There were a few birds working this morning in Onset just prior to my catching the first keeper of the year. The stripers were chasing some juvy pogies. Its kind of funny to see the pogy come out of the water followed by a 24" striper. I think somewhere between the pogies forth and fifth attempt at eluding the striper the jumping out of the water on behalf of the juvy pogy stopped working. I heard and saw quite a but of tail slapping bait chasing schoolies, but for all the fish that were apparently around the fishing could have been better.
I met and chatted with everyones favorite "Narrows" landowner this a.m. also. He challenged me to leave as soon as I got out of the old F-250. He told me I was parked on private property and I politely disagreed. He didn't know what to say when I asked him if he had town water, and whether or not he received other services such as snow plowing from the town. His answer was as he looked up at the street light was that "I have to pay for that street light." I told him I have to pay for the one in front of my house to if I want the added security and the town wont pay for it. The gentleman then said I own this land here and I don't want you fishing there. I pointed to the left and said I'm going to fish over here though. He said thats private property too. I told him if ghe cared to call the police to go right ahead and if the officer told me that I was on private property I would be more than happy to leave. He just chose to go to work. The interaction was quite cordial. He mentioned someone blocked his driveway so that his mother couldn't get out. I agreed with him that doing such a thing is extremely rude. I believe this guy is the son of the old fellow that we've all become used to seeing and talking to over the years. He has just moved back home and thinks he is going to bully people into leaving. I didn't get into the old fishing and fowling law because I wanted whatever talk we had to at least be as friendly as possible. He seemed to appreciate the fact that I have picked up rubbish left behind by people who frequent the area. I'm not saying fishermen/women have left the trash behind, but thats always a possibility. If I could make a suggestion here to anyone who fishes the "narrows" and that would be to stopped and take a minute to pick up any litter in the area. I think we would run into less problems with area landowners if we gave back a little something. It used to be years ago that fishermen could go anywhere and fish and no one bothered us. It was the hunter nobody wanted around. Now it us too because of all the rubbish. I go hiking quite often and the one tenant that everyone follows is "if you pack it in you pack it out."

Peace and tight lines all, the swimmer

i'm not up to date on the local landowner relations, but this gentleman sounds similar to a gray gables resident i had the misfortune of meeting several years back (the guy that lives dierectly across from mass maritime).
concerning this narrows area resident, does he actually own the land he claims to?? or has he merely adopted it??
swimmer-
one word of caution...if you decide to invoke the intertidal zone access laws be certain that you can get to the intertidal zone via public property or else the argument is not valid.

I've been witing for the hammer to drop in a spot where I've been fishing and wondering if I would run into the "owner". I hit this spot last week, public access but No Parking signs all over the place. I get down there and trying to be quiet and respectful of the houses there (not exactly sneaky though), already suited up, get my stuff and move out quickly.

But why bother. There are a bunch of teens partying at the end of the road, a half-dozen, double fisting fishermen with lines out and a burning fire on the beach. Trash all over the place, just general disrespect... I hope I do run into the owner. Talk to him nicely and figure out what I can get away with... but more to see what the locals think of it.

BTW - I did remove some trash on the path and through it in the provided trash barrell that nobody seems to notice (but is always there)

Swimmer - nice way to try to work with the guy... And congrats on the first keepah!!!

Swimmer, thanks for the info on the owner of the house at the narrows. You handled that well, I hope to be able to fish there as well and I will pick up any trash I see on my way out.

I know about the guy across from the Mass Maritime, he does own the land under the canal, from what the police told me. They arrested and handcuffed someone who was fishing in the intertidal zone under his house.

It appears when they made the canal they took land away from people but grandfathered the ownership of the land in the canal. After seeing that I knew he was serious about who owned the land it appears this is one of the exceptions to intertidal in the canal.

flyfisher-

i still have serious doubts about that guys ownership claims, but i've never bothered to do any research. i've never heard of anyone owning land under a coastal waterbody, grandfathered or not. intertidal zone or not, the rule of thumb in mass (i thought) was mean low tide mark. also, even if he did own the land, chapter 91 laws prohibit him from doing anything with it anyway. BTW, i wouldn't count on bournes finest having any idea about the intertidal zone laws or waterfront property rights (at least thats the impression i got when they gave me the boot).

I always thought it was mean high tide... But you still needed a Public Access point to enter to where you were in the mean high tide zone...

mean hight tide in ri, mean low in mass...but the intertidal zone between high and low is supposed to be fair game for the purposes of blah blah blah...

I spoke to this individual while he was fishing and he told me that the owner of the house above had no rights to kick him out of that intertidal area and he had every legal right and was prepared. (what a honey hole it was below this house on the right)

The police arrested this guy with handcuffs, he was one of the owners of a bait shop around the canal he was prepared with the law in hand and it did not matter.

I would think if the police are prepared to arrest they must run into this many times and from what I understand he also lost in court.

After checking around it seems this is one of the exceptions about the land around the canal.

The right of way to this place(Gables) is public, but heavy postings of no parking at the entrance.

sounds familiar...when the cop gave us the boot we went willingly, didn't put up any argument, which according to the cop was a good thing since he was prepared to arrest us.
i got a cetified letter from that landowner restating the fact that if we "trespassed" again he'd file charges. some day, i really have got to do some serious research to see if he's full of bs or not.

WOW. I just read this, and I am trying to catch up.

Are you saying that some guy claims to own the land/water in the canal?

Seriously?

It just sounds so silly....(although, in MA it could be true !)

that about sums it up...according to this gentlemen, most of the shoreline west of the railroad bridge is private property, not army corps property. he claims that at one time his lot had more land until the canal was widened and that now some of his lot is actually under water...is it possible?? i don't know, but if it is, it's a one of a kind arrangement.

Yah that hole holds some nice fish that guy has been saying he "owns" that spot for years. Years ago one of the landowners had a seawall that extended out on the MMA side. He would claim you could not go on it and his bullying got everyone to not cross it or stand on it. One day an out-of-stater (tourist) refused to move and the cops came down. He stood his ground and the landowner was told he had no right because of the Intertidal yada yada stuff. There is now a well beaton path over it and "curly" doesn't throw grass clippings at us any more!