DHauns post "Commercial Fishing Regulations"

[jcv]

Recently an apparant commercial fisherman dropped an anchor for his long net on my property as a starting point out into the lake and when I approached him stating that I swim along my property and would he kindly move his net rig further out he told me that it was all public property.
I did not appreciate his arrogance.
If I got cought in his net along the shore while TVA was pulling water I question my survival chances.
Does anyone know if he is legal or correct in his statement/attitude?
Any info would be appreciated.
jcv

 

[DHaun]

That's a tough one jcv...I personally have no clue as I am not an authority. That's a good one for the TWRA to determine in my opinion...lots of room for interpretation I would think based on the details of the orientation of your property with respect to the river and the exact placement of the anchor and the rest of the net. Also, whether the placement was legal and the angler was licensed may have some bearing.

I did spend several minutes checking out the regulations and there is very little defined as to what is private/public property with respect to anchoring a net. However, I did find one interesting excerpt on page 2. Note: This is an out of context excerpt so I recommend verifying with TWRA on this.

http://www.state.tn.us/twra/fish/Commercial/TN_com_reg_08.pdf

"Rivers – "River" means that body of water confined within the identifiable banks. At high river stage, oxbows, sloughs, and backwaters accessible by boat from the river are open to commercial fishing, but are considered private waters and may be fished only with permission of landowner."

 

[Fishin Fool]

Well the attitude certainly isn't correct. I would simply call TWRA and have an officer come to your property and show him the net/rig. Sad that you'll have to through that and he could not have just been a decent person and understood your concerns.