Private Property Access

[FlatsNBay]

Let's hear about that private property honey hole that you're dying to fish. Have you gotten access yet? What methods have you tried in order to give you permission to fish?

I've got this one little Lake that's supposed to be great. One of my buddies used to fish it as a kid and he used to catch lots of really nice fish.

Its a wooded piece of property so I found the owners information from the property appraisers website. I sent a couple of letters introducing myself and asked permission to take my daughter fishing in their lake. I also volunteered to keep trespassers out, help maintain the fences and gates and to pick up trash. I never got a response. Dang it!

Any success stories?

[D.W. Verts]

Black clothing, go at night, and wire cutters. Well, maybe when I was 14...

Dale

[Smallie_Stalker]

Back in the day a polite ask and an offer to clean up and help keep it clean went a long way. Back then I found it mostly depended on the age of the homeowner. The majority of older folks were happy to oblige while younger people tended to refuse, sometimes rudely.

As one example, an old fishing club buddy of mine knew a lady with a small lake/large pond on her gated property. Her husband had been an angler before he passed but she didn't know anything about the fish in there.

She was getting on in years and was having trouble keeping up with the property so we offered to mow her entire property on a regular basis and do other work she needed in exchange for being able to fish that water. We also promised not to leave any trash behind.

She agreed and gave keys to the gates to my friend who knew her.

We fished there off and on for about 8 years or so before she passed.

And yeah, there were bass in there. And I mean BASS!!!  Biggest one I saw taken out of there was just over 7 pounds.


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[Wizard]

I would try to meet the owner face to face. Tell the owner you will police trash, be respectful and inform him when you arrive and leave. Ask if the owner would like some cleaned fish. Usually, I was allowed to fish. I got the name and address of the owner and sent a small gift near the holidays. Next time I wan1ted to fish the property, I was heartily allowed.
My best pond: near Hoene Springs, Missouri, 20 miles from St. Louis. I met the owner while playing tennis. Over a drink, he talked about an 800 acre property near St. Louis he had bought that had two ponds. The property has a 7 acre Catfish pond about 15 foot deep and a 5 acre pond about 40 deep with Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Green Sunfish and Carp. Both ponds were about 100 years old and had not been fished in 40 + years. My first visit was in the Spring. I walked to the shore, looked down and saw a heck of a lot of Blugill nests containing decent sized fish. I caught over 50 huge gills in 2-3 hours of fishing. I only kept 1 Blugill. It is the 2 lb 4 oz brute which occupies my man cave. This is likely the best water I have fished anywhere in the country. I told a little of this property when I joined UB years ago. I'll pass on other stories of these lakes in the future.

Wizard