Can anyone own a body of water??

[boddah]

Last week I put my canoe in a small lake at the side of a road. The water was 5 feet from the roads shoulder. I fished for maybe 10 minutes when someone from across the lake told me I was "kinda trespassing" so I said sorry and left. I didn't argue because I didn't know the laws,was I in the wrong?? Can someone actually own the water itself?? and is there some sort of road allowance that is public??

Any answers or thoughts??

I don't want to trespass and step on someones toes, I just want to go fishing.

[aniceguy]

always a tricky situation, they might in fact own the land under it and completely around it, but no they dont own the water itself......

[gussser]

THE ROAD SHOULD HAVE SOME SIZE OF UTILITY RIGHT OF WAY---Here in Penna. its 20 ft from centerline of road.

[Terry]

yeah about 33 ft here but..if it's a man made pond..it is his to control as he likes

[brifishrgy]

If the lake is completely surrounded by the property you had to trespass to get on the lake ... try asking politely and telling them catch and release .... found it works ... most people just want to know whats going on in "their" lake

[lunkerbasshunter]

no you cant own water in ontario but you cna own the land around it.

 

its a tricky subject that can be debated either way. however if you boat into it without tresspassing on private property then i dont think you havea problem.

 

like brifishguy mentioned its better to tell them politely that you are catch and release only. most will leave you alone.

 

Cheers!

[singingdog]

Yes, there is a road allowance. Check with the local municapal office to see what it is. It is possible to purchase the road allowance to protect access to a lake or other feature. You can always go to the local assessment office and check the assessment maps: always a good idea when accessing a remote lake. It's amazing how often there will be a concession line that runs into the lake, which you can use as an access point.

 

With very few exceptions, water is public property in Ontario. If you didn't trespass to get on it, then you are good to go. Every once in awhile a lake will actually get assessed as land, and the surrounding landowner will pay taxes on the area of the lake. In that situation, the lake is considered private property. As far as I know, this is a very rare scenario because most landowners will fight having a lake assessed as part of their tax load.

[setomonkey]

The water is usually public, but you might have to cross private property to get into it. Hard to know sometimes with some of those ponds and smaller lakes.

 

Mike

[addict]

same thing happened to me.theres a small lake/pond by my work.ive stopped there several times and caught bass up to 2lbs nothing huge but it kills time in between real trips.decide to toss the war machine canoe in there hooked a nice bass and within about 15min some guy came out of the field on his lawn tractor and told me to leave.hey maybe its the same lake lol.

[Canoe2fish]

I read an article where there was only one instance where a waterway (creek/river) was privately owned in Ontario. If the water was navigable by any watercraft, then it was deemed a public passage. (by water only) If this is a pond or small lake completely surrounded by land (more than road allowance distances) then it would indeed be trespassing.

 

If it (lake or pond with no flowing water) is within road access it could fall into grey area. (Maybe you can only legally have access to that specific spot of the shore only??? I would think a body of water in that instance could be privately owned.

 

I'll try to find it when I get a minute.

[English]

Come to England, you can buy anything with enough money... Oh and if you know a few politicians it really helps I think the most British car being made in Britain now is a Toyota

 

Great swathes of the english countryside, lakes included have been sold off, Madonna, yeah like a virgin girl had a right old toodo with the ramblers (red socks) love them basically your mum and dad taking a walk to preserve the countryside well she bought like half of somewhere and didn't want any visitors shame the footpath was like 500 years old or something, think she lost that one but pay our politicians enough money and I can see that footpath being closed.

 

Regards Clive

[singingdog]

If this is a pond or small lake completely surrounded by land (more than road allowance distances) then it would indeed be trespassing.

 

Crossing the land would be trespassing, but being on the water would not be; unless the landowner had gone to extraordinary lengths to make it so. Landing a float plane - don't laugh, it has been done many times up this way - on a lake that is completly surrounded by private land is not trespassing.

 

There are a couple of huge tracts (50,000 acres) of private land in the Haliburton area - Haliburton Forest being one of them - that have researched this issue quite well.