Judge rules much of Mississippi River off limits to anglers

[tunica]

The state of Alabama went one step further. They allow you to navigate but the instant that your decoy weight hits the bottom you at that point are trespassing. Because the land under the "flood water" still belongs to the deed holder

Now I know why those bama boys all have short strings...

[marshman]

Wingman stated:


"But where there's a public road crossing an oxbow, and that public road is paid for and kept up by public tax money, you've got an access to the public oxbow"

What about Lake Jackson in Washington County? Its an old oxbow lake that has a county road running beside it, doesn't cross over it but there is a state run boat ramp there. I've heard from alot of people that you don't want to duck hunt on that lake unless you hire an armed guard to watch your truck and trailor. I guess there are some locals there or some people who have hunted there so long they think they own it. I haven't hunted there because I just don't want the worry of my truck and all belongings being safe but I'd sure like to hunt this lake.

[booger]

marshman - it's the local democrats that will clean you out 365 days a year, not just duck hunters.

They were reaching in the bed of my truck and I was only 20 feet away.

[Don Miller]

marshman - it's the local democrats that will clean you out 365 days a year, not just duck hunters.

They were reaching in the bed of my truck and I was only 20 feet away.

Just ride around with a gator in the bed of your truck. The Democrats will leave it alone.

[tunica]

marshman - it's the local democrats that will clean you out 365 days a year, not just duck hunters.

They were reaching in the bed of my truck and I was only 20 feet away.

Just ride around with a gator in the bed of your truck. The Democrats will leave it alone.

Or post a sign on your trucking " hiring workers"

[Jelly]

I hunted Lake Jackson last year a few times on invites. From my understanding someone owns all the land around including that ramp.. Could be wrong though

[marshman]

The land surrounding Lake Jackson is privately owned from what I understand also. I hear alot of people fish it without any problems but if your there to duck hunt its a different story. And its not the democrats thats causing the problems its other duck hunters who don't want anyone else around. According to MDWFP it is considered a public lake, no different than lake Ferguson, Washington only its smaller. I also hunt on Ferguson and Washington without any problems.

[Wingman]

On Monday, call the MDWFP Jackson office and ask for Tom Holman in Fisheries. He is the boat ramp guy and will be able to tell you if the ramp on Jackson is public or not.


Of course somebody owns the land around these lakes, but the water in the oxbows are still public.

Find a public ramp, access from a public road or get a landowner's permission to put in from his dirt and you can then access the entire lake.

If you go to your Tax Assesor's office, you can find out how wide each ROW is for every road in your county. If there is dry ground between the edge of the ROW and the water in the lake, you have to have landowner permission to cross it.

MDWFP boat ramps are leased from private landowners. We find a landowner willing to lease us 1 or 2 acres, we put a ramp there and lease it for usually 20 years. After the lease runs out, the landowner can re-lease it to us or choose to keep it for himself. But if there is an oxbow and nobody is willing to lease us a spot for a ramp then we can't do anything to get the public access to it.

If all of the privately owned ramps that are open to the public for pay launching were to close, we'd lose most of the access to these oxbows.

[BR549]

I can assure you Lake Jackson and all of Lake Jackson is PRIVATELY OWNED!!!!! Different ownerships but all privately owned. They own the ramps too! They do allow fishing on the lake but NO HUNTING!!

[marshman]

I can assure you Lake Jackson and all of Lake Jackson is PRIVATELY OWNED!!!!! Different ownerships but all privately owned. They own the ramps too! They do allow fishing on the lake but NO HUNTING!!

So what your saying is the lake is privately owned? So I guess Lakes Lee, Washington, and Ferguson are too? According to your logic that would seem so wouldn't it? Or maybe you are one of the few folks who hunt Lake Jackson and want to keep it for yourself!

Thanks Wingman for the response. I will call Jackson next week to see if I can get some info on this.

[Wingman]

Found this neat little feature on mdwfp.com: http://www.mdwfp.com/Level2/Fisheries/r ... places.asp

Type in the name of the lake or river and it will allow you to look up all boat ramps or other info about the water body.

Lake Jackson has a boat ramp and the lake is listed as....you guessed it, an oxbow.

[Jelly]

I can assure you Lake Jackson and all of Lake Jackson is PRIVATELY OWNED!!!!! Different ownerships but all privately owned. They own the ramps too! They do allow fishing on the lake but NO HUNTING!!

So what your saying is the lake is privately owned? So I guess Lakes Lee, Washington, and Ferguson are too? According to your logic that would seem so wouldn't it? Or maybe you are one of the few folks who hunt Lake Jackson and want to keep it for yourself!

Thanks Wingman for the response. I will call Jackson next week to see if I can get some info on this.

I think he's saying the ramps are privately owned. They don't mind people fishing it though. I assume there truely is no public access.

[quackback2um]

The term "tide" as used is mean normal level. This would take in the natural rise and fall gradient differences ie- slight rainfall, rising levels from norhtern rains, etc..

[mudsucker]

The term "tide" as used is mean normal level. This would take in the natural rise and fall gradient differences ie- slight rainfall, rising levels from norhtern rains, etc..

But on the Miss. River, the ACOE uses the term "river stage". This past Aug., there were spots that had neg. stage. 0' is expressed as mean low water(MLW on charts and river surveys) with the exception of New Orleans Dist. who uses something called Mean Low Gulf (MLG) on their hydrographic surveys. So flood stage would not be high tide but a measure of how much water the system could hold with out flooding a certian point out of it's banks. Of course some backwater flooding of places not in a levee system and normaly in a floodplain or low lying land may flood before reaching flood stage at said point.

[Wingman]

Of course some backwater flooding of places not in a levee system and normaly in a floodplain or low lying land may flood before reaching flood stage at said point.

Mudsucker, I think that is the whole reason the Judge made the decision like he did. Some places outside the banks flood even before the river is at or above "official" flood stage.