"SIR"

[lunkerslayer]

https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2023/03...the-water-when-asked-to-get-off-the-property/

He's all legal beagle now

 

[Allen]

https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2023/03...the-water-when-asked-to-get-off-the-property/

He's all legal beagle now

There's a good chance he was legal beforehand. In many states, including here in ND, the adjoining landowner owns the land down to the Ordinary High Water Mark on navigable streams, not the water's surface. It gets a little more complicated when talking about non-navigable streams and waters of the State.

 

[wslayer]

If you are touching ground, you can be considered trespassing Asked a warden about that concerning fishing at Alkaline 2 yrs ago. If I would not have stepped foot off of the section line, I was good. But as soon as I moved up the shorelone, it was a no-no.That goes for wading in the water also.

 

[espringers]

oh boy... this again.... believe it or not, i think allen is completely correct. it is my understanding as well that the public has a right of way along all shorelines up to the ordinary high water mark of "navigable" waters in the state of north dakota. the term "navigable" is the issue here. i would have to look again. but, if i remember right, at statehood, there was a definitive list and that list has or can not be diminished as far as i know. and there are arguments to be made for other bodies also being navigable. what that means from a legal perspective is that you can stand on someone else's shoreline/beach below the ordinary high water mark and wet a line and not be trespassing. sorta mind blowing to think i could plop a lawn chair down in front of someone's million dollar home on devils lake and make a day of it. but, that's the state of the law as i understand it.

the trick, as was alluded to in the video, is accessing said beach without trespassing to get to it. which can be done by meandering down the shoreline from a point of public access or by watercraft of course.

 

[lunkerslayer]

So the majority of people who fish the Coulees in the spring are actually trespassing on private property?

 

[espringers]

i assume you meant to say "aren't"? couple of things... i think its debatable whether those northern feeder coulees are part of navigable devils lake. but, the other thing is that those coulees are at or above their ordinary high water mark in the spring. so, even if they met the state's legal definition of navigable, you would have a hard time being below the ordinary high water mark.

 

[lunkerslayer]

But you would have to be standing in the water to be considered legal correct

 

[espringers]

yes. to even have a chance at being legal in those coulees in the spring, i would venture a guess that they would have to be standing in the water. i did extensive research on this for a couple of fellas who were charged with hunting out of a boat on the shores of devils lake a decade or more back as they were accused of having beached said boat and standing on shore. i can't think of their names now so i am having trouble finding the letter to the SA outlining the state of the law at the time. and since it was 10+ years ago, i am also uncertain of exactly what i dug up... especially when it came to what waters are clearly legally navigable in present times. but, devils lake certainly was a navigable body of water and the above discussion of ordinary high water marks on navigable waters is accurate as i remember it.

 

[Bauer]

Seems to me, a number of years back fishing the Rainy River at ice out, I had a couple options I had to deal with beings the river is half Canadian waters and half US waters.
- I needed a fishing license for both to be able to fish either side
- If I used an electronic anchor (spot lock) on the Canadian side I was legal
- If I dropped a manual anchor that touched Canadian soil whether flooded or not, I needed a remote area border crossing permit as I was making contact with foreign soil.

Rules can be so fun to try to understand and follow.

 

[Tikka280ai]

A couple years ago a warden ticketed 2 blue platers or sconi's duck hunting on a slough that was posted but had a right of way access via road ditch. They were ticket because they stepped out of their canoe. According to the warden they would have been fine if they and or their dog did not touch bottom. Slough was totally posted between my family and the adjacent land owner.

Probably wouldn't have been called in if they hadn't blocked half the already narrow road through the slough with their pickup

 

[wslayer]

Many of you may know where this is on Alkaline Lake. Spot marked is what I am referring to. We came down the section line on 44th and proceeded down to the waterline. Friend fished from shore, I was in waders. We were kicked off the property, even though we were on the section line. I waded slightly to the west off section line. We left as to not raise a stink about a little shore fishing. Talked later that day with a warden about situation and was told if we stayed exactly on the "section line only" , we would have been ok. I told him I was wading in the water and he said if I was touching ground "off" section line , it could be considered trespassing.

 

[lunkerslayer]

I got one even better a section line and ROW easement closed by way of the county commissioner. Since the same landowner owns both sides of the section line he was able to get this section line closed to public traffic.
Looking at your pic im sure this is the same rules that were stated with above picture