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Old August 18th, 2009, 01:20 AM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.bass
RichZ
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Posts: 191
Default fighting over docks?

BIG FISH 2006 wrote:
Has anyone here ever had a verbal fight with a land owner over fishing
around their dock? The last two times out my partner and I have got into
verbals with landowners, yesterday I thought I was going to have to
fight my way off the lake. What are the laws about fishing distance from
a dock? should I report them to the DNR or Police. I'm in MIchigan




On C'wood, there's a guy who has lawn sprinkler set up on the end of his
dock, with a motion sensor to trigger it. Get within about 20 yards of
the dock, and the sprinkler goes on and soaks you. It ain't bad this
time of year.G

But our big problem is the increasing # of fools who rope off "private
swimming areas" the length of their waterfront, 50 to 100 feet out into
the lake. A few years ago, I was inside such an area (cold, rainy day in
late September, water temp in the low 60s) and the guy comes out and
starts screaming at me. I told him I was only in so tight trying to find
the permit number on the marker buoys. He started stammering and I knew
it had never occurred to him he might need a permit for them. I pulled
the whole permit thing out of my butthole, because I had no idea either,
but I could tell he didn't have a a clue, and wouldn't call my bluff.
Turns out that on C'wood, you need TWO permits to mark off a private
swimming area. One from the power company that owns the lake, and the
other from the DEP, boating division. The latter requires the permit
number to be displayed in 3" block letters on every buoy.

Since I've never seen a private swimming area with the numbers displayed
on the buoys, I now just fish the swimming areas, and when the idiots
come out and threaten to call the lake authority, police, DEP, or
whomever (I even heard of one threatening to call the EPA recently), I
offer to make the call for them, and turn them in for an illegally
marked off swimming area.