Posted on 04/16/2023 6:42:51 AM PDT by lowbridge
A video (seen below) of a confrontation on the water that happened March 18, 2023 near Camden, Alabama between a homeowner and anglers fishing in the Fisher’s of Men bass fishing tournament on Millers Ferry went viral. And on Monday April 10, the homeowner Ronald Morgan, 66, was charged with interfering with hunting or fishing per section 9-11-270 as well as menacing. Morgan pulled a gun on the anglers and told them to “go somewhere else” when he didn’t like them being near his dock on the public waters in a separate boat.
Alabama Section 9-11-270 states the following:
No person shall willfully and knowingly prevent, obstruct, impede, disturb, or interfere with, or attempt to prevent, obstruct, impede, disturb or interfere with any person in legally hunting or fishing pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the law of the State of Alabama.
These confrontations are becoming more of a common occurrence because homeowners incorrectly believe that if they place a dock on a public waterway next to their house they suddenly own the public water that is beneath it and surrounding it. That, however, is not the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at wired2fish.com ...
“Get off my pond!”
These days, if Charles Manson rises from the dead as a vampire and breaks into your home at night, you might be allowed to pull your gun in self-defense. So pulling your gun on public property on someone who is not even breaking the law is probably frowned upon.
Personally, I don’t see where this man committed a crime. If you watch the video, his “dock” is really a boat house. Apparently, the fisherman drove their boat into the boat house. I don’t blame the owner for being ticked off. It takes a set of nuts to drive your bass boat into somebody’s covered boat slip. From the sound of it, I think the old man thought these guys were trying to steal something, and that’s why he had a gun with him.
Related legislation from Georgia.
If they pulled into the boat slip, I’d say they crossed a line. Dude’s probably had stuff disappear.
bort wrote: “Personally, I don’t see where this man committed a crime. If you watch the video, his “dock” is really a boat house. Apparently, the fisherman drove their boat into the boat house. I don’t blame the owner for being ticked off. It takes a set of nuts to drive your bass boat into somebody’s covered boat slip. From the sound of it, I think the old man thought these guys were trying to steal something, and that’s why he had a gun with him.”
I don’t think this guy owns the water under his boat house. As long as the fishermen do not touch his dock, they’re legal.
Maybe the solution is to stop people from building docks and buildings on public waterways?
We live on a large Corps of Engineers lake. Petty theft from docks is common.
It’s not uncommon for folks to PROPERLY speak with people a little too curious and close to your dock/boat/property.
Can’t brandish/threaten. Just. Dumb.
Guy seems to have built way out into the lake. I imagine there’s a law restricting dock size. If not, one is needed.
If ya live on a Corps lake, indeed the size of your dock and ramp are subject to permits and inspections.
Don’t know about this waterway.
Maybe they might declare that any dock or building erected on a public waterway becames public property in terms of access. Need to be careful to no obligate the public to pay for maintenance.
“...and that’s why he had a gun with him.”
He never raised the gun or took it from his side during the conversation. It was a deterrent from further escalation like it was designed to do. The water under the dock is not the homeowner’s property. If he wishes to keep people off his dock, he needs to post it or fence it. But the fence cannot be built off his property, the dock. He doesn’t own the water.
We had the same situation here in Washington State with the harvesting of oysters. People fenced their beds and the local tribes, being allowed to have a certain percentage of the harvest, broke into the beds toppling fences to get their share and it is perfectly legal as long as the share is correct.
https://nwifc.org/about-us/shellfish/treaty-rights-faq/#gsc.tab=0
And any disputes have to be initiated by the bed owner and if there isn’t a decision, it goes to federal level from the start.
wy69
Put a gate on your covered slip to keep other boats out. Don’t put anything in it that you’d miss.
Sounds like public waterways are becoming like California beachfront property!
I was thinking the same. Where does the building end? Even in the face of floods and zero insurance, if a person with the money and means could build a an anchored palace on the waters of a river, they will. Or have!
I looked it up Miller’s Ferry Reservoir is indeed a Corps of Engineers lake. The lake nd its shoreline up to a designated flood line are owned by the Corps. You are PERMITTED to have a dock which you own. You own your boat as well.
But. You don’t own the water. Folks on boats have rules as well. Enforced by the Corps and also other fed and state authorities.
When you live on lakeshore property (as we do) of a Corps lake, you have to accept what you can and cannot do on or to the Corps property. Like burn a campfire or cut trees, even harvest dead falls. Similarly you have to accept fishermen being allowed to fish the ENTIRE lake. It takes getting used you when someone IS right next to your dock.
You come to recognize actual fishing behaviors.
At any rate this guy was out of line. Period.
There’s a bunch of YouTube videos of people harassing fishermen near their docks.
Tournament fishermen are absolute A-holes these days.
This clown literally pulled up into his boat slip. He needs to start throwing rocks or slapping water with a paddle. Ruin their fishing so they leave.
Thank you.
Time to get out a hammer and a 2x4 and work on a project.... hammer away merrily out there on the dock until they get out of your personal space. These same A-hole tournament guys lose their mind if you pull up right beside them on the lake or fish “their” spot they scouted.
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