Golf Course Pond Bass Flyfishing = Super A #1 Fun Time With Cool Pix 4 U

[Brian K. Shaffer]

I just remembered, I got run off from one of my hi-highfalutin golf course ponds in Houston TX (RavCC) growing up... we used to get shot at by Marshals flinging rock salt at us, from little potato guns! This was 1987-89.. we used to sneak onto that *well stocked* catfish course to catch dinner.. no lie. I wasnt sport fishing - I was meat eating for cats .. our parents used to ask us to do it. and I remember sneaking my friends car out at 1am to go buy chicken livers... and we got stopped by the cops.. and he let us go.. cause he knew we were just dumb kids sneaking out his dads car to go cat fishing..

[Forsythian]

Send me a note sometime Brian, sounds like fun. I could return the favor with some creek spots.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Are you gonna guess the course name ? Forysthian..... H/H

[cpriest]

Crazy story about the pet smallmouth and electric fence.

When i first started fly fishing I was at the UofA and had not spent much time in the outdoors. Needless to say I grabbed ahold of the electric fence to step over it, not knowing what it was, and manage to get one leg over before the current caught up to me. I didn't have any clue what had happene for at least 30 seconds till I realized the fence was hot. I still curse that fence every time I go. The fishing is still quite good down there.

This is almost needing its own sub forum. I say we name it urban fishing. Creeks running through town, golf course ponds, ect!

[Forsythian]

Are you gonna guess the course name ? Forysthian..... H/H

I didn't want to give it away. It looks like the one near the bowling alley. Hole #2 is a short par 3 over water. Hole #6 is a longer par 3 over water. Hole #8 is the only par 5 on the course. I used to play it all the time when I worked local. You could play for $25 after 3pm. One of the guys i played with snuck a pocket fisherman in his bag, rigged with a plastic worm. A nice bass broke him off on the first cast on the pond alongside #5, otherwise it would have been quite a spectacle on a crowded course.

[On The Fly 6]

I wanna get in on this sometime! If I can get out of baby duties, I'd love to do some pond or stream fishing!

[remi74]

In the past, I have had issues in which I have had to make phone calls to the county road dept., and various branches of law enforcement and AGFC. You can access the stream from the bridge BUT if the stream is not deemed navigable by Arkansas law, you need permission and are technically trespassing even if on a stretch of rural stream. Even though the Illinois River is floatable, it is not navigable. You can be on the water and be legal but once you step foot in that stream, you are trespassing. AGFC will ticket if necessary. They will side with the property owners first. There are not any streams in NWA that are considered navigable. Blessings Golf Course has said to stay off of it. I called and pitched a fit because I had been fishing there for ages. In all honesty, I am love the fact that these streams are not open to the public because the streams are not respected - check out the AGFC on Chambers Rd. A portion of the Illinois, White, Richland and below the dam are legal access. You can access the Illinois but once you are out and not in the National Forest - not counting the farmland - you are trespassing. Not even all of the Kings River is navigable. You can float any stream because the landowners don't own the water and you can catch the fish because they don't own those either. If someone owns one side of the stream, they own to the middle of it. If both sides are owned then the they own the whole stream bed. I have had to make calls and knock on a few doors and sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes, you find out that a property owner will say NO and the others will say yes and you end up wading to the other side of the stream.

[Jason R.]

In the past, I have had issues in which I have had to make phone calls to the county road dept., and various branches of law enforcement and AGFC. You can access the stream from the bridge BUT if the stream is not deemed navigable by Arkansas law, you need permission and are technically trespassing even if on a stretch of rural stream. Even though the Illinois River is floatable, it is not navigable. You can be on the water and be legal but once you step foot in that stream, you are trespassing. AGFC will ticket if necessary. They will side with the property owners first. There are not any streams in NWA that are considered navigable. Blessings Golf Course has said to stay off of it. I called and pitched a fit because I had been fishing there for ages. In all honesty, I am love the fact that these streams are not open to the public because the streams are not respected - check out the AGFC on Chambers Rd. A portion of the Illinois, White, Richland and below the dam are legal access. You can access the Illinois but once you are out and not in the National Forest - not counting the farmland - you are trespassing. Not even all of the Kings River is navigable. You can float any stream because the landowners don't own the water and you can catch the fish because they don't own those either. If someone owns one side of the stream, they own to the middle of it. If both sides are owned then the they own the whole stream bed. I have had to make calls and knock on a few doors and sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes, you find out that a property owner will say NO and the others will say yes and you end up wading to the other side of the stream.

I fished every one of those streams in and around Fayetteville in college and grad school. Got run off by landowners very rarely. The guy that owns the Creeks golf course ran me off once- never had trouble at the blessings. I got chased by a landowner in a truck out at one particular stream- I just ran and hopped the fence. My rule of thumb was to park my truck in an innocuous spot and then stay in the stream bed- usually nobody cared. There are some decent small mouth in places you do not expect them to be.

[remi74]

Jason, I do believe the owner of the course is Brett Hash who also seems to be selling all that land around the area to developers and i believe another family member is a cop there. The father owns the house by the bridge and he came out threatening me because I had scared one of his neighbors so badly just by wading that she wouldn't come oout of the house. I made my calls to verify I was in the right - which I kind of was - several neighbors had no issue with me there and I had talked to Mr.Hash several times in the past. He at first treated me like crap but we ironed out our differences. He said he was having trouble with stuff below the bridge. The county dept. said he was upset because they are building a new bridge there and taking some of his yard. I have been fishing there since before the houses and course. I parked across from his house and he said I was trespassing on his land and that he owned the whole road because it was blocked off at the bridge. Then he said his son was selling the land next to it and he knew the owner and was going to call him. Then he said he had my tag number and name. I asked him my name and he said he would find out. He tried to scare me off but I didn't blink an eye. Told him that he and I had spoke several times in the past and that I knew his orthodontist neighbor. Well, I also found out from another neighbor that the lady who I supposedly scared just by fishing in the stream doesn't even want her neighbors wading or floating in the stream behind her house. The stream biologist, field agent and county road dept, all said I accessed the stream legally and parked legally and that the road still belongs to the county. I was told to get permission from land owners - of which I technically already had done. Mr.Hash said he had no issue with me until his lady neighbor friend had issues and they were scared because of issues at the bridge and the orthodontist got busted for a meth lab?? and a new bridge was coming through their neighborhood. After speaking with him on the phone and stopping by and speaking with neighbors, I'm cool - except for that woman who won't come to the door and is pissed off that her neighbors don't have a problem with me much less even spoke with me. I still feel Mr.Hash doesn't want me there and his neighbor has begged him to call the cops on me. Being as there are empty lots and the orthodontist home is still empty, I don't feel like asking permission to fish there - because from my experience, once a golf course and gated communities come in (and with lousy AR stream laws) they don't want anyone there because we don't belong to the upper crust. So, I will fish better waters to the north and spend my $$ in another state.