One of the most popular stretches to float/fish the Madison River below Quake Lake is from Lyon’s Bridge downstream about 10 miles to the public takeout.
Above Lyon’s Bridge you are not allowed to fish from a boat.
From Lyon’s Bridge to the public takeout, a company owns the land on both sides of the river. You may not step out of the boat to do anything ( on the land). You can’t get out of the boat and enjoy your lunch…you can’t go on the adjacent land to urinate. It must be done from the boat.
That company sells fairly large parcels to millionaires for their mini-ranches.
All the efforts to maintain the fishery in the river are either tax supported or done through conservation groups and their contributors.
It seems a shame that the state cannot declare 10 ft. Or so on each side of the river as public - even if it means compensating the landowner. After all, the state is largely responsible for making that river so valuable in the first place. And the state is the people.
Well, it beats Co. where they own the bottom also. You can’t get out of the boat and touch the bottom even if it’s waist deep. Any alleviation of the rules would involve politicians so probably a dead end street.
I think the government using eminent domain to take 10 ft of land from a private landowner would be a shame. I support public access to the high water mark, but I’m not on board with what you’re suggesting.
Here in OK, property owners own the land under the water to halfway between the banks. One of my local lakes is stocked with Trout in the winter. Most of the fish head up the feeder creek. That creek has private property on both sides. At least one of those land-owners is hostile towards fishermen. Under OK law, if I drop anchor in the creek, I’m technically trespassing.
In Georgia, the if the landowner owns both banks, they own the water, you can’t even float it. There has been at least one case where a guy in a boat was shot by the landowner, who walked away a free man. I am under the impression the landowners have to do their own stocking and there are several high end fishing resorts or lodges along these stretches.
My understanding of the law is that as long as you stay below the high water, you may exit a watercraft. The high water mark is defined as that point where aquatic vegetation changes to terrestrial vegetation. Basically, you cannot walk on grass. If you are walking or standing below the grass line you are OK.
Silver,
Agree with that. That is why I said you can’t get out of the boat and have your lunch on the riverbank (land). The river section I’m talking about has no dry river bed.
Here is what Sun West says about their exclusive bank access:
he Madison. The river attracts world-renowned fly fisherman, and any angler enthusiast has been on this river or wants to be?it?s the favorite of everyone from big-name anglers like Bud Lilly to the dry-fly purists who travel across the country or across the globe to get here.
Sun West Ranch has three miles of the miracle Madison running through it, an exceptionally productive section that was not fished for many years when this particular stretch was closed as part of a study conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Now it?s open, and access from the banks on the Ranch is reserved for Sun West residents and guests while the state-maintained catch-and-release program assures the river?s abundance of trout is always waiting for your fly.
Montana’s access law is still one of the best in the country. I suppose there are places on rivers all through Montana where it is tough to stay below the high water mark. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. Is there no room below the high water mark for the entire three miles?
I’ve read in a few different sources, that it’s ALWAYS a good idea to know the Riparian Rights of the State you are fishing in. Just looking at various interpretations each State has, just in this thread, is proof of that.
The riparian laws were written long ago by legislatures which were sponsored by the agrarian components of the society. This led to laws which favored the landowners, almost exclusively. It has also led to the destruction of trout populations in many areas over the years due to reservoirs being built and maintained to satisfy the power company or the irrigating farmers with little or no regard to the needs of reproductive minimum flows in the rivers.
May be little that can be done about it, but it doesn’t mean I need to like it.
Sorta reminds me of those multi-page car rental agreements. Who wrote the agreements and who were they written to protect?
I have done only a little investigation into this organization but the little I know they appear legit and doing some good work in regards to stream access; http://www.nationalrivers.org/
I floated many years ago before it was the Sun West Ranch.
I may be wrong but I think Sun West and the Sun Ranch on the east side of Hwy 287 were at one time the original Sun Ranch. I’ve had a tour of the Sun Ranch with some graduate students from my alma mater who were mapping ancient Native American artifacts but I’ve never been on the Sun West Ranch.
Thanks. I was already aware of that ruling.
Unfortunately, it does nothing for the situation I mention in regard to Sun West and other property owners on the Madison.
The stretch I refer to is not suitable for wading. As the Sun West promotion I quoted heralds, it would be good for bank fishing ( besides floating…as long as you don’t exit the boat on the banks).
Here on Kauai, resorts are built next to each other all along some of the best beaches. Although anyone can be on the beach below high tide mark, if you can’t get to the beach, that guarantee is worthless. So, the County required the resort developers to provide a public path at the edge of their property so that the public have a means of reaching the public area of the beaches…it was not done through eminent domain, it was a requirement of development plan approval.
Much like cities requiring large subdivisions to dedicate park space and, in some cases, school property within a large subdivision’s plans prior to approval…