He's the manager, not the owner and he is not user friendly. Unless  you step out onto the property its likely an empty threat. I've called Yolo County Sheriffs Department for an answer which  will be posted.

Here is a rather long post I found from another site from 2000, so it may not be current:

Basically, in California you can just about fish anywhere as long as you don't trespass on private property to get to the water. "Navigable" streams are public property to the high water mark, so you can wade in the stream and up to the high water mark on shore. Court decisions say that, if you can float on it for recreation, it is "navigable" -- and I think that if the river is suitable for just about any recreational use, it is "navigable" and therefore you can fish it if you can access it legally.

Below is a post I put on this board about a year ago. It's long as hell, but I think it pretty well covers the whole area of stream rights in California.

"In California there is no one statute that lays out the law of public access rights versus private property rights. You must look at the State Constitution, numerous court decisions, and a mish mash of state and local ordinances which are scattered all over the place. To make matters worse, public access rights usually are determined by the courts on a case by case basis for each fishery involved and there is no way of telling whether the Court will agree with you if get arrested for trespassing. You also might need to examine the public title records to determine what rights a particular private landowner actually has. Its a mess.

Below are points I gathered from my research:

1. Under the Public Trust Doctrine, as stated in the California Constitution and interpreted by the courts, the State owns the land underneath navigable water and holds it in trust for public recreational use and other appropriate use.

2. Court decisions hold that water is Navigable, as applied to non-tidal water like lakes and mountain streams, if the water can be navigated by small recreational or pleasure boats (kayaks, row boats, electric prams, rafts).

3. If you can legally gain access to navigable water without trespassing over private property, you have a constitutional right to wade and fish the river or lake, in addition to floating it.

4. You can wade and walk the banks of legally accessed navigable water up to the high water mark. The State has a public easement to the high water mark for non-tidal waters and owns the land under tidal water up to the high water mark. (Sometimes high water mark is a technical legal question. Usually, high water mark refers to the normal high water mark, not some unusual flood situation. For rivers, high water mark usually means the line at which permanent vegetation begins. For lakes, it is the normal high water mark, not the high water mark from unusual flooding.)

5. Tidal waters or waters affected by tidal influence are automatically subject to the public trust doctrine, whether they are navigable in fact or not. Streams which impact any navigable waters also are subject to the public trust doctrine whether these streams are navigable in fact or not. In addition, the legislature lists several rivers and waters which are declared to be navigable as a matter of law (e.g., Lower Sacramento River). Other rivers and lakes are held to be navigable by court decision (e.g., Fall River, American River, parts of the Russian River).

6. If a private owner obstructs the lawful recreational use of navigable water, he/she is legally liable for having created a nuisance. It is also a crime.

7. By court decision, you may access navigable rivers from state bridge crossings, on the basis that such use of the States highway easement is not unreasonable. However, it is possible in any specific situation that State or County regulations, or the Easement grant, might prohibit such use. Generally, unless the State says otherwise, you do not automatically have a right of access to a river from the States highway easement from a road which runs along side of a river on private property; it is only when the highway crosses the river (i.e., a bridge) that there is a right of access from the states highway easement for repairs.

8. You also can access navigable rivers through public easements provided for that purpose, or by permission of the owner of private land abutting the water. Municipalities must provide unobstructed access to navigable waters in or adjacent to its boundaries, and neither the city nor private landowners can interfere with public access.

9. There are Fish and Game Code provisions which require the owner of a dam to accord to the public for the purpose of fishing, the right of access to the waters impounded by the dam during the fishing season of the stream or river feeding the dam. This right is subject to regulations of the Fish and Game Commission.

10. As to non-navigable water on private land, the public generally does not have a right to access these waters. The Public Trust Doctrine does not apply to non-navigable water (i.e., water too small or shallow for a boat), except where a) the non-navigable water affects tide water, such as tributary streams which pour into a river which is affected by tides, or b) where the non-navigable water impacts navigable water. (You still cannot trespass on private land to access such water.)

11. The private landowner owns to the midpoint of a non-navigable stream, or he/she can own the land under an entire non-navigable lake or river that is situated entirely on his/her property.

12. By logical conclusion, if the landower on the East side of a non-navigable river objects to you fishing it, but the West side land owner says it is O.K. to fish, then you can fish and wade the river from the West side up to the mid-point of river.

13. It is possible that the public may have a right to fish non-navigable waters on private land, if the landowners deed reserves a public access, or if the public has obtained prescriptive fishing rights due to long time custom and usage. You would need to do some homework, here, like examining the public title records to see if there are any reserved public fishing rights.

It would seem, then, that the public has the right to fish most waters in this state, as a general proposition. The problem with all of this is that you cannot be absolutely sure of the private landowners rights, even where the water is navigable or appears to be navigable. The question of what is "navigable is decided by the courts on a case by case basis, depending on the needs of the particular water resource involved. So unless there is a court case or legislative enactment declaring the water navigable, you can never know whether the court will agree with your determination of navigable in the event that you are arrested for trespassing. The water may appear to the eye to be navigable, but a court might say no, for example, because fishing access may harm the habitat or may be unsafe. Finally, there may be valid State, County, or local regulations which restrict or prevent fishing, and so you would need to know these laws as well.

The legislature needs to enact a comprehensive statute defining public recreation rights versus private property rights. I believe it is always best to respect the private landowners rights unless you are absolutely sure of your ground - or water.

-- Edited by SK60 at 14:18, 2008-09-19

I've fished from the resort side many times and have never had anyone say anything AS LONG AS YOU ARE STANDING IN THE WATER, you are not trespassing.

Yep a lot of people like that will try to scare you by acting like they are staing the law and will get you in trouble if you dont listen but they are just angry people legally got to their waterfront. Just stay calm adn keep tempers at a minimum.

  I've had these same problems (not on putah) but on the trinity river. my grandfathers property backs up to the river (which we never yell at people or tell them to get lost just cuz there fishing to close to our property) and i like to cross and fish a strech of river on the other side and ive been chased out 2 or 3 times by some d bag that thinks he owns the water and which I asked a DFG warden up there and he told me that california law says that you can only own property up to the high water mark, and that no one can tell you to get out of the water or tell you to leave unless you pass the high water line, but last time the jerk chased my pops off with a gun so we just said screw it. No matter what river you are always going to run into this problem in certain areas, some people are nice and some are not. Just know the laws, and sometimes its just not worth the hassle, just find another spot.

 - Nic

Xnjb707X wrote:

---

I asked a DFG warden up there and he told me that california law says that you can only own property up to the high water mark, .

---

Actually, you can own the land under the water.  What california law does is apply the public trust doctrine to certain property owned by individuals, such that the public has a right of way (or an easement) to use the land, up to the median high water mark (on navigable rivers as they existed upon statehood), for purpose such as fishing (among others).  ( I think SK-60 laid it out pretty well)

I think its always best to know the law down pat, the more you are familiar with the legal terminology and actual rights of involved, the more likely you are to have a DFG agent or landowner take you seriously.  Although I completely support property rights, its a shame that we havn't been able to find a way for all to equally enjoy access to some of California's finest trout waters.  The more we are able to share in a resource the more apt we are to rally together and fight to preserve such assets that are currently in such desparate need of a guardian.  A guardian which often takes the form of a fly-fisherman.

Havn't posted in a while:  been fishing the Yuba alot, but got away this past weekend to fish the East Fork of the Carson with JMO32.  Waiting to figure out how to set up my email on my phone to email myself the pics so I can post them.  All i'll say for now is a real BIG fish fell victim to a hopper


-- Edited by drifter at 21:29, 2008-09-22

-- Edited by drifter at 21:30, 2008-09-22

Awww Greg,

So I suppose pretending I have an air horn on the Yuba is out of the question?

My god that brings back memories :)

just go down there looking like ya belong and dont make eye contact with anybody. and whack some fish while your over there. yeeee hah!!!!! And dont forget bingo night. frickin bingo night wtf? anyway the fish planting wish that would really stop. My buddy and I were at the bridge wasting our time catching planters with our eyes closed literally with our eyes closed and low and behold i catch a little 8" beautiful putah native in the mix. made me think that this little guy shouldn't have to compete for food with a bunch of planters. there was way too many planters in this hole. dont ask why we were fishing for them we just cant help ourselves. the planters suck but for some reason it just never gets old having a fish take the fly. hehehe

The best was when he was going around yelling on his megaphone, "spaghetti for lunch today". My friend and I could not stop laughing.