Post by indychris on Jul 14, 2009 20:44:16 GMT -5
I could use some help from a CO regarding bowfishing. A friend and I were in Cass County today doing some bowfishing where Pipe Creek empties into the Wabash River. Seeing that most of the visible suckers (the fish, not people ;D ) seemed to be in the clear waters of Pipe Creek, we decided to drive to a bridge upstream where we parked off to the side of the road. While fishing from the bridge, a landowner from upstream came and read us the riot act about trespassing by fishing his creek.
Apparently, the gentleman owns property on both sides of Pipe Creek in that area, and stated that he owned the creek there as well. Not wanting to cause any trouble unnecessarily (plus he had a gun on clear display, which is fine since we had bows), I apologized for creating concern, especially since we may have well been in the wrong, and promptly left and returned to the Wabash River.
I've searched pretty extensively to find answers to a couple of questions and can't find anything to address these issues, so I am hoping that maybe one of the officers here might be able to help us out.
1) As the property owner of apparently both sides of Pipe Creek, does that give him ownership of the creek itself? I assume that it would since Pipe Creek is not deemed a navigable waterway, but I would like to verify that.
2) If he does have ownership rights over the creek on his property, does that make it illegal to fish from the bridge in 'his' creek without landowner permission?
We called the NE Indiana Conservation office and were told that floating can not be prohibited, but in some cases the property owner does own rights to the creek bed. Now the landowner went way out to state that he owns the bridge, too, and claimed we were trespassing by simply standing on the bridge, but since it is a county road, we know he was blowing smoke there.
It's likely we won't go back simply to avoid the conflict, but if we were to head over there, I would at least like to have my ducks in a row, and if we were totally in the wrong, I would like to offer another apology as we run into the gentleman on occasion fishing the Wabash.
Thanks for the help, guys!
Chris
Apparently, the gentleman owns property on both sides of Pipe Creek in that area, and stated that he owned the creek there as well. Not wanting to cause any trouble unnecessarily (plus he had a gun on clear display, which is fine since we had bows), I apologized for creating concern, especially since we may have well been in the wrong, and promptly left and returned to the Wabash River.
I've searched pretty extensively to find answers to a couple of questions and can't find anything to address these issues, so I am hoping that maybe one of the officers here might be able to help us out.
1) As the property owner of apparently both sides of Pipe Creek, does that give him ownership of the creek itself? I assume that it would since Pipe Creek is not deemed a navigable waterway, but I would like to verify that.
2) If he does have ownership rights over the creek on his property, does that make it illegal to fish from the bridge in 'his' creek without landowner permission?
We called the NE Indiana Conservation office and were told that floating can not be prohibited, but in some cases the property owner does own rights to the creek bed. Now the landowner went way out to state that he owns the bridge, too, and claimed we were trespassing by simply standing on the bridge, but since it is a county road, we know he was blowing smoke there.
It's likely we won't go back simply to avoid the conflict, but if we were to head over there, I would at least like to have my ducks in a row, and if we were totally in the wrong, I would like to offer another apology as we run into the gentleman on occasion fishing the Wabash.
Thanks for the help, guys!
Chris