake in new jersey. my deed reads "to the high water mark, be that what it may" concerning the rear property line.

 so at least in that instance, i know my property goes right to the waters edge.

The way I read that, it's not to the waters edge, but to the "high water mark".  Which, to me, would mean that there is a "grey" region along the waters edge that is part of the lake....

T

[RATTFINK]

The problem was that you ran into a grumpy old guy.  He didn't have a gun with him did he?

I plan on canoing the guadalupe one day.

I like your idea of a laminated copy of the laws.

[CAP1]

The way I read that, it's not to the waters edge, but to the "high water mark".  Which, to me, would mean that there is a "grey" region along the waters edge that is part of the lake....

T

WELL..either way.....this lake is drying up. the border between lindenwold, and laurel springs is in the middle of the lake. it NEEDS to be dredged......but these two towns are too busy fighting over who's gonna pay for it. so it's ggoing away. the house i own now, is the house i grew up in. when i was a teenager, i could take my rowboat out in it, and it was deepe nough right out back, to put an oar all the way in the water vertically, and it wouldn't touch bottom. it is now less than 5 feet deep behind my house. the waterline has receded over 6 feet in the last 10 years.
 so in essence, i've gained 6 feet so far, as there are no watermarks anymore that are more than a few inches from the edge of the water.

[kamori]

I Live in Montana. It is very clear in this state that No One owns the water ways. With that said we (the public) have the ability to travel ANY waterway, provided we get access for example along a bridge or other public access routes. Once you are at the creek, river, lake..we have the right to be on dry land as long as it is no higher than the High water mark. I have been on many rivers and creeks..This is as plain as day to identify. Im sure your state has a similar rule.

KAM