[danl]

I have found a couple of places in Colorado that has leased accesses to sections of streams.

[danl]

So what I’m hearing from the legal authorities is that the states where we have lost access we are not likely to get it back.

What can we do to maintain access in the states where we still have it.  Montana, Idaho, Washington to name a few could easily go the way of Colorado and Wyoming.  When I was in Wyoming last, I was talking to a local who told me that these laws have come about in recent history.  I had always figured they were reminants of the historic water rights issues of the west, but he said that they had been craftily worded to make the local populations believe that it was to keep out those “damn tourist” and wouldn’t have much of an effect on them.  They found out differently after it was too late.  It was the “damn tourist” that wanted to keep out the local riff raff.

Before long the only fishing is going to be in national parks and private stocked waters fishing for pet hogs.  Not my idea of wandering around chasing wild fish.

Thanks for the legal advice guys.  I get my Don Quixote complex every once in awhile.

Dan Curran

[danl]

Brian:  I tried to confirm that statement and found that I could not.  From the link above, the best I could find was this reference to federal laws enacted in 1796;

“What about navigable rivers? While all running waters are held in trust for the public, rivers and streams that are navigable have additional legal status. Public navigation rights, like fishing rights, have been recognized since ancient times. After the American Revolution, the founding fathers moved quickly to ensure public rights to navigate on all navigable rivers and streams. In discussing rivers and their tributaries, the very first law passed by the United States Congress said these “navigable waters,” as well as “the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free” to the public, “without any tax, impost, or duty therefor.” An additional federal law in 1796 confirmed public rights to “all navigable waters.” Note the reference to portable watercraft such as canoes, and the right to carry them from one stretch of river to another. River navigation at the time was in canoes and small boats, using oars and paddles. Canoes and kayaks are thousands of years old. (“Canoe” was an Indian word, and the Eskimo word “kayak” is related to the ancient Greek word for a small boat.) From 1804 to 1806 the Lewis and Clark expedition, sponsored by Congress and President Thomas Jefferson, canoed from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back, carrying their canoes where necessary. (Steamboats were not developed until later in the 1800s.) Also note that government agencies cannot charge fees for river access, and that public rights to rivers are “forever,” not just until landowners try to block them. In 1954, courts held that a canoeist was not trespassing when he pulled his canoe over a landowner’s fence across a stream (pushing down the fence in the process,) continued canoeing on the stream through private land, pulled the canoe up on the bank to get around a log jam, then waded on the streambed to fish, before getting back in the canoe and continuing downstream, leaving the private land. Courts have recognized “a public right of access for fishing and navigation to the point of the high water mark,” adding that the public can “cross private property in order to portage around barriers in the water,” but holding that “the right to portage must be accomplished in the least intrusive manner possible.” In addition, federal courts have held that “all navigable rivers” are subject to the federal navigation servitude, and are therefore open to navigation by the public, regardless of state or private ownership of the beds and banks. For example, the Jackson River in Virginia is navigable because, as the court ruled, “canoes can navigate the upper river without trouble except during the late summer, and canoeing experts consider the Jackson to be a very fine canoeing stream, except for troubles with landowners along the river.” Northwest Ordinance of 1787, 1 Stat. 50. Act of May 18, 1796, 1 Stat. 464. The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806. Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1, 6 L.ed 23 (1824). Elder v. Delcour, 364 Mo. 835, 269 S.W.2d 17 (1954.) Loving v. Alexander, 548 F.Supp. 1079 (1982).”

Almost constitutional????  

[danl]

I guess what really concerns me is that we will end up with the water laws like in England.

[danl]

Chew on this one when you get a chance;

http://www.common-cents.info/glossary.htm

It describes a system that anyone can do to compare most aspects of rod action using pennys as weights, “cents”.

[danl]

You should do what my buddy does.  He gets interested in a new rod, so he buys it for his wife, she trys it a few times, gets tired.  He adds it to his collection.

If you notice your wife starting to buy you diamond earrings, you know she figured it out.

Dan

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