This is in New York:

The other day I was wading in a river and near a bridge. There were two gentlemen on the bridge and we got into a discussion about wading and legal issues. It seems as though the land on one side of the river is posted by the owner. Okay, so I know no one is allowed to cross his land in order to get to the river. However, these gentlemen said that the owner claims to own the property 1/2 way into the river, that includes the river bottom, and you are not allowed to wade on his side! Now I don't know if this river is considered as 'navigable' or not and don'tknow if that matters. This is the first time I've heard about this type of law. I know that there are places on the Salmon River, the Willowemoc and a few others that has a separate ruling, but these are because the property on both sides of the river are owned by the same landowner. On other rivers I've fished, like the branches and main stem of the Delaware, the Beaverkill, Willow, Neversink, Conhocton, Genny and others, I've always thought that wading is permitted up to the 'high water mark'.

So, do any of you KNOW the facts about this? Can you reference and cite the specific ruling or regulation. I'd like to be able to respond to this landowner because I'd like to fish there again and would like to know what I'm getting into or maybe should stay out of.

Thanks.

Deezel