Interesting question on Walleyes & regulation laws

[fisherman-andy]

P.S. I also posted this in the Walleye section also but posted here too due to larger audience & feedback.

If you own a body of water surrounded by & on your own private property does the DNR regulations & state laws still dictate it?

Also if the Walleyes cannot reproduce & spawn in a certain body of water why isn't it not continuous open season in public or private waters?

[jimd]

You still have to abide by all laws and regulations. My grandpa has a small pond in Wisconsin and he had to buy a yearly permit to have anyone fish it that he wanted to. No license needed. Then, if you stock it, you can keep as many as you want (not recommended). The DNR will come out to make sure it is on your land and not to another river or pond.

[fisherman-andy]

I am aware you need a either a private or commercial license for your own private body of water. And that a state fishing license is not needed to fish it.

But how private can the lake be if there is no public access by ground? This may sound out of the question but not entirely impossible but for instance can person fly in and drop a canoe or boat on your lake or pond? And is that person allowed to angle fish or keep fish legally without your consent as long as they are not on your water bottom? And can you argue that such an action is illegal and that it disturbs the ecological system & quality of the enclosed lake/pond waters.

[Bobb-o]

yes technically a person could fly in and be dropped onto your lake via helicopter. they can be anywhere on the lake including the lake bottom (they can stand in the lake as long as they are below the normal high water mark).

[fisherman-andy]

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(they can stand in the lake as long as they are below the normal high water mark).

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Explain?

[Bobb-o]

the normal high water mark is where the water normally meets the shore. this means that someone can walk in the water or near the water, if the water is really low without trespassing. We also had a CO tell us once that docks once put in the water became public property and you could tie up to anyone's dock, but i dont know if i would test this. But if the water is a foot low on your lake, someone can beach their boat and have lunch there legally.

[andrew chadwick]

I dont know about you guys but if I saw someone tied to my dock I think I would be pissed (unless they were having boat problems of course)

[John Mickish]

I have been told this as well about the dock. You can be pissed all you want but you have no legal action if all they do is tie up.

I used to work with a guy that had property right next to the public landing and people used his dock all the time, dispite the signs. He called the sheriff once and he told him not to own land next to the public landing.

[fisherman-andy]

You guys miss the point here, I meant if there is no public foot or road access to the body of water which entirely surrounded by a private land. So there is no public access or state owned public waters.

But anyhow I was under the idea that a water body's bottom is off limits & considered tresspassing no matter what as it is consider private land with no public access.

So if the private owner considers or rules out that boating is not permitted to their private body of water then what makes it legal for someone to fly in and drop a canoe and navigate their private waters or as to even angle game fish present without the consent of the owner?

[Bobb-o]

we have a private lake across the road from our public lake and one of the people who owns a cabin on the public lake always took his float plane up, over and landed it on the private lake to fish, that is until my family and a couple others just gave him permission to cross our property to save himself the hassle. One cranky old guy on the lake kept calling the CO aboot the plane but there was nothing the CO could do as he accessed the body of water legally although all property around the lake was private. So regardless of what you deem right with your waters, if someone really wants to get in there they can if they have a way to get onto the water without touching your property. All Water is considered public in minnesota, it is the land on the way to the lake that is under ownership, once you reach the normal high water mark, it is all public property.

[fisherman-andy]

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we have a private lake across the road from our public lake and one of the people who owns a cabin on the public lake always took his float plane up, over and landed it on the private lake to fish, that is until my family and a couple others just gave him permission to cross our property to save himself the hassle. One cranky old guy on the lake kept calling the CO aboot the plane but there was nothing the CO could do as he accessed the body of water legally although all property around the lake was private. So regardless of what you deem right with your waters, if someone really wants to get in there they can if they have a way to get onto the water without touching your property. All Water is considered public in minnesota, it is the land on the way to the lake that is under ownership, once you reach the normal high water mark, it is all public property.

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Here is some info I dug up: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/waters/watermgmt_section/pwpermits/water_law_questions_and_answers.pdf

and this: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakes/faqs.html

Anyhow this info doesn't really clarify if this would hold true also for a private artificial man made body of water? And what if the private water was deemed commercial licensed? Or private licensed?

The ordinary high water mark rule seems to only apply if you access the water legally through public access or navigable waters of a natural body of water. The term "incidental use" may be applied if the body of water is accessed legally by a person. But again how does this affect an artifical made private owned waters as to natural lakes & ponds?

So if you dug it, filled it, stocked it with life then why can't you govern it legally if given permission to do so? So say for instance that I can just fly by an air transport with a canoe in to let say one of them commercial trout ponds and take what I want without paying? How does this really affect the commerical & private permits?

Even so if one access a natural lake & pond by air via plane or copter what regulations or rules governs that one can do so over such? Are there permits or licensing required to even do so on the surface of this water? What about other problems such as noise pollution and unneccessarily landing for own pleasure & personal use? Or prevention of motorized transportation or watercraft on the surface of the water?

[lotsofish]

I don't think it's very clear. For example, this is from one of the links you posted:

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What are waters of the state?

Waters of the state are any surface waters or underground waters,.... This includes all lakes,

ponds, marshes, rivers, streams, ditches, springs, and waters from underground aquifers regardless of their size or

location.

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So that would make me think that yes, entering a man-made lake that is privately stocked is perfectly legal as long as you don't touch any private land to get there.

But... The law (103G.005 Subsection 15 (2)) says about defining public waters:

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waters of the state that have been finally determined to be public waters or navigable

waters by a court of competent jurisdiction;

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So if someone wanted to fly into your pond, they would have to have a court determine that it is navigable first?

It's not clear to me, but in reality, if you have a small pond that is entirely surrounded by your land, you probably won't have to worry about anyone dropping out of their buddy's helicopter, unless you happen to have some 20" crappies in there and you tell the whole world where to get em!

[bwtrout]

Private stocking is heavily regulated due to the fact that you can not guarantee what you have in your lake/pond will never contaminate another body of water near by. A flood or even a raptor could easily transplant a species from your lake/pond into a surrounding body of water.

[youngie22]

So am I reading there is no such thisg as a private dock if it is in the water??? Not really poosible to post any signs that say stay off dock are legal and you don't have to pay or be a patron of a business that has a dock to use it? Does this also mean some one can drop in my boat from above and fish w/ me and I can't legal make him leave??? We need some DNR answers here. Laws and statues that can be read and interpreted. What about swimming pools???? Any one can catapult themselves into my backyard just don't touch the pool floor right???

[fisherman-andy]

Most of the DNR state regulations & rules apply to only Natural lakes/ponds.

I contacted the DNR but didn't get any more clarification so don't go there. Upon doing some research the only way to really clarify what is legal & not is going to court with a lawyer and have a judge rule on the subject.

[Powerstroke]

The state owns the lakes/rivers etc. No 2 ways about that. Docks that exist in the lake, I'm not too sure about. I know that if you construct an improved (somehow paved) boat launch it becomes public. Its not meant to screw over the little guy, its meant to prevent every little guy from making their own boat launch and paving lakeshore.

Anyone can fish the lake as long as they can access it legally. Thats the short and sweet. If there is no other private access other than through your land than you only need to worry about the highly unlikely scenario of someone dropping out of the sky. If you are seriously worried about that then you may need to consult a shrink.

As far as man-made ponds, the problem becomes whether you will remove your pond when you move or if someone will be responsible for its care. Too many people make apond for the sake of having a pond but don't care for it. So there are rules being made every year to deal with this and trying to regulate how they are made and used.

Your best bet is to CALL the CO in your area and get a real answer. Any question you email to the DNR goes into their general customer service area and needs to be passed on to a CO anyway. If you call your local CO you will get a straight answer for all your questions and you can meet the person you will rely on for support if you do have a problem in the future.

[Black_Bay]

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P.S. I also posted this in the Walleye section also but posted here too due to larger audience & feedback.

If you own a body of water surrounded by & on your own private property does the DNR regulations & state laws still dictate it?

Also if the Walleyes cannot reproduce & spawn in a certain body of water why isn't it not continuous open season in public or private waters?

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To answer your original question, all state laws apply even if it's a man made pond.

The answer to your second question is because it would be an enforcement nightmare. The inland walleye season is closed from the last Sunday in February to the second Saturday in May.

[Capt. Quicksteel]

Hold it everybody. The guy was wrong about the private docks! There are laws governing size. If the dock is within those limits, the state grants the owner an easement to place the dock. The owner owns the dock and you can't tie up to it any more than you can tie up to some guys boat who is anchored out in the lake. The dock is the same as the boat. It's private property as long as it's being legally used. The confusion some dock owners have is the easement business. They don't own the water or lake bed under their docks and you can fish under or around the dock any time you want. If you're bouncing a jig off the windshield of their boat you're violating, if you're skipping a tube under the dock you're not. It's that simple....