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When my husband and I moved into our house in 1988, the subdivision behind us was building a pond. For months, day and night, we lived with the sound of a pump dredging up water. In 1996, our 4 year old son caught the fishing bug. He and I would fish in that pond every summer day, and he caught more fish !!!! In 1998, the subdivision decided to fence the pond off. My son, then 6, couldn't understand why we couldn't fish there anymore. Frankly neither could I since it was about 5 yards away, but we couldn't trespass. So we went looking for another pond and found one about a half mile away. It was in another subdivision, no one lived on the shore of it and the length of it was bordered by the road that went around the island that we lived on. My son gleefully continued his reign, pulling in fish after fish. The second summer we were there, a sweet policeman came up and regretfully told us that the lake had become private for the subdivision and we couldn't fish there. This lake wasn't even fenced in !!! The cop really felt bad having to run us off, he was talking to my son about all the fish he had caught. We never kept any of the fish, we catch and release. We leave the pond like it is when we get there. We never encroached upon anyone else's property. We were so disgusted that we didn't fish at all the next summer because we were afraid that wherever we went we'd get kicked off, plus we aren't any good at salt water fishing. The nearest commercial lake is off the interstate !! Recently we discovered another subdivision with multiple lakes and no " Private " signs, so we might start up again. Such a shame that crotchety old farts spoil a little boy's fun for the sake of privacy !!!! If I were those people, I would keep knocking down the fences and make that jerk keep putting them up !

Quite the lesson you are teaching your kid! "Them Bastards, how dare they keep us out!"

Do yourself and your kid a favor and teach him something. Do a little research and find out who owns the land and ASK instead of being a slob and inviting yourself with out permission.

Sorry to rant, but Tresspassers are SLOBS. I have dealt with them for 30 years and I am tired of it. BTW-In Michigan we no longer have to waste OUR money to post OUR land to inform idiots that like to tresspass to STAY OFF!

The second summer we were there, a sweet policeman came up and regretfully told us that the lake had become private for the subdivision and we couldn't fish there.

I'm curious about this "sweet" policeman. Did he inform you that he was acting on a complaint? Did you ask him who you might contact to address the permission issue and the complaint? Did you try to get permission? Like I said, just curious because of the trespass issue. Were you prepared to sign a release that said that you would hold the property owner harmless in the event that you or you son was injured on the private property? Why did you automatically assume that the owers were crabby old men and not just people who were afraid of liability issues in our increasingly litigous society?