Police ticketing fishermen in Captains Quarters

Basslure...

I understand your question. I will try to answer it from my perspective and hope it helps. Really though, this should be another thread, but I will answer here.

I love fishing. I love the sound of the early morning, the coyotes howling, seeing the eagles soaring, the deer on shore, etc... but I also love competition. I grew up playing organized sports. I played football and later basketball. I was being recruited by Penn State for linebacker when I tore my knee up for the third year in a row. Now it turns out that while I was young, I apparently broke my back also.

So what does that have to do with it? Well as I have aged, my body had continued to deteriorate. I could not continue playing football for fear of not being able to walk, due to knee damage. I eventually had to give up tennis and basketball because of my back. Then bowling... I used to carry a 239 average when I bowled in a league. Now about the only sport I still can compete in is fishing. I can't even fish like I used to now. I can only fish hard, as in tournament hard, for about 4 maybe 5 hours. Not many tournaments that are that short. At the get together, we had a 5 hour tournament. When it was over, I was barely even able to walk, by the time we left the cook out.

I can only surmise that there are many others like me who like to compete. I think that is what drives tournaments, the competition.

Now when I was in school, I also used to compete on a Math team that traveled from school to school and we had competitions.... and I loved chess. Very few people want to play chess, or so it seems to me.

I'd love to see a chess club form. I'd love to see chess competitions begin. I think I could still compete some in those. I don't enjoy it to the point where I'm willing to sit for hours while a guy contemplates a single move though. I also haven't played in so long, I imagine now I would be an easy victim, but that wouldn't last long I feel.

I hope this helps you some.

Danny

DON GET ME WRONG HERE. I LOVE TO FISH JUST AS MUCH AS ANYONE ON THIS BOARD AND HAVE A TON OF MONEY SUNK INTO IT. ALL I AM TRYING TO SAY IS I HEAR ALOT OF PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT THINGS THAT GO ON IN TOURNAMENTS AND IF THEESE THINGS HAPPEN OVER AND OVER THEN THEY SHOULD EITHER GET USED TO IT OR QUIT DOING IT. I AM A PERSON WHO HATES TO HEAR SOMONE COMPLAIN. BELEIVE ME THERE ARE THINGS THAT I AM COMPETITIVE ABOUT, BUT IF THAT IS ALL IT BECOMES IS COMPETITION THEN TO ME THAT TAKES ALL OF THE FUN OUT OF IT FOR ME. FOR ME I CAN BE IN THE BOAT ALL DAY EVERY DAY AND NOT CATCH ANY FISH AND NOT WORRY ABOUT WEIGHING IN A LIMIT AND JUST ENJOY BEING IN THE OUTDOORS. AS A MATTER OF FACT I TRY TO PAY ATTENTION TO TOURNMENT SCHEDULES AND NOT FISH CERTAIN LAKES WHEN THERE HAVING ONE BECAUSE SOME ANGLERS BELEIVE THEY OWN THE WATER BECAUSE THEY PUT UP MONEY TO FISH AND ALL I DID WAS BUY TACKLE,LICENSE AND PAY MY LAUNCH FEE.

Pre-tourney meeting at Barkley State Park last Fri, FLW said they are going to fight this law but needed everyones help to start calling your reps.

Bottom line is it is not aginst the law to fish the Marinas.The
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will tell you when a Marina applys
for a permit to dig out there private property and fill it with the river water it becomes navigable water way.The Pitts up the Miami River is the same deal and the Corps cut the cable when they said you could not enter.
The Corps will not get involved they will tell you thats the law and always has been,problem is are law enforcement is caving in to big money and letting them do it there own way and not the Right way or the legal way.
Wheather you like it or hate it you have the right on the river
to go in all Marinas that have an opening to the River.
I have not looked into the Lake lease yet so Im not sure about that.

I have done the legal research on this issue and detailed that in a post many months ago, and I won't repeat it all here, but ultimately, the use of rivers and lakes under lock and dam is by statute open to public navigation (including fishing)so long as one does not trespass upon the adjacent private land to get there. As for the Captains Quarters, I understand they trenched this out themselves, but nonetheless, they filled the cove with water that belongs to the citizens of this Commonwealth. Does anyone know of a particular case involving the Captains Quarters that has been adjudicated by the Court? If so, please let me know.

I have read every thread on this and will follow up. The ticketing officer is on the Metro Police river squad. I have placed a call into him and I am wanting to hear WHY us fishermen are being ticketed. I for one NEVER ( and I quote) fish against a boat, but will fish the shoreline. The ticket was for unlwafully trapping without written permission. I will keep everyone informed. Just be Alert of what is going on in CQ!!!
Ray

GOD BLESS

Rodney
Tight lines
It is easier to build a child than it is to repair an adult. GOD BLESS

The ticket was not for unlawfully trapping it was for trespassing,and it was not off limits,it was said that you could get a ticket,fish at own risk,NOT OFF LIMITS!we fished the bank and that was it,did not even look at the docks,if it was off limits we would not have been in there,we are fighting it.

Until someone can come up with a real clear version of what happened and what is going? What do we do? How can we fight it? Obviously there will be some big tournaments coming up and this argument is going to show up again and again.

Ray----where did you come up with the "unlawful trapping" story? Did somebody really get a ticket for that? That would be a very silly excuse for a ticket. I have never heard of that one.

The person that got the ticket could get an attorney to represent him and ask the judge to dismiss the case on the basis that the ticket is enforceable under Kentucky Law. For anyone interested, the Kentucky case that disusses the issue of public right to navigable waterways is Pierson V. Coffey, and it is published in book 706 of the Southwest Reporter, page 409. You can read and or copy it at any local law library. Again, I am not sure whether the CQ is exempted from this because they trenched out private property to create the bay, but I would argue that they extended a navigable waterway and in doing so made it open to public navigation.

Is there anyone at FLW that we can talk to about this?