Spruce Creek 5/1/09-5/3/09 Wayne's Private Section

[Acristickid]

FF1955-

There are lots of people that frequent here that have the same feelings you do.

They just don't post either- maybe if they did it might change things.

Like I said I don't feel the least bit bad about it. I fished all over as many people on here have- they probably would just feel like their bragging or just don't like sharing.

Me- I like hearing about people's trips etc... If people are jealous or upset- that's their own problem.

I fish with Sage's and Winston's because I enjoy them and so do most of my friends.

 

[pcray1231]

I'll start off by saying nice report. The original poster and I may or may not disagree on a few issues, but I never let those disagreements get personal. I hope he feels free to keep posting and I enjoyed the report.

As for morality of posting land. I respect the legal right of a landowner to post his/her land. But legal and moral considerations are slightly different in my book.

Whether or not its moral to post land, to me, is all about the intent. If the intent is to protect oneself or one's property, there's nothing wrong with that. For instance litter or property damage situations. However, the part that gets lost is exactly what is one's property? It is the land for sure, and the streambottom if and only if the stream is non-navigable. The water itself (assuming flowing water), and any wildlife in the water or on land is public property. If the intent of the posting is to exclude the public from that resource for personal benefit (recreational or monetary), then that is immoral IMO, even if its not always illegal. If its the monetary factor, then its really a business who's model is to make money by charging people to access what is rightfully theirs. Contributing to that business is also immoral.

I know its awfully difficult to legislate intent, especially when there can be multiple intents, and I don't have a legal answer to solve the issue. But as JayL said, thats the law of the universe, don't be a douche....

 

[GreenWeenie]

I understand what you are saying but I’m not aware of any law or any other legal instrument that classifies the water and fish in a stream as, “public property.” (I could be wrong.)

If I buy a piece of property on a non-navigable stream and own the streambed, it certainly seems that while I may not “own” the fish and flowing water, I certainly have the exclusive right to the fish that reside on my property. I don’t believe I can stop someone from floating through my property on a canoe but I certainly believe I could stop them from floating through with a fishing line in the water. And if I decide to post the land and then charge people $250 per day to fish the water, I don’t see how that is immoral – it’s a business – I’m paying property taxes on this land, the fish aren’t paying me rent for living on my stream bottom so it’s mine to do with it as I wish.

The bottom line is if people are willing to pay why should I stop?

BTW, I do agree that it totally sucks when someone buys property surrounding a stream, posts it and turns it into a pay-to-fish section. But as long as people are willing to join private clubs and pay landowners, this will continue. If you look at England, unfortunately almost all the prime waters are pay-to-fish and it isn’t cheap! All the chalkstone streams are privatized and membership in the clubs is very exclusive and exclusionary. We actually have it pretty damn good over here compare to England and other places in Europe.

 

[tomgamber]

I had a nice post all done up and ready to submit when I lost the server...well crap.

Anyway, the guy came back and defended his post...good. He wasn't pissed. He understood the points of view and explained his own.

Sometimes you have to treat posts from people who registered "today" like something you find in the woods. Poke it with a stick...see if its for real or if its just a troll. If its a troll they usually don't come back.

If you can't express your opinion on a bulletin board, then pack it up and turn it off. Or go to the one that Jay suggested. We get together every year and all are invited. No internet muscles here...we all meet and drink and fish face to face eventually.

Jam on...