Creek Water ???

I googled searched a beautiful stretch of creek water in Midlothian/Ovilla Tx and decided to go take a look just to see if it was fishable by bank or by boat.I was pleasantly surprise to find it was better than expected it was awesome & appeared to hold fish in it & there was evidence of local bank anglers that had been there.This creek was very wide I decided to test it myself a caught sever large bream & a few small LM Bass on a jig & bobber set up.There was plenty of activity in the water I could see wakes made by fish chasing bait fish.There was a small bridge in the distance and what appeared to be a small lake beyond it. I would have liked to launched a small boat and fished underneath that bridge but some land owner had constructed a cable wired fence spanning the creek to claim that section of water for himself.This stretch of water is North Prong Creek that runs south of fm1387 to Hwy 287.My question to anyone and all concerned is.......IS THIS ALLOWED?I was led to believe that this creek and all rivers in Texas was State water and that no one person could claim a section of water for themselves simple because their property bordered it. Could someone confirm this?

Whoever placed that cable across the creek is breaking the law. The land owner does not own the creek unless it is private waters.

Reggie

Obstruction By Fencing

Texas Attorney General Opinion S-107 (1953) addressed fishing rights of the public along a stretch of the Trinity River bordered by Mexican land grants made under the civil law in 1835. The summary of the opinion stated:


The public may use the bed and banks of the Trinity River up to the gradient boundary for fishing and may make certain uses of its banks above that line if they are held under civil law grants. The riparian owners cannot prevent the public from gaining access to the river by means of a highway right of way by erection of a fence thereon and cannot prevent the public from going up and down the river in boats and fishing in its waters by the erection of fences across the river.

Now you need to know if this stream is actually navigable.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/nonpw...igability.phtml

From reading this page, I would assume the creek in question is non-navigable. But that is only my deduction. I'm sure a game warden could give you a definitive answer.
Good Luck.
PS, if that is where I think it is, I've fished that lake. It is owned by a ranch in Midlothian. My friend knows the man that runs the ranch. It's not all that! LOL

Rodney this is not a ranch & this is not a private water situation. .North Prong Creek is public water. It flows thru the city of Waxahachie & all the way into the upper end of Bardwell Lake & it is very very navigable!Try and Google it up.

Horace, I was referring to the lake you saw past the fence. If I'm not mistaken, these small lake are soil conservation control lakes. There are numerous ones like it around Midlothian. If you can ascertain it is indeed public, this is what TPWD has to say about it. And by the way I agree with you. There should be no fence! I'm thinking it is public and they know it, but don't want anyone floating past there. IMHO.

Q: Is it lawful to fence a stream?

A: That probably depends on whether the stream is public or private. Since the public has a general right to walk and boat in a public stream, a landowner has no right to erect or maintain a fence that interferes with those lawful activities.27 Additionally, it is a crime to restrict, obstruct, intefere with or limit public recreational use of a navigable stream.28 It is a more serious crime to obstruct a waterway to which the public has access so as to make passage impossible or unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous.29 It is easy to imagine situations where a fence in or across a public stream would do just that. But do these statutes prohibit a landowner from putting a fence in or across a private stream? That sounds unlikely, since the public has no lawful access to a private stream without the consent of the owner of the streambed. So it seems to be lawful for a landowner to erect a fence in a non-public streambed.

So if the stream/creek is public waters then so should the lake be right?

Yes, that's what I think. But it is not a battle worth fighting, to me. I'm to old, and life is to short now, to worry over that little bit of fishing water. My fighting days are through!

well Thanks for the info I think I`ll investigate

let me know what you find out.

Fishbonz Keep us updated I hate people that do that , There used to be a landowner that did that back home in South Texas and once he was fined he stopped doing it right quick.

It is take a game warden fishing day..

Well Rodney....I spoke with an Ellis County Game Warden today and he informed me that my investigation wasn`t unique.It seems that others had inquired about this same location in the past.Turns out that the state has determined the area beyond the Cable wired fence to be unnavigable but I can navigate the waters north of it

I would bet the land owner has some pull in Midlo. or Ellis County. Smells of small town politics! LOL
Go give it a shot and let us know how you do.

I think you`re right man I will still fish it where I`m allowed and see what I can harvest as soon as it returns to it`s banks

I had a simular question as yours a few years ago and a Game Warden told me that if you could get you boat in a creek or pond from public property without stepping on private property, you could go where ever that water would take you, but you had to stay in the boat. I also ask about some of these land owners that will fence up to a guard rail to keep people from walking down to the creek or river bridge and he said they could only fence up to their property line which on a farm market road was about 15-25 feet from the edge of the road. It really depends on what Game Warden you ask, because some of these ranch owners are in tight with them. Call Austin and talk to the Captain and report those law breakers.

Bet the game warden fishes it regularly !