A location where I fish, has no signs, nothing telling me I can't fish there after 12:00am, yet the police forced me to leave the other day. If there are no signs anywhere and I have a fishing license, what can I do the next time this happens? After a call to the local city hall, they said boats can fish but bank fishing is not allowed after 12:00am. Even though there is no signs, no visible law, no ordinance anywhere, online, etc, etc.

I'm no legal guru, but do I have any fishing rights here as a license holder? Thanks.

My opinion is that they can not do that unless its a city ordnance or a law by the state or gov. also I think if boats are allowed to be out there after 12am then why cant we bank fisherman do that also? Ill talk to my friend that is a GW and also ask my gf that's a cop.

So that they had to run you off just because you wanted to do some midnight fishing.

"So that they had to run you off just because you wanted to do some midnight fishing."

Thanks. Exactly, It was just my daughter and I. I don't drink or smoke, that wasn't an issue. I plan on going back, and I guess next time I'll just say yes if he asks again "I can just write you a ticket if you question anything"..."yah, I'll take a ticket because I don't see anything stating there is no fishing here past 12:00am." lol...

I would contact TPWD and see what they have to say.. Although, Unfortunately Barney Fife has the authority to make you leave. Pretty sorry of them to make you leave when nothing is posted.. Kind of like writing you a ticket for "No Parking" where a "No Parking" sign is not there!?!?

Where was this ??

the water that you fish on is it a lake or a pond in a park? If its a pond in a park there might be a closing time for people to go in and be in the park. Now the other question to what I just said is where is the boat ramp? Is the ramp in the same area you fished or is it on a different side of the body of water? If the part of the water you were at does belong to a park or whatever they can run you off with you it being posted I think just b.c its a park thats the only reason.


TPWD phone number is 817-831-3128, this number will go to a lady that can help you out. If she cant she will pass you off to a GW.

Still waiting back from my GW friend and my gf is really slow sometimes....lol

Is this a city property? Usually they post signs about fishing times if they want to restrict it. If it is private property, even thought it is not posted, you can get in trouble. I pulled into a place that I thought was a public lake not long ago. I remembered seeing the name of the lake, and it even had a road named for that lake. I tried to find it but it wasn't real easy to tell which dirt road to take. Well this nasty security guard about had a baby cause I was on posted land. I said I never saw a posted sign...he started cussing saying I went through a fence. (it was an open spot that looked like a place to pass, never saw a fence) There was no posted sign, no private property sign, nothing. This guy was extremely rude. I left, figuring he was gonna call the cops, but I guess he didn't cause I never heard anything about it after I left. He followed me out like I was some crook or something. So be careful out there.

Its funny about the boat. The same is true about walking versus driving. Just like cars, the amount of illegal things that go on on boats would certainly be astonishing if one only knew.

I get tired of many of the bank fishing spots being more regulated or shutdown but I know why... Too many criminals and idiots causing problems or trashing up the bank .

well i can tell you one thing if yuo get pulled over don't say hold my beer while i get my licince officer

at whiterock there is a curfew but for bank fisherman it is waved .if your out there doing the wild thing you better do it as fast as you can because they love zooming in on lovers there pretty quick ....a short story.....a guy was fishing by yhe pier close to the old power house one night and he went to his car to get something .a cop pulled in and wrote him a ticket for breaking curfew as the cop pulled off he saw him going to get his rods and stuff and came back and told him "i didnt know you were fishing ,give me back the ticket " if that aint cool i dont know what is

now thats cool whiterockjesse, my officers are the same way at the local ponds where I work.

irving huh lol ..lovfldx and i were fishing at the dart station for cats a few years ago one summer evening .and this officer walked u to us .we were expecting the usual . but no he chit chated with us like the best of friends before you knew it he was with us about 1 whole hour or more !! . i would describe him but his boss might be here reading lol .but he was a super guy that had alot of stories to share

always nice to have a fishing polieman spot ya...as opposed to a peta patrol!!

I was run off by the Las Colinas patrol when fishing by the Dart station a couple years ago myself. However if they appear to be some sort of security or the real thing just go along with them. You can get put in jail just for saying no to a cop about anything for 72 hours.

You neglect to say who owns the property you want to fish on after dark.
Also, do not argue with a man that has a gun and a badge. He can put you in jail for many reasons.
If a security guard tells you that you are not allowed to be there then he has his orders to follow. Do as he says.
No a fishing license does not give you specific rights to fish where and when you feel like it. The license gives you the privilege to fish if you follow all the rules.

Most parks have times posted if they are not open after dark.

So just try to find out what the property owner allows before you you just decide that where you want to park.


KelKay, If you pass over a cattle guard, though a gate (open or not), you are on some ones land. Most of the oil lease roads that pass for pig paths in Texas are private property.
You just have to be careful where you go.

Grandpa, there was no cattle guard, and the fence did not have a gate...if I saw a house, I had thought to stop and ask if I could fish there if it did not look public. I saw no signs whatsoever. You are right, you do have to be careful. I never even got to the lake, because he came barreling down after I turned in there. I have no idea who's land it was, or if it was commercially owned, private land, or what. I won't be going back there, that is for sure. :-)

I've spoken to several authorities, basically there is no "official" rule. Nothing in print, nothing in signs, etc, etc. They said it's an ordinance police officers can enforce if they want to or not. Bottom line, I could fight it, but like another user said, it's not worth it. I am going to start carrying a small hidden recording device and record all conversions with police officers. I've had to many power plays recently.

Never argue with someone who carries a gun. You never know what mental state they are in and what might set them off to use it. Badge or no badge.

Every large city will have park curfews that affect all ages, as well as juvenile ordnances that relate to minors in any public place. These are normally not posted and I imagine they are selectively enforced by "some" officers depending on what you are doing or on how likely you could be a victim at the place your at. I tried to see if the ordnance for my city was online. Though I did not find it, I found the one for Austin. What a complicated mix of ordnances addressing it.

http://austin.about.com/od/governmentcityservices/f/curfews.htm

I also found a lot of references to curfew odnances cities have made specific to individual parks. White Rock for example has park specific city ordnances with a 12 midnight curfew. But I would imagine it could not be enforced to people boating on the lake similar to your situation. Lot of constitutional legal challenges to these ordnances too. The cities won all those it looks like.

My wife and I got run off from a park bench on a pond just down the road from my house one night. It was a few minutes after 10 pm. I pointed to my house and told the officer, "but we live right there". He did not care, we were in violation of the city's 10 pm park curfew and explained it in that he was concerned with our safety. I almost responded with "but I have a concealed handgun license and I'm armed", but decided that may not go over well. So we walked back to the house.

Best advice is if an officer, or reasonable facsimilie thereof, tells you to leave, in no uncertain terms, it's best to just leave. It's not the only nor last fishing hole on earth.

Rudy

Well. if you have been running into "power plays" and feel like a tape recorder will benefit you. maybe you ae going to places you just not supposed to be. Just my opinion.

Step into the water

yup .your messing with fire man . surely the bite isnt that great .if they have already advised you to leave the next time they are carting you to their pad . garanteed

Having lived in Dallas for 15 years I have to strongly agree with Whiterockjesse. My experience has been that the Dallas police do what they please and the CAN throw you in jail for 72 hours with no repercussions to them. Now if you are rich, a crusader and don't mind lawyers fee's and some jail time we'll activly support you opening up some night fishing for us.

I've had dallas police roll up with the spot light on several times after midnight at white rock. Technically, the park closes at midnight, but if you are fishing they will usually leave you alone, at least in my experience. I believe since the lake itself is managed by tpwd, you can stay out in a boat as late as you like. I have stayed out well past 2am both on the lake itself, and on the piers, and never had a problem. Once had an officer ask if I had a fishing license. I said yes, and reached for my wallet. Without another word, he hit the gas and drove off.

Now if an officer or security ask/tell me to leave, my arse is gone! You definitely cannot fish in jail.

Yea if you get arrested just call one of us then well start a protest out side of the station. Just kidding, but still if you encoutor the peta patrol ask them which peta the people for the eating of tasty animals or the OTHER peta happend to me once but when they tried to push me in i just reversed it on his skinny butt

I'm a big old SOB with long hair, so I guess the power plays are expected once in a while. But it did upset me when he said the lake had signs posted (they don't) and when I asked if he could point those out to me, he put his hands on his gun and said "if you want to argue with me I can write you up a ticket." Especially in front of my daughter who freaked out when he put his hands on his gun. I don't think that show of force was called for. But oh well, like everyone has said, it's not worth getting too rattled over.

I do wonder though how this argument would hold over in a court of law...

"Judge...there are no signs posted about the park closing or no fishing at night. Until there are signs posted, how are bank fishing anglers supposed to know when the park closes?"

Most city parks, even little towns, have a sign posted if it is a big deal to them about a park closing at certain times. Also most cities now have their ordinances online that you can look up for yourself. If not you can go to the city and ask them in person to help you look the ordinance up. If it isn't a legal ordinance, you still should obey the officer. Maybe it could be written about in the local newspaper in the Letters to the Editor section ...and see what others want for their city. Most cities that I know of do not like after hours park visitation which would be after dark, or say by 9-10 pm or so. The reason is it is a good place for people to get hurt, in trouble, gang activity, or illegal drugs, violence of all kinds, and gambling etc...
As far as if you are FISHING, that should be a ok thing to do in my opinion.

If you really wanted to press it, get a few folks to question the police dept head honcho as to why they are trying to enforce a non-existing code. (I'd do that over the phone) It might help you, or they may just put up a sign to be done with you...still they need the ordinance in writing by the city, which is an easy thing to get passed. (thats why a letter to the paper is good possibly)

I just got that, lol!

Thanks for the comments kelkay. I usually fish at night closer to the boat ramps, this was the first time I fished further down in the park, which happens to be across from nice houses. So next time I'll stick closer to the boat ramps.

It is legal to fish any of the City of Dallas owned lakes after park closure, City of Dallas Development Code is referenced below.


SEC. 32-9.1. HOURS OF CLOSURE FOR PUBLIC PARKS.
(a) All public parks located within the city, except Barnes Bridge park, Bachman Creek Greenbelt, and William B. Dean park, are closed to the public each day from 12:00 midnight until 5:00 a.m.
(c) A person commits an offense if he is on the premises of a public park during hours in which the park is closed.
(d) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (c) that the person was:
(4) entering or leaving, or engaged in legal boating on or fishing from the bank or water surface of, any of the following:
(A) Lake Ray Hubbard;
(B) Mountain Creek Lake;
(C) White Rock Lake;
(D) Lemmon Lake;
(E) Blue Lake;
(F) a body of water located within the Trinity River Greenbelt; or
(G) that part of Joe Pool Lake within the city's jurisdiction.

mp2 too your saying its legal to do so, but it seems the rules you posted say the opposite ?please clarify if you dont mind .

Same thing happened to me and my BIL at Oak Point Park on LL. I wanted to hand him rod and let him have at it. I could tell he was jonesin to get a line wet. Poor guy, having to work on such a pretty spring day.

thanks for pasting the city code. looked it up myself and made a printout. don't plan to shove it down an officer's throat, but it is definitely going in my tackle bag. you never know when that may come in handy.

jesse, while i am no lawyer, i believe the important part is where it states that boating or fishing are a defense to prosecution. i think thats a fancy azz lawyer way of stating an exception to the law.

thanks eric

Jesse, I have traveling and missed your post. Eric said it correctly. Subsection (d)offers defense/exception if you are engaged in the activities listing in (4).

I to carry this ordinance when night fishing. I also carry the ordinance concerning horse power restrictions, since I am usually in my boat.