I'm in search of some private waters around Collin County. I'm willing to pay but all the stuff I found online shows that I have to pay a membership fee then a daily access fee. I would only use the waters 1-2 times a year so I really don't want to pay a yearly fee. Are there any places close by to Collin County that would let me just pay a fee to fish?

There is a soil conservation lake just south of 380 in Farmersville. Go south on Main St. and follow 648. I haven't been there in a long time so I can't tell you anything about water level.

Have you looked at this?
http://privatewaterfishing.com/

They have a trial fishing program that is reasonable

https://www.privatewaterfishing.com/trial_fishing

the daily fee seems a little steep! I get the initiation and annual fee, But another 50-80 bucks per day? Guess I need to see one of these places to understand
the pricing!

Hi Ben,

When you say steep, can you tell me a bit more? It is steep if you are comparing to public lakes; as they are generally free or a small launch fee. If you are comparing to other private lakes, I would be curious to learn more about it being steep.

Thanks!

I think what Ben is trying to say is there's a fee to join (annual) and then the fee to fish and depending how long or how many people the fee's keep going up. I totally understand that there's so much money that goes into managing even a single lake, but compared to public lakes, the wallet does take a hit.

My wallet is not fat enough to spend the kind of money to join annually nor would I use the privates lakes but a few times each year. That's why I asked the question of there were any private lakes that I could just pay a fee to fish per day instead of paying to becoming a member, then pay to fish each time I want to fish.

I have zero problems with have the private lakes are managed and the whole membership, just wanting to know if there was something else out there besides a private membership. I have the means to travel and even have my own paddle kayak so getting around the lake is not a problem. Me and a couple of friends are always looking for some nice bass fishing and private lakes are the best way to go. We are all not well off and have to watch what we spend.

Come with me on a trip [img:left][/img]

I sent you a PM Spring.

I am an owner

Of what?

Bank Bassin',

I'm pretty much in the same situation, and have no problem paying a fee to fish for the day that I'm out there, but I am not one of those who can foot the bill for an annual private lakes membership.

If you find something local (or within an hour or so driving distance), send me a PM.

Thanks sir!

Scott in Flower Mound

It's gonna be tough to find ponds you can access. The best start is to use google earth to find them, then CAD maps to determine who the owner is, then call them. Expect 'no' to be a common answer! Between having their land trashed and abused by tons of people previously, and offers of lots of money for 'club' access, some people would rather everybody would just leave them alone. But not all... Short of having a connection or knowing somebody with land, your luck will be based on how much work you put into the search.

There's an ad on the D/FW Craigs List under Sporting. The guy gets or asks $300 per day for up to 3 people. I have no idea whether that's per person or group. I have no connection. I just saw the ad. You might want to put an ad on Craigs List.

I totally understand about the $. It's about like deer hunting. But, the cost to stock and maintain a fishing hole is probably something that the average non land owner doesn't understand. I have a couple of ponds. One is a couple of acres and the other 1/4 to 1/3 acre. My Wife calls them Daves Corvettes. And, we can't fish them that often or the fish get hook shy. At this time of year, catching a big fish in a pond is probably gong to kill it. Now need to buy chemicals to whip back some coontail and some more feed to put in my expensive fish feeder.

The bottom line is that these are expensive toys and it would be about like renting out my pickup or my spare bedroom.

If I ever sell the place, I'll join PWF, save a lot of $ and let Steve worry about the cost and maintenance.

Thanks Dave. Love to have you. Having your own place can be a ton of fun. The managing of the pond can be more of a challenge than the fishing. Like you said, the average non landowner is unfamiliar with what it costs to maintain a great fishing lake. I work with landowners that have a 6 figure annual budget for big bodies of water. Many spend low to mid 5 figures ($10k to $40k annual budget) on these bigger lakes. However, the majority spend far less. But, in any case it costs a whole lot more than folks think. Oh, I forgot to mention it costs about $10k an acre to build and about $750 an acre to do the original stocking, correctly; but we won't count that.

That's some good advise. As the owner of 5 ponds, I've seen what the public can do when granted access. I also understand the desire to fish private ponds like mine...but most have no idea what it takes to maintain them at peak fishing proficiency.

One of the things you have working against you is the effects of fishing pressure. Few understand this, and in my case, it is the largest single factor in why I refuse permission to just about everyone who requests access. I can work around gates left open, trash, etc...but excessive fishing pressure is something which you just can't easily recover from. In my ponds, any given day I can expect to catch a minimum of a 5 pound bass...but that is only with very carefully managed fishing pressure.

Understanding that might help you negotiate with a good landowner.