Little Piney Access - Run-In With Landowner

[Gavin]

The NC....when was that term coined? Must have been in the 2002-2005 range..A Friday day float from Vida to the goat farm with Roy Cleveland. Miss that guy..he was a good one...

Anyway, Roy road with me, so he got his turn in the barrel while we ran shuttle and I think we were both a little worried about his safety. Nobody there when we dropped the car in the AM..but there must have been 50-60 NC dug in for the weekend by the time we paddled in around 3pm on a Friday. It was a bad scene; lots of people, lots of beer, no toilet facilities, lifted 4x4's driving through the creek, and not a cute woman in the bunch.

Funniest one was the dude Roy chatted up when we were loaded & ready to go...The "Dude" needed a bath and he was sporting an undersized goodwill brown polyester suit and some new white tennis shoes...Roy just had to ask him why he was all dressed up like an Ozark Pee Wee Herman (He didnt phrase it that way)..........There to meet a girl is what he said..Roy & I both wished him luck, hopped in the car and chuckled are arses off for a good long while. Good Times!

[Stoneroller]

Little Piney River accesses as listed by the almighty MDC are yours to use. Offer to call the cops and the local conservation agent on your cell phone next time she gives you any problems. I'll be making sure to make that area a regular fishing stop this coming season, video camera and cell phone fully charged.

[ozark trout fisher]

I'll be making sure to make that area a regular fishing stop this coming season

I will do the same. The next time I am at Little Piney I will be fishing to Vida Slab to sorta see what this is all about. I'm interested to see if they'll give me any trouble.

But on the same note, I would warn everyone that fishes that area to be extra polite and responsible-that is not to say you should leave if asked (because the landowner has no right to make you leave) but try to not be any more confrontational than you have to, and just politely explain to any landowner that may confront you the legality of the situation, that you will be releasing your fish, picking up any litter you see, stay below the high water mark, and generally be a good citizen. There's no need to make the landowners hate fisherman more than they already do-it will just make it harder on everyone.

[FishinCricket]

Someone could call a local law enforcement official (sherriff, Cons. Agent) and get a written statement explaining the laws regarding this...

[ColdWaterFshr]

The NC....when was that term coined? Must have been in the 2002-2005 range..A Friday day float from Vida to the goat farm with Roy Cleveland. Miss that guy..he was a good one...

Anyway, Roy road with me, so he got his turn in the barrel while we ran shuttle and I think we were both a little worried about his safety. Nobody there when we dropped the car in the AM..but there must have been 50-60 NC dug in for the weekend by the time we paddled in around 3pm on a Friday. It was a bad scene; lots of people, lots of beer, no toilet facilities, lifted 4x4's driving through the creek, and not a cute woman in the bunch.

Funniest one was the dude Roy chatted up when we were loaded & ready to go...The "Dude" needed a bath and he was sporting an undersized goodwill brown polyester suit and some new white tennis shoes...Roy just had to ask him why he was all dressed up like an Ozark Pee Wee Herman (He didnt phrase it that way)..........There to meet a girl is what he said..Roy & I both wished him luck, hopped in the car and chuckled are arses off for a good long while. Good Times!

I remember that trip well, but I don't remember the Pee Wee Herman dude. I've never seen so many locals descend on an access as we did that day. And I think you're right, Gavin - thats when you coined the phrase Newburg-Cong.

Roy was a helluva nice guy.

[Chris Barclay]

Excellent points, guys. It's worth the effort to make known that it's legal.

The lady told me that she had run off someone from Kansas City a few weeks ago. Major bummer.

[itsabigfish]

I had a run in with her this weekend. Found out we are related--my grandmother is her cousin. Long story short, three guys pulled up on a four wheelers and it got real heated after I told them that I wasn't doing anything wrong--the stream is listed as a float stream by the conservation dept. When I told them to call the sheriff, it got uglier. I decided to leave. I called a conservation agent and told him what happened. This afternoon I got a call from the fisheries biologist in Rolla. He told me that she owns that portion of the creek and can fence it off and run people off. If the sheriff had come, I would have been arrested. However, He said, if I was floating in a canoe, she could not have said a word.

As for the details, in phelps county property lines run to the middle of a stream if the property is divided by the creek. If the owner owns both sides, then they own the stream and its bottom, gravel bars, etc.

This is my first post to this forum--I just wanted to keep people from getting into trouble by following the misinformation in the previous posts. I followed it and could have got arrested. She owns the land all the way down to Vida slab, so wade upstream at your own risk.

[mic]

However, He said, if I was floating in a canoe, she could not have said a word.

That is a load of crap. If you can canoe in it, you can walk in it.

[ness]

This is why I always carry. No hillbilly grandma and her inbred spawn are gonna jack up my relaxing day of fishing.

[itsabigfish]

That is a load of crap. If you can canoe in it, you can walk in it.

That's exactly what I thought, but that's not what the fisheries biologist told me.

I'm going to do some research on this and post my results--I'll try to check with the law school here at Mizzou and talk to someone at the conservation department here in town.