Long paddle, baby blues, bad photos and little croaker

[kevinfry]

I made one of my longest paddles to date paddling into a mild breeze from Elms Beach to Point No Point. Luckily, The wind came up as forecast and pushed me home. Along the way I trolled in fairly shallow water looking for redfish and caught one 17.75" red. It had an interesting spot pattern on it's tail and back....but I could not get the timer on my camera to work properly, so this is the best photo of the feisty fellow

Along the way i had trolled over some rocky bottomed areas and could not keep the 8" bluefish off the hook. Gulp coud not be trolled beacuase of a multitude of blues and small croaker. I ened up trolling a gold drone spoon and a minnow type plug. The Jellies were thick.
Eventually I decided to get out on what I thought was a remote beach....but the the tractor acrosse property owner must have watched me paddle by and drove her tractor through her acres of corn to inform me it was private property.....sheesh. She carefully walked the whole beach to make sure i had not littered or defecated on her precious beach.

So I shoved off and started chasing breakers. I caught more little bluefish, though a few were a little better and one rockfish that fought bigger than he was It was getting exhausting chasing the beakers because the wind had picked up and was blowing against the tide...very bumpy! I started paddling back to Elms, stopping when I saw promising marks on the fish finder and dropping fish bites for croaker. I think I caught 5 shorts to each keeper and caught my only 12 incher amongst the rocks about a mile south of Elms,
All in all I figure i paddled at least 13.5 miles, maybe more. It was a fun day even with the small fish and arrogant landowners.

[FishAholic929]

Great report...With that said, arrogant or not, if she owns the land...then she owns it, she has every right to say something. If she has a nice piece of beach she probably spends the better part of her summer chasing people off who litter up the place. I'm not saying I have never beached on private property and I'm not saying there isn't a high probability that I'll do it again in the future, but if I get confronted and get told to leave, then that is better than the option of facing the cops and a trespassing charge. I don't mean to ruffle feathers here but if it were my land and I saw someone beach on it, I'd be the arrogant one.

[kevinfry]

In Oregon, where I am from, all beaches on coastal waters are puiblic access from the water. those beaches are as clean or cleaner than here. On the lake in Ontario where I keep a cottage, everyone makes sure his outhouse is unlocked and TP stacked (in squirrel proof containers) so that folks who are boating, fishing, or snowmobiling and have a need have a place to go. Most hunting cabins up there are left unlocked so if someone needs to escape the elements or bears they don't have to break in....and they are pretty friendly folks, never heard a cross word and been helped a bunch. One couple we had never met before heard it was my daughters birthday and that our oven did not work, brought over a cake! Here I can count the civil words spoken to me by waterfront property owners on one hand. Maybe I am just unlucky, but it is troubling.
Ruining your corn crop to keep a tired kayaker from resting his arms for 15 min and being arrogant about it....does not seems either logical or neighborly. Not only would I never do it, I never have done it on any of the waterfront property I have or had owned in Oregon/Washington/Ontario, and can't imagine conducting myself in that manner. A conversation explaining her troubles with that beach or even being friendly about it but asserting ownership rights would have been fine.

[J.A. Veil]

Kevin -

Sorry you had a run in with an angry property owner. My understanding of Maryland's riparian law (note that I am not an attorney, so don't base your actions on my word alone) is that any water up to the high-tide mark is considered to be "waters of the state" and cannot be privately owned. Any portion of beach that would be submerged at high tide is not privately owned property either. Many waterfront property owners do not understand that distinction or try to bluff you off of land that is not really their own. Now if you beach your boat and walk around above the high tide line, that is a different situation -- you are trespassing. Some anglers have faced similar resistance from property owners when fishing around piers and bulkheads. You cannot legally climb onto their pier, but you have full rights to be in the water around their pier.

Great report...With that said, arrogant or not, if she owns the land...then she owns it, she has every right to say something. If she has a nice piece of beach she probably spends the better part of her summer chasing people off who litter up the place. I'm not saying I have never beached on private property and I'm not saying there isn't a high probability that I'll do it again in the future, but if I get confronted and get told to leave, then that is better than the option of facing the cops and a trespassing charge. I don't mean to ruffle feathers here but if it were my land and I saw someone beach on it, I'd be the arrogant one.

[Meadeo]

Kevin -

Sorry you had a run in with an angry property owner. My understanding of Maryland's riparian law (note that I am not an attorney, so don't base your actions on my word alone) is that any water up to the high-tide mark is considered to be "waters of the state" and cannot be privately owned. Any portion of beach that would be submerged at high tide is not privately owned property either. Many waterfront property owners do not understand that distinction or try to bluff you off of land that is not really their own. Now if you beach your boat and walk around above the high tide line, that is a different situation -- you are trespassing. Some anglers have faced similar resistance from property owners when fishing around piers and bulkheads. You cannot legally climb onto their pier, but you have full rights to be in the water around their pier.

I have had the boat house guy's on the Occuqaun threaten me with physical violence for fishing around the dock pilings, and threaten to call the police for trespassing. I also have had someone drive 2 miles in a 4 wheeler to tell me i am beached on his private section of beach in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately he was nice about it and let me rest for 15 minutes. The best was floating the Nottoway river in southern Virginia and having the land owner follow me along the shore with a loaded shotgun giving me the mean mug.

Meadeo

[kevinfry]

Kevin -

Sorry you had a run in with an angry property owner. My understanding of Maryland's riparian law (note that I am not an attorney, so don't base your actions on my word alone) is that any water up to the high-tide mark is considered to be "waters of the state" and cannot be privately owned. Any portion of beach that would be submerged at high tide is not privately owned property either. Many waterfront property owners do not understand that distinction or try to bluff you off of land that is not really their own. Now if you beach your boat and walk around above the high tide line, that is a different situation -- you are trespassing. Some anglers have faced similar resistance from property owners when fishing around piers and bulkheads. You cannot legally climb onto their pier, but you have full rights to be in the water around their pier.

If that is true then I was definitely not trespassing......but it is the attitude not the request that chaps my hide.

Meadeo....that guy in virginia probably thought you were a gator. Hard to pass up an nice tasty gator

[Meadeo]

If that is true then I was definitely not trespassing......but it is the attitude not the request that chaps my hide.

Meadeo....that guy in virginia probably thought you were a gator. Hard to pass up an nice tasty gator

Bear maybe gator i think not =P

Meadeo

[J.A. Veil]

I have no familiarity with Virginia's riparian laws -- you should check them out. In some cases, waterfront property owners will attempt vocal intimidation or worse to keep people away from their land. It may not be legal, but it is effective. I personally would not argue the finer points of riparian law with someone who has mean-looking dogs on a leash or is holding a weapon. As the old saying goes, "Discretion is the better part of valor".

I have had the boat house guy's on the Occuqaun threaten me with physical violence for fishing around the dock pilings, and threaten to call the police for trespassing. I also have had someone drive 2 miles in a 4 wheeler to tell me i am beached on his private section of beach in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately he was nice about it and let me rest for 15 minutes. The best was floating the Nottoway river in southern Virginia and having the land owner follow me along the shore with a loaded shotgun giving me the mean mug.

Meadeo

[Fishinfool]

I will post an article in the Main forum from today's Post about the Bay's 11,000 + mile shoreline, with less than 2% of it accessible. It all goes back to Lord Calvert in the 1600's. There needs to be a legal provision that allows right of way; both from the land, and the water. There should be a formula depending on the length of the shoreline. If all land in Maryland is affected the same way, there would be no adverse effect on property values.

People can be real jerks about that sort of thing. If someone is vocal and not carrying a weapon, it's almost worth provoking a confrontation, if John is in fact correct about the high tide line. Let 'em call DNR, the police or whomever and be embarrassed they did. With any luck, they'll be charged for the cost of unnecessarily getting the police involved.

[Meadeo]

I have no familiarity with Virginia's riparian laws -- you should check them out. In some cases, waterfront property owners will attempt vocal intimidation or worse to keep people away from their land. It may not be legal, but it is effective. I personally would not argue the finer points of riparian law with someone who has mean-looking dogs on a leash or is holding a weapon. As the old saying goes, "Discretion is the better part of valor".

John - from what i have read the land on this section of river is owned as personal property but the water flowing through it is public.

Trust me i stayed in the middle of the river when the shotgun toting gentleman came out of the woods. No need to tempt fate as people go missing on these rivers all the time and i would say more than a few are because of this sort of thing and finding themselves full of buckshot and buried under someones shed for "trespassing" =P

Meadeo

[kevinfry]

Well the point of my post is, in fact, that I had a great day on the water...paddled a long time, a long ways, and that is a good day. Fish or no fish. Beach or no beach.

[Meadeo]

Well the point of my post is, in fact, that I had a great day on the water...paddled a long time, a long ways, and that is a good day. Fish or no fish. Beach or no beach.

Indeed!

That is one long day on the water.