Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Has anyone ever leased a pond?

My pond of 15 acres lies on the border between my property and the neighbor (who happens to be my wife's cousin). He has very little interest in it, but does pasture his side. I would like to buy his half, for two reasons;
1. To control who can and can't fish in it, especially since I've been spending money upgrading and maintaining it.
2. I would like to build a cabin on my side and don't want to look out across the pond some day and see a bunch of drunken bohunks having a kegger or pulling in a mobile home they bought on craigslist.

If, for some reason he doesn't want to sell his half, I thought about asking about some sort of long term lease arrangement. Any ideas on what to look out for, what to pay, what not to do?

I looked into leasing a 24 acre lake (previously a sand pit) It was on 40 acres total property. It was dredged out to about 40 feet deep, spring fed. MSU raised salmon one year in net pens. I thought cool! I found some new net pens on ebay (and won the auction) from a guy in Florida, except he was not willing to sell them for the opening bid.

Anyway, the lease was the same type as a farm land lease and prices were the same. I think it was about 30 bucks per acre per year.

Someone bought it for 990K and is trying to sell Lake Front lots for a pile of cash.

Geese love the place.

/\ /\. Bad thing is he'll probably make money on them lake front lots.. I got a good story about this.. The local newspaper is selling a lakefront home thing is the lake is the sewer Tratment plant..

I doubt he will sell any more than the one out back. They have a ski ramp set up and maybe that guy bought the lake part also.

There are a number of lots out front on the main road for sale, but they are quite small. The town has a Grain Elevator and a Bar.

It is a pretty old rural area with houses and buildings that pre-date my inception by a long shot. And a majority of them are quite run down. The township has been bankrupt for a number of years and the State has been auditing them for a good 11 years.

Land around here rents for a lot more than $30, still considering it's only seven acres that wouldn't be too bad. It would be well worth the peace of mind to know that no unauthorized lunkheads are raping my fish population.