i got hung up today beside a make shift ramp in a guys backyard on eml in the back of a cove north of westbay has i got closer to try a different angle he came running down and pull up a chair right in front of me. i said good morning and he started chewing me out saying i got hung on some rebar he had down there for his ramp. and now he was going to have to go down there and get the hook out if i didnt get it because his kids play there. thats where i want my kids to play right by some rusty rebar. after he said that i just snapped the line, gave him a dirty look and said sorry bout that and then i just turned the boat and left. most the dock owners are nice and ask if we are having any luck and tell me stories of the big ones caught by there dock. but one bad apple can sure take the fun away fast sometimes.

If a Dock Owner really wanted to be smart without being rude, ALL they need to do is put out legal trot lines all the way around the dock.. As long as they are marked properly, not much us BASS fisherman can do about it.. They don't even have to be baited. Just dated ...

That or hang some chain link fence all the way around the underside so nobody could fish it.

If this situation arises and you are in MY COUNTY, please feel free to call me and I'll explain the rights of a fisherman on public waters!!!

No seriously, i would love to educate the dock owners where I live and work.

BTW- if you are fishing a Corp. lake, as long as your boat is not in contact with thier boathouse, then there is absolutely nothing they can say!!!!! And I mean nothing!!!!

While we're on the topic, Just yesterday I was out in the middle of Quitman trying to unclog some debris from under the flap of the auto bilge and couldn't get to it because the oil reservoir was on top of it. I didn't have the right size socket on my boat to take it off to access the pump and as I was sitting there a gentlemen who lives on the lake stop to ask me if I needed any help. He insisted that I follow him back to his dock so that he could get me the socket I needed. I hated to trouble him but since his dock was about 100 yards from us I decided to take him up on his offer. Once we got to his dock he even told me to go ahead and pull my boat into one of his empty slips to avoid getting crashed by the tsunami waves that the skiers were creating near us. He wasn't a bass fisherman but he got to telling me about all of the different spots in the cove he lived in that lots of big bass had been caught. He even complimented my boat as we pulled away.

What a nice guy. He had the deepest dock in the entire cove so I know that his dock gets fished the most. Docks are the #1 source of cover for this lake plus it was nearest the point so its probably the first one to get hit too.

I made sure to express my gratitude for his hospitality and went on. I've never really had any bad experiences with dock owners but have heard stories. Too bad they can't all be like this fella. If I had his address I'd probably send him a Thank You card.

what I would like to see is an off-duty game warden get chewed out by a dock owner. I bet he would set them strait!!!

I have a lakefront house that is in a no wake cove. All and I mean ALL the bass fishermen I have ever seen come into the cove are great at observing the no wake area.Wakes erode my shoreline.BUT .....ever single jet ski that either comes in there or lives right there in the cove blasts around and around like they think the no wake zone doesn't apply to them.Finally I had enough. I was in my boat a few days ago and followed 4 that were blasting through there until I caught up with them and I verbally informed them they were being arse holes.Since then all who reside in the cove at least have been going no wake!At least bass fishermen seem to have their act together and are welcome to fish my shoreline anytime.I would name a few you would know that I see there fishing but I don't want to give their holes away !!!

Well I love to fish docks...the only bad experience i've had was when a guys started hitting golf balls at my boat, it was kinda funny because I had just gotten out of the Marine Corp and a good friend of mine from North Carolina, whom I was stationed with, was down for a visit. He told me if another ball came close to us he was going have to take the boat on land, and the ball came again, and he went on land! It was two punk guys who, from talking to neighbors, were drug heads and always destroying things. It was a fun show to watch!

I ran into that at soldier creek (Texoma), at the cafe/marina store. The owners told us that we were not suppose to fish around their business. About three nights later we went back in with my boat and caught a mother load of catfish but never got close to the dock. THey sure eat good too.

They own the dock but they don't own the water underneath it. You can fish around it or underneath it.

People are funny animals...

Most people don't know this but on Livingston it is not against the law to walk or get on someone's boat dock. I don't know about other lakes but TRA Trinity River Authority owns everything in the lake, in fact they own a certain amount of land surronding the border can't remember the footage. I talked to a gamewarden and they don't advise this at all but it's not against the law because in reality all docks are public. I'm not sure other lakes have the same rules or if it has changed in the past couple of years like I said I don't reccomend it.

Most lakes in texas that are governed by a river authority (like the TRA) own the right of way around the lake. Home owners have to secure a lease from the authority for the land between their property and the lake and obtain a permit to build a dock or float a dock on that property. For all intensive purposes the dock is thier property by lease and permit and it would be very hard to convince someone that he doesn't own it after the steps he would've went through (and the expense!) to put a dock in there.

I totally agree he owns it but that dosen't make it illegal for you to step on that boatdock, its a bit of a grey area. Like you said he has to get a permit but they have restrictions they still don't have all the rights to the property and they have no rights to the water. Therefore what is on the water is still public however that does not mean its enforced (grey area)

Oh good a dock thread. I have two stories.

On Cedar Creek Lake in the early 90's I was fishing down a row of docks pitching a jig. As we were coming up to one dock an old lady came out of her house and started griping about how we were not supposed to be fishing her dock and she was tired of it. She said if she ever saw us again she was going to come out with her shotgun. I didn't get a word in as she was continually talking and we just fished on by.
About three docks down there was a two men and a kid fishing their dock. As we approached one man asked us about our episode with the lady. He said not to worry.........the sherrif had taken her guns away just two weeks ago. Yike!



About three years ago I was prefishing up near the dam on Richland Chambers and was fishing some docks where some really nice homes were. As I came across one cove to fish one dock on a point the homeowner came out of his house and got on his riding mower and put something on it and started down to where I was. I was getting ready to just fish by only as he came up he started off by asking how the fishing was that day. After that he told me he had too many tomatoes in his garden and asked if I wanted a few. He had already sacked some up so I accepted them and thanked him..
I left grinning from this experience.