Downdown Fishing Destroyed by Aquarium and Marine Max

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TheRealMcCoy

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To everyone that is talking about young adults and our kids needing things to do to stay out of trouble why dont they fish....?????.... o wait everywhere downtown is getting over ran with the new river boat for the aquarium.... today the marine max people ran myself and 4 other people off including a ten year old boy and his father. There excuse was that we were destroying property by fishing..... They called the Chattanooga police and the park rangers..... and is that not wasteful spending to run off a ten year old boy and his father with law enforcement common now there is something wrong with that.These people at marine max has ruined the downtown experience for a young boy and to see the look on that boys face when he was told that he had to leave it was so sad. I think something needs to be done about this . This world is full of kids and young adults in need of a hobbies and everyone is trying to take it away from them .... THAT IS WRONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Well, let's all contact Marine Max and let them know these kids would be better off getting into the bad habits that so many of our youths are involved in.
They could do a great service by letting ( if not helping ) kids get into fishing!
Great post, thanks for the input!
 
Well the River Park is just a short ride up the street , and it has fishing piers, and a play ground, not to mention plenty of free parking.. or you could cross the river and fish on the north side at the park over there .. not trying to stir things up .. but there is plenty of free and open areas to fish downtown, right below the Walnut street Bridge and the Market St Bridge.. If it is On Marine Max property they do have the right to ask you to leave... and you also cant fish around most marinas because people abuse the privilege to fish .. leave trash .. and cast toward boats, getting hooks stuck in boat covers etc .. Im not defending Marine Max.. just giving you all the options, and also looking at it from Marine Max point of view.. in a boat there aint much they can say or do about you fishing in around the boat slips, but as soon as you step on their property or a dock.. they then have the right to ask you to leave... maybe they could have done a better job on the attitude about it .. since I wasnt there I cant say on that .. and again not trying to make you mad, or anything
 
right beside the coca cola stage area is where all this went down and they told us at one point we could fish on the concrete off the dock but then we moved over there they told us we couldn't fish there its so stupid i just want all this crap to go away so i can enjoy downtown the way i want to ... and the fishing there is the best fishing there i have found so far.... small mouth , large mouth, strip bass , cat fish, crappie, brim and im sure more but now common how could you turn down a fishing spot like that ..... i cant and im going to do all i can to stop it that is public water and if people can walk , ride bike and do everyday things they love out there and enjoy the millions of dollars spent on that place why cant us fishermen enjoy it too. why are we so different for anyone else
 
Check the law: I may be mistaken, BUT, if it's out in the water, it's open game.
In other words, if you build a dock and it is in the lake-river, anyone can sit on it. You may think you own the dock, but it is in navigable waters.
Sort of like owning lake property, you only own what TVA or the Corps doesn't own, and you usually have a 6-20 foot easement that you bought from TVA/Corps. People can pull up on the bank and party down, as long as they are on TVA property, which is usually the high water mark.
My be wrong on all this, BUT maybe not.
Take your son fishing, before he gets too old, like 16, and then ; he'll be 20 something before he gets intersted again.
I think I heard that from a TVA police officer.
 
Please do not start 2 exactly the same threads!!!!!

I have deleted the one in Off Topics and the post members made there are now gone. This one had more replies so it stays.
Thanks!
 
Aren't there signs in the areas downtown that say "no fishing"?
 
I'm with NRG on this one... Just go up and look at the Riverpark where bank fishing is allowed. TRASH EVERYWHERE! The people at MarineMax just don't want their marina and the downtown riverfront turning into what that area looks like.
 
Fishin' Junkie - 5/27/2010 9:23 AM I'm with NRG on this one... Just go up and look at the Riverpark where bank fishing is allowed. TRASH EVERYWHERE! The people at MarineMax just don't want their marina and the downtown riverfront turning into what that area looks like.
Click to expand...
</p>

welll then they need to stop tourists and all the other people in the world coming down there and using the public park .... key word public</p>

</p>
 
It was explained on FRED the show this morning by the head of Chattanooga's park and recreation dept. He explained that his department was given the authority to make those "fishing/no fishing" areas of the downtown area and they pretty much do not allow fishing there any longer. He went on to say his department asked the folks at Marine Max to "manage" the no fishing area. I guess that means to run people off when they see them fishing. He said there should be enough fishing areas already up and down the riverpark. He did mention safety of others from being exposed to fishing hooks, line, and smelly trash (left over bait) left behind by people who fished down there frequently.

He also mentioned that there should be signs posted, but people take them down often. (And keep on fishing)

I must admit, however, if someone from Marine Max told me to stop fishing I would have laughed at him and kept on fishing. In my mind if there are no visible signs, I would have only stopped fishing if a TWRA officer, TVA police, or possible Chattanooga City or Hamilton County policeman told me to.
 
I was present when the incident took place.It began with the captian from the cruiser rudely asking me and three others to not fish.I asked if he were the owner of the slab of concrete me and three others were on.He said no, I am the captian of that boat.I was confused about a boat captian to tell me to stop fishing after 12 years of fishing the same spot.Not to mention I have never been harrassed or witnessed anyone being hassled, and NOT by a boat captian.At this point we all continued to fished, when I look up to see five hard working chattanooga police officers acompanied by park rangers walking from 300 yrds from their parked cruisers.they make their way to a golf cart that was parked, and proceeded our way.The officers told us that marine max said there is no fishing on ANY of the concrete from one bridge to the other. There are no no-fishing signs posted where we were standing, and we were still run off. And SDP the father of that child was present. I dont think the guy was making wrong choices by letting his son fish.The father exsplained to the now 6 officers that he comes 4-5 times weekly to let his children fish and there had never been anthing said before.They say theres nothing we can do but ask you to leave. This boys face fell toward the ground as he and his irate father mope away leaving a hell of a bite. The whole way home I was thinking of how my kids would feel. He was interested in the jigs i had learned to tie. I was telling him where he could get all of the supplies. He replied exstatic by say that will be awsome today was the last school day so its perfect time to learn a hobby at a young age. Not to mention this kid caught 6spot 3stripe 2 crappie(keepers) a cat fish and a large mouth in an hour. I guess maybe I have just learned to live and let live, so i didnt want conflict with the marine max guys. me and another guy were heading out when i turned to Kenny Hixson of marine max and said thanks guys I promise I wont run your grandkids off a fishing area when your gone someday.He replied with a very vulger reply f--- y--. the gentleman beside me reminded him of how proffesional that kind of comment was while he representing marine max with a nice shiny name tag. SO to sum it all up I just hope this city gets their head out of their intestants and tells marine max to go pound sand until then I WILL continue to fish the same area until twra shows or the cuffs come out. Until then if you know kenny hixson tell him to wear his swim trunks next time he comes down......
 
"The officers told us that marine max said there is no fishing on ANY of the concrete from one bridge to the other.....They say theres nothing we can do but ask you to leave."

OK, so now you have been informed by the police that there is no fishing there, despite the fact that there may have been fishing allowed in the past. It also sounds like the police politely asked you to leave.

"until then I WILL continue to fish the same area until twra shows or the cuffs come out. Until then if you know kenny hixson tell him to wear his swim trunks next time he comes down......"

I'm kind of stumped by your live and let live comment, then you threaten to not only go back until you are (and then should be) arrested, but to assualt someone besides (and should then be arrested again). Care to explain just how this is the right thing and why you intend to do it??
 
Was it not Marine Max that had the ramp at the Dam blocked for an hour and a half last fall? Who gave them the license to the river/lake?
 
I'm pretty sure 690 below the dam would include an awfully big chunk of Chattanooga.................
 
ok
1) the officers were very polite to all. When they arrived they informed us that we coud not fish exactly where we were standing according to marine max. we all agreed to dissperse and continued to fish. At this point every thing had been resolved. Ten min later we were told we couldnt fish there either wich did not have ANY posted no fishing. There were people 50 yrds away that never had a problem. I feel as if we were targeted because we were to close to the aquarium cruiser aka "money maker".

now.

2)I am a very layed back guy sir. If you were there or maybe knew me you might understand. we were all very coroperative and polite with all of them.If this kenny guy didnt exsist none of this would have happened. Just think you wouldnt be stumped about a local/ tax payer/chattanooga employee/father being disturbed about being told you can not fish where your father once took you to fish. chattanooga is known country wide as tennessee's river city. Our city revolves around our river and has for years. Are you telling me that out of all the fisherman on this forum nobody even older folks dont see how chattanooga is commercializing our entire rver front.


And I am very sorry if I have affended anyone by stating facts and my opinion on how I feel about the situation.
 
Dropshot - 5/27/2010 7:13 PM

Was it not Marine Max that had the ramp at the Dam blocked for an hour and a half last fall? Who gave them the license to the river/lake?
Click to expand...

sounds right to my recalection ds.
 
Heard a call from a guy named Steve on talk radio today asking about who was in charge along the downtown area of the river bank.
Jeff Styles got in touch with some guy involved with Parks & Recreation and he said Marine Max was put in charge of managing the downtown area along the shoreline.
He pretty much said they didn't have a problem until they kept having to clean up all the trash ( worm and bait containers, old hooks and wads of fishing line)
Same crap we all see,so if you're a bank fisherman you might do yourself a favor in keeping your favorite spots clean. Might not hurt to carry a small garbage bag with you and pigk up trash that the boneheads left behind. emoThumbsup
 
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