Fisherman/floaters Legal Rights

[Greg]

I have to say I'm kind of shocked that there is any question that these guys (Cricket and the rest of the floaters) did anything wrong? They were floating a navigable stream. And as far as their attitude I thought they showed remarkable restraint. If I had been in their shoes I probably would have been more outspoken towards the deputy and the landowner. And heaven forbid if my somewhat hotheaded 22 year old son had been with me! I think they handled it just right though.

Greg

[Trout Commander]

Ness, are you trying to make a citizens arrest???

I think he was just being a tattle tail (or is it tattle tell? That makes a lot more sense. I think it has just been skewed by Ozarkian accents).

But that does remind me, you remember that Andy Griffith episode where Barney gets all power trippy and it ends with Barney making an illegal u turn after giving Goober a ticket for the same thing? Goober chases him down yelling "Citiz'ens ai'rest citiz'ens ai'rest!!!"

[Trout Commander]

I have to say I'm kind of shocked that there is any question that these guys (Cricket and the rest of the floaters) did anything wrong? They were floating a navigable stream. And as far as their attitude I thought they showed remarkable restraint. If I had been in their shoes I probably would have been more outspoken towards the deputy and the landowner. And heaven forbid if my somewhat hotheaded 22 year old son had been with me! I think they handled it just right though.

Greg

Thanks Greg. It honestly took all I had to not say more. If the float had not of been on a Sunday with work the next day, and had I not ridden with Cricket I would've pushed the issue much further. But as it was I Nessied out with fear of getting arrested and missing work and being stranded in Newton County. :lol:

[FishinCricket]

I have to say I'm kind of shocked that there is any question that these guys (Cricket and the rest of the floaters) did anything wrong? They were floating a navigable stream. And as far as their attitude I thought they showed remarkable restraint. If I had been in their shoes I probably would have been more outspoken towards the deputy and the landowner. And heaven forbid if my somewhat hotheaded 22 year old son had been with me! I think they handled it just right though.

Greg

Thank you for the consideration, Greg.. I'd like to think that comes from giving us the benefit of the doubt in the first place... that's very kind of you

[ozark trout fisher]

Oh, and go take a look at post #56.

You might consider the fact that CWF was making accusations with absolutely no evidence towards Chief and the rest of the folks involved in this thing. Maybe you are letting some of your past disagreements with Chief Greybear color your opinion on this incident (which admittedly would be a pretty easy thing for just about anyone on here to do... )

I do not understand the accusations of wrongdoing based on what I have seen and read here.

[ColdWaterFshr]

C'mon. I never made accusations of wrongdoing of anybody. Watch the video again, then read my original post. The cops and the landowner were after clearly looking for Chief and asked where he was and how you guys knew him. All I said was that I found that VERY curious because we never heard that story originally, did we? That put the whole thing in a different light, at least for me and raised some questions about previous incidents. Whatever those were, we never heard SQUAT about those incidents, did we? And so then as we were told by Chief - the sheriff told him stay away for a while to let things cool off, and he asked you guys to do the same. Why? If he was snow white innocent, its hard to imagine why there would be a warrant for his arrest, why the cops would know him by first name, and why he would agree with the sheriff to stay away. Why did he ask all of you to stay away as well? Missing info, thats all. No accusations on my part.

PLEASE, I encourage ALL of you to go float Shoal Creek this coming weekend, with CHIEF as your guide, get out on the gravel bars, fish and wade and make a big shore lunch right there at the same spot we saw in the video. See where it gets you. You are all so in the right and there is absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing, GO FOR IT. And please video it again.

Might be good to get up another petition

[Al Agnew]

CWF continues to pick at the scab.

I agree that MDC's website is a bit vague. I think the operative phrase is where they said something like "other use of the banks", but even that is vague, in that it doesn't specify uses, and it doesn't specify what kind of banks. Even the trial court wording is slightly vague, although it clearly states that one can camp along the stream and specifically says one can use the gravel bars. The wording is "stream bed, gravel bars, and clearly recognizable area over which the stream flows in its normal stages". I've always taken that to mean that you can use the gravel bars, but once you start up a higher bank of mud, clay, or rock, you're trespassing. As CWF pointed out, "high water mark" is a useless phrase, since the high water mark on many of these streams is a half mile away and 25 feet higher than the stream bed.

[jdmidwest]

Ain't it nice to see more of the real picture?

[FishinCricket]

Whatever those were, we never heard SQUAT about those incidents, did we?

Hard to tell a story about something that didn't happen.

Ain't it nice to see more of the real picture?

Says the one blind fewl to the other...

[woodman]

Alright I remember you guys were their across from me in the quiet eddy fishing when that first guy comes up to the edge of the bank and starts talking to someone on his walky talky or cell phone. I was in my kayak just below him and down stream about 30 foot hanging on to some brush. Then I float on around the corner from you guys to where Chief was. That is where I saw the sheriffs car drive by. I was wondering what part was video taped. It really shows how uninformed the Law Enforcement is about such important laws in Ozark Stream Country..